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The Sam Houston State University Department of Dance will close out the Fall 2022 semester with an evening of dance works by SHSU Dance faculty and guest artist, Takehiro Ueyama who is originally from Tokyo, Japan. Included in this evening’s collection are a mixture of solos and group works by Francisco Graciano, Colette Kerwick, Travis Lake, Adele Nickel, and Andy Noble. Come join us for an exhilarating evening of choreography and performance!

About the Dances
The concert opens with Adele Nickel’s Women’s Work. This new work for 16 women explores a catalogue of gestures derived from social and domestic tasks that have imprinted female bodies and shaped how they move through the world. It suggests a vision of embodied feminism where power is distributed horizontally and challenges are met with collective care and responsibility.

Next up, Francisco Graciano invites the audience to dive into an earnest and heartfelt solo starring senior BFA student Rebekah Evans that explores ballet and modern movement vocabulary with spoken text. Francisco states, "In a departure from convention, Rebecca conversationally shares her story of growing up with rigorous ballet training to taking a ten-year hiatus and then returning to dance as a 30-year old single mother of a toddler."

The first half will close with an excerpt from guest artist Takehiro “Take” Ueyama’s Salaryman. Take moved to the United States in 1991 to study at the Juilliard School in New York City and, upon graduation, was invited to join the Paul Taylor Dance Company, touring with them for eight years. The full-length version of Salaryman created for his dance company Take Dance in 2011 depicts the life of the Japanese businessman. This high-octane dance is a reflection of the working man’s everyday “drama” – the stress of the universal daily grind of work that is essential to the success of the business world at the expense of the individual’s experiencing it.

Did you know clouds are given different names based on their shape and their height in the sky? Opening the second half, Meridian's Sky, Colette Kerwick’s newest sextet takes the viewer on an atmospheric journey through intricate partnering and sumptuous movement examining and emulating the nuances and patterns of clouds.

Travis Lake offers up the second solo for the evening which is performed by Senior BFA student Justin Curry. Based on true events, Dispatch places audiences in the passenger seat of a high-risk abduction. Using architectural physicality, spoken word, and original sound design, Lake forces a magnifying glass onto a 911 dispatch operator while they race the clock to save a desperate hostage.

Here comes a storm! Tower, originally choreographed on SHSU dance majors by Andy Noble in 2015 in collaboration with Laura Harrell, uses raw athleticism to create the anticipation and energy of a storm front. Inspired by the current environmental challenges and drawing from images of war, Tower features 33 dancers and builds in unrelenting waves until it finally rains on stage. “It’s an exhilarating ride,” states choreographer Noble. “You don’t get to see a big physical dance like this very often and seeing it rain live on stage is mesmerizing. Tower is a cathartic experience!”  This work has since been performed by many ensembles including Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Repertory Dance Theatre in Utah. Noble is excited to bring Tower home to be reset on a new generation of dancers.  

DETAILS

Dance Spectrum in Concert
December 1-3, 2022 @ 8 PM
James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center, Dance Theater
815 17^thStreet, Huntsville, TX
Tickets: $12 advance general admission, $15 at the door, student RUSH available week of the show (one free ticket) for current SHSU students with valid SHSU student ID. 
Purchase online at http://www.shsutickets.com or call 936-294-2339

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 MFA Candidates, Madelyn Klumb and Tyler Orcutt, will be premiering their works The Synergistic Effect and Wendy on November 11th and 12th at 8:00 PM at the Gaertner Performing Arts Center Dance Theater. The works are in partial fulfillment of their Master of Fine Arts Degree in dance.  

The Synergistic Effect is choreographed by Madelyn Klumb. In collaboration with her dancers, Klumb has created multiple sections for the work, including eight solos. The theme centers around the idea of synergy and how the product of one individual doesn’t compare to the combined product of many individuals. The piece emphasizes the importance of wholeness within the self, as well as harmony within a group. Both notions are equally important and one cannot happen without the other. Research for this project derives from Psychoanalysis David Winnicott and Somatic-based practitioners, such as Sondra Horton Fraleigh and Martha Eddy. 

Megan McDonald, a dancer within the cast, describes the work to be “incredibly personal for each individual. Each dancer is putting forth something special and important to them into the work, which allows for greater connectedness within the cast. At the end of each rehearsal, we take time to reflect over the process or about our day in general, which allows for us to get out of our heads and be present in the current moment.”

WENDY, choreographed by Tyler Orcutt, is an unusually odd and slightly cranky evening-length dance. She does not get out much, and when she does, the barista always seems to get her order wrong. Expressing herself in the only art form she knows how, Wendy is a dance that flexes her knowledge and her abs; tracts empty and illusions thrown is where she finds herself at home. Wendy has been meticulously crafted in a way that caters best to humans. If you happen to be one, then this is for you! Challenging, thought-provoking, and riveting are all adjectives Wendy self-identifies with. She has been described as “sir,” by Maria Perez, “he has a point,” by Dillon Bell, and “Sheena Kapila,” by Sheena Kapila, to name but a few from three of the dancers within the work. Sit back, buckle up, put your sunglasses on, start the engine, double check your seatbelt, reverse out of your spot, put the car in first gear, look left and right, and get ready for a ride.

Details

Event: The Synergistic Effect and Wendy 
Who: Madelyn Klumb and Tyler Orcutt
When: November 11th and 12th | 8:00 PM
Where: Gaertner Performing Arts Center Dance Theater
Admission: FREE

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