UW Dance Department
UW Lathrop Hall-H'Doubler Performance Space 1050 University Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Travis Magee
UW-Madison’s dance department presents its annual faculty concert, featuring excerpts from guest artist Seán Curran’s “Social Discourse.” Acclaimed choreographer Curran, a Bessie award-winning dancer who performed with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and was an original NYC cast member of STOMP!, is chair of the dance department at New York University. UW faculty members contributing to the program are Duane Lee Holland, Jin-Wen Yu, Marlene Skog and Chris Walker. The faculty concert always provides a satisfying sampling of the creativity of faculty members and the talent of the department’s students.
press release: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Dance Department presents Faculty Concert 2020 February 6-8 and 13-15, 2020, at the Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Avenue.
Faculty Concert 2020 will feature the work of guest artist Seán Curran, who makes dance "with the sharp intelligence of a conceptualist" (Boston Globe) that is the "equivalent of a night of invigorating conversation"(New York Times) and contemporary dance works from UW-Madison faculty artists Duane Lee Holland, Li Chiao-Ping, Marlene Skog, Chris Walker and Jin-Wen Yu.
Curran will present excerpts from his piece "Social Discourse," an abstract work with robust athletic partnering. Assistant Professor Duane Lee Holland will premiere "Heartbreak Hotel," a work that investigates empowerment through self love, Professor Li Chiao-Ping will premiere "dirt," which casts 14 dancers as microorganisms in a whimsical free-form fantasy, Professor Jin-Wen Yu will present "Said and Done,” a sensual, dynamic ensemble piece exploring non-verbal expression. Assistant Professor Skog will expand her Shakespearean exploration with a solo work that reinvents the character Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream creating a dance of wit, mischief and athleticism to an original score by Tim Russell. Professor Chris Walker will present an ensemble work titled "the bend." Through contemporary movement language, Walker explores dinki mini, an Afro-Jamaican traditional dance, and the philosophy behind its dance steps, which forces the dancers to find beauty in the broken.
PERFORMANCES
Thursday, February 6 & Friday, February 7 at 8:00 p.m. ; Saturday February 8 at 2:30 p.m.
Thursday, February 13 & Friday, February 14 at 8:00 p.m. ; Saturday February 15 at 2:30 p.m.
Margaret H'Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall
1050 University Ave., Madison.
Tickets are $22, general public, $16 for students/seniors and are available for purchase online at artsticketing.wisc.edu, by phone at 608-265-ARTS, and in person at 800 Langdon Street, Madison, WI. **If you pay cash in person anytime at Campus Arts Ticketing or at Lathrop Hall one hour before the show, you will not have to pay additional facility fees.
RECEPTION
There will be receptions immediately following the Friday performances in the Virginia Harrison Parlor, Lathrop Hall.
ABOUT SEAN CURRAN
Seán Curran's career in the arts spans 35 years, beginning with traditional Irish step dancing as a child in Boston. He is known for his performance work with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, for which he was honored with a “Bessie” award for his role in Secret Pastures, and as an original New York City cast member of STOMP! Curran’s 30 dance works for his professional ensemble Seán Curran Company are characterized by collaborations across genres and have toured to over 100 venues in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The company recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a season as part of the BAM 2018 Next Wave Festival featuring live music by the Grammy award-winning ensemble, Third Coast Percussion.
A sought-after choreographer and director for opera and theatre, notable commercial projects for Curran include Salome (Opera Theatre of St. Louis, San Francisco Opera, Opera Montreal, San Diego Opera); Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream (The Shakespeare Theater), Romeo and Juliette (Metropolitan Opera), among others.
A graduate and faculty member of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Curran is currently an Arts Professor and Chair of the Department of Dance. He has over 25 years of teaching experience in modern technique, improvisation, body percussion and composition as a visiting artist at the American Dance Festival, Harvard Summer Dance Center, Bates Dance Festival, Boston's Conservatory of Music, and countless U.S. university dance departments and private studios.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This concert was made possible with support from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education and the Anonymous Fund.