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UI Dance Company Home Concert

Apr 14, 2021

08:00 PM

Online venue,

University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242

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UI Dance Company photo collage of dancers

UI Dance Company Home Concert
Saturday, April 3 at 8:00 p.m. CST
virtualdance.studio.uiowa.edu

UI Dance Company, the resident repertory and touring company of the Department of Dance, presents a virtual concert of five works by dance faculty. Under the direction of George de la Peña and Alex Bush, featuring a company of thirteen graduate and undergraduate dancers, this season delivers diverse and exciting performances that celebrate the innovation, athleticism, and perseverance of our dance community.

Featured works in this concert:

root(ed)
Choreography by Lovar Davis Kidd

House dance and hip-hop are both deeply root(ed) in African beats & rhythms. This piece explores the connection between the call and response of these rhythms, with footwork and movement that are root(ed) to the earth.

And Let’s Go
Choreography by Alex Bush in collaboration with the dancers and Emily Gumal, Kyleigh Harm, Ianka Hou, Mariko Ishikawa, Brooke Lilienthal, Juliet Remmers, and Carson Simpson

This work grew out of watching my then two-year-old son Brecken move with joyful and reckless abandon to the music of his father's marching band, and a desire to make a work that reflects the joy to be found in moving for movement's sake. I created this with a cast of dancers from Dancers in Company 2020. However, as I spent more time on this work with the original cast, and we directed our attention to the performer's choices throughout, I realized that I was equally drawn to the potential here for us to open up a possibility for our community at large to connect with use in a shared experience. The familiarity and emotional resonance of something like music by the Hawkeye Marching Band creates a point of entry for our audiences, especially those who aren't familiar with concert dance. At its core, this work is really about finding community and connection through the joy of movement. In the last year, we have all become masterful at reaching for connections in ways we never thought possible. My hope is that this work adds another layer of possibility, another place to find common ground, a space to celebrate our connection to each other.

De Antonio, de Brincante e Viramundo (2014/excerpts)
Choreography by Armando Duarte

De Antonio, de Brincante e Viramundo (2014) is an abstract interpretation of Carnival parties from Pernambuco, Brazil, where popular dances such as the Frevo are manifested throughout the state. The choreography is solemnly based on the compositions of Brazilian artist António Nóbrega.

Can’t Catch You
Choreography by Melinda Jean Myers

This work circles around themes of loss, restriction, shared grief, and embodied expressivity.

Young Meadows
Choreography by Stephanie Miracle

Young Meadows is an exploration of simultaneous events in real and imagined worlds. A longing for springtime after an eternity of winter. This process began with the idea of creating a duet with myself by replicating my body through video. The two dancers, who are also roommates, learned this material and contributed their own choreography based on personal stories and free-association games. A large portion of our rehearsals were conducted through Zoom, during which we explored fantasy landscapes by adding glitching, algorithmic virtual backgrounds of flower dotted fields. Omar Zubair and Hao Zhou joined this process as collaborators, opening audio and visual portals to new worlds.

Visit our Virtual Concert Venue in advance of the performance to learn more about the works, the choreographers, and all of the UI Dance Company collaborators.

Join us at virtualdance.studio.uiowa.edu for this free performance. Tickets are not required.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact in advance at