Feb. 26, 2009

VCU Dance NOW Features Works by Faculty and Guest Artists

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VCU Dance NOW, featuring the choreography of a collection of VCU dance faculty members and a guest artist, will be performed at the Grace Street Theater on Feb. 26, 27 and 28 at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for students with a valid VCU ID. For reservations, call the Grace Street Theater Box Office at (804) 828-2020.

VCU Dance NOW will showcase choreography by VCU Dance faculty Christian Von Howard, James Frazier, Robbie Kinter, Scott Putman and Judith Steel and guest artist Gerri Houlihan, a VCU alumna.

Von Howard, who joined the faculty this year, has been working with dance majors on two pieces: “De Materie,” a contemporary ballet supported by a score by composer David Lang, and “Soul Serenade,” an ensemble work inspired by the 1960s and 1970s.

Frazier, chair of the Department of Dance, will present “Trilogy,” a piece for three male dancers that explores emotion through motion.

Steel’s “Their Path Lies in Shadow” focuses on a couple who find themselves at a “still point” in their journey together. A selection from Schubert’s “Winterreise” sets the tone.

“Absorbing the Lost Language of Space,” created by Putman, investigates the many layers of space within space. The work is the first section of a larger work that will premiere in its entirety at Amaranth Contemporary Dance’s “Exit to All Worlds” concert on May 1 and 2 at the Grace Street Theater.

“The View from Above” by Kinter examines the shifting relations of a quartet of men. The original score is by George Lowe and performed by Rattlemouth.

Houlihan set “Morango,” a duet, to music by Thomas Oboe Lee during a fall visit to VCU Dance. Her work “Aria,” a duet for two women, also will be performed.

VCU Dance NOW is the seventh event of the VCU Dance 2008-09 season, a series of concerts, film screenings, master classes and more. Funding for the season comes from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts and the VCU School of the Arts.