On Friday, the Ohio University School of Dance will present its annual Winter Dance Concert, showcasing an array of dance forms.
“The concert will have a variety of pieces such as modern, African contemporary, semi-improvised and straight movement dance will be just some of the dance forms featured at the concert,” said Mickie Geller, a dance professor in the School of Fine Arts.
This year’s concert includes performances by visiting faculty members and students. Sean Curran, who was in the original company of STOMP and a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, will perform as well. His work is supported by the 1804 Fund and Arts for Ohio.
Melanie Parks, head of Design and Technology at Northern Illinois University, designed the costumes. The lights will be controlled and designed by John Bohuslawsky, who said he plans to explore a fascination with umbrellas, German Expressionism and the theme of a person’s ever-changing life.
One of the pieces, “Blue Lake,” is a new dance work performed by Marina Walchili. The movement vocabulary is inspired from water imagery, color and light patterns reflected on water surfaces.
A piece done by Zelma Badu-Younge will blend contemporary Pan-African dance movements with techniques from aboriginal ethnic groups in Australia.
Adriana Durant’s newest work, “Displacement,” examines nine conflicted bodies along a predetermined linear pathway. Durant defines “conflict of the body as the effort to accomplish physical relationship among body parts and energies.”
“At Ohio University, students and faculty are very lucky to have a school of dance where the opportunity to see many forms is so close to campus,” Geller said. “It is a gift to see art performed like this because the next closest place is in Columbus.
kh845809@ohiou.edu
