 |
Dance Performance students Daniel Gaymon (left) and Rebecca Wilkins perform a duet in Helen Pickett's February 14, 2012. |
The University of South Carolina Dance Program will present Breaking Ground, a concert of premiere contemporary works, February 8-11, 2012 at Drayton Hall Theatre.
Performances times are 7:30pm each evening. Tickets are $16 for the general public, $14 for University faculty/staff, military and seniors 60+ and $10 for students. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at (803) 777-5112, or charge by phone at (803) 251-2222. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Carolina Coliseum box office. Drayton Hall Theatre is located at 1214 College St.
A centerpiece work of the concert is a premiere work by special guest artist Helen Pickett entitled February 14, 2012. Pickett’s professional career includes twelve years dancing with world-renowned choreographer William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt; since 2005 she has found success creating new works for such companies as Boston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Dresden Ballet and Vienna State Opera. Additionally, noted professional choreographers Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis have created new works for the concert. Also scheduled will be a performance of The Rainbow Repertory Etude™ by choreographer Donald McKayle.
 |
| Helen Pickett |
Pickett’s mysteriously titled February 14, 2012 is a contemporary ballet set to a portion of composer Philip Glass’ score to the film Mishima. Fifteen dancers will perform Pickett’s choreography, which alternates between movements for groups, duets, trios and quintets. There is no specific narrative for the dance, though Pickett says, “I always have a narrative in my head because story helps in linking the movement for me.” Pickett says she leaves it to the audience to decipher their own meanings for the piece and its title.
A sought-after instructor of William Forsythe’s influential improvisation method, Pickett’s choreographic style builds upon her years of training in the seminal ballet techniques of Forsythe, a leading choreographer whose deconstruction of classical technique is widely considered to have taken the art form into the 21st century and his predecessor George Balanchine, known as the father of American ballet.
Pickett says her key interest lies with infusing emotional and sensorial connection into the contemporary ballet idiom. “A lot of contemporary dance for many years now has been pure abstraction…dancers and choreographers showing how facile they are with their abilities and showing their prowess. Of course I love articulation and detail, but I’m also interested in how in the classical setup of spectator and dancer we can touch people as performers in a greater way through the stage. I think we will want more of that as we get into our computer age. I think we will start craving humanness again.”
Concert director Thaddeus Davis, an assistant professor in the university’s dance program, says Pickett “represents the next wave of female choreographers.” Choreographer and instructor Tanya Wideman-Davis agrees. “She is a female choreographer who is creating ballet, which is very rare. And she’s one who is getting a lot of work.”
Davis’ contemporary dance piece, It's Getting Heavy, takes its inspiration from Julia Wolfe’s contemporary classical orchestral work, Cruel Sisters. The dance has no specific narrative, but Davis says it is developing into a work where women are its dominating force. The dance features groups of dancers, some large, some in duet or trio, caught in a movement-based tug of war in which one group initiates a dance phrase and another mirrors it, with the competition become increasingly intense and frenzied.
“From the beginning I had this music, which has a driving nature loaded with tension and aggression,” says Davis, “and I decided to just go with that and see where it led. I also tried to see how the dancers were responding to determine how they could be pushed.”
Tanya Wideman-Davis says her original work, Occupy Chaos, has been influenced by the recent “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Set to the aggressive rock of the band Oasis, the movement in the piece matches what Wideman-Davis describes as the music’s “protest energy and angst.” The work combines elements of ballet and contemporary dance, while being highly rhythmic.
“For the dancers, this piece is all about protest and community – dancers coming together and creating a community vibe,” she says. “I want the dancers to explore being real people who care for each other. I feel that dancers learn so much when they start delving into characters with personalities and feelings. It lends itself to bringing something out of themselves through dance which they wouldn’t have otherwise been required to do.”
The concert will also feature noted choreographer Donald McKayle’s Rainbow Repertory Etude™, which is being staged by guest artist Diane McGhee Valle. McKayle is described by the book No Fixed Points: Dance in the 20th Century as “among the first black men to break the racial barrier by means of modern dance.” Rainbow Repertory Etude™ is a technical study based on McKayle’s original dance Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder, which explored the plight of Southern men working on a chain gang. The piece will be performed by students in the Dance Education program.
Thaddeus Davis reveals that for his piece, and for the concert in general, he has stressed the idea of “process” rather than “product.” “We’ve been stressing the idea of process in this concert rather than just putting on a show,” he explains. “Its about really taking the time with these students to give them the type of information that sometimes in the process of putting on a show we may not have time to do.”
“It’s about the process and what information the process yields as a result of us going through it,” he adds. “This is really about going through something to come out on the other side.”
For more information on Breaking Ground or the University of SC Dance Program, visit our website at www.cas.sc.edu/dance, or contact Kevin Bush at (803) 777-9353 or via email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.
 |
Guest Artist Helen Pickett works with dancers Daniel Gaymon and Rebecca Wilkins |
Call 777-5112 for tickets today!
Tickets:
$16 General Public
$14 USC Faculty/Staff/Military
$10 Students
Box office: 777-5112, or charge by phone at 251-2222
Show Times: 7:30pm, all performances
