What: Celebrating the Power of Dance, annual Department of Dance and Theatre faculty dance concert with students, alumni and acclaimed dance educator Daniel Lewis
When: 8 p.m. April 25 and 26, 7 p.m. April 27, 2 p.m. April 28
Where: University Theatre, in the RTFP Building
Tickets: $10 adults; $7.50 UNT faculty and staff, UNT students with valid ID and seniors. Tickets can be ordered with a credit card over the phone by calling 940-565-2428 or Metro 817-267-3731 ext. 2428. The box office is located in the RTFP building in the first floor lobby of the University Theatre (room 104). The box office accepts cash, checks and credit cards.
What else: Alumni, former faculty members and guests will return to teach. Lewis will headline a symposium on April 26 and speak on Saturday night in the University Theatre following the concert.
This year’s Department of Dance and Theatre faculty dance concert, Celebrating the Power of Dance, is the focal point of four days of events that bring together University of North Texas students, faculty and alumni.
The annual faculty dance concert will include nine modern dance pieces choreographed by Professor of Dance Shelley Cushman. One of the featured dances, “En I Me,” was performed at the National College Dance Festival in 2008. In creating "En I Me," Cushman studied war movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Pearl Harbor and World War II documentaries. The dance is about war, but is also part of a larger work that brings mankind to a place of peace, said Cushman.
The pieces in the concert date back to 1980. The program also includes three new dances: “Entrance,” which will be played at the beginning; “Exit,” played at the end; and “Floods and Other Torrents.”
On April 25, alumni and former faculty members will return to teach and participate in classes at Stovall Hall. Acclaimed dance educator Daniel Lewis will lead a symposium April 26. Lewis worked closely with José Limón, a pioneer in the field of modern dance and choreography. Upon joining the New World School of Arts in Miami, Fla., as Dean of Dance, Lewis created the dance division’s eight-year professional program.
Having Lewis speak is an honor, Cushman said, and the classes will be special because they bring together the tight-knit dance students, faculty and alumni.
“Students spend so much of their time here from their freshman to senior years and during that time they create a common consciousness because they grow so much together. That makes for deep memories. We have created a home here, a place to bring people together and share a moment together,” said Cushman, who has been teaching at UNT for 36 years.
Performances for Celebrating the Power of Dance are at 8 p.m. April 25 and 26, 7 p.m. April 27 and 2 p.m. April 28. Tickets are $10 for adults; $7.50 UNT faculty and staff, UNT students with valid ID and seniors. Tickets can be ordered with a credit card over the phone by calling 940-565-2428 or Metro 817-267-3731 ext. 2428. The box office is located in the RTFP building in the first floor lobby of the University Theatre (room 104). The box office accepts cash, checks and credit cards.
About Daniel Lewis
Daniel Lewis, founding dean of the dance division in Miami's New World School of the Arts, received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Florida for his leadership in dance and education in an artistic discipline. In addition to developing and managing NWSA's dance program, Lewis has heightened modern dance awareness in South Florida through Miami Dance Futures, a company he formed in 1988. Miami Dance Futures produced the highly successful Miami Balanchine Conference, the Dance History Scholars' Conference, the National High School Dance Festival and the Modern Dance Sampler. As José Limón's assistant for seven years, Lewis staged the works of Limón and Doris Humphrey for such companies as the Royal Swedish Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, the London School of Contemporary Dance, The Juilliard School and the José Limón Company. Following Limón’s death, Lewis served as the Limón Company's acting artistic director and in 1984 became founding director of the Limón Institute. His book, The Illustrated Dance Technique of José Limón, was published in 1984. As a choreographer, Lewis has been commissioned to create works by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Dallas Civic Opera, American Opera Center at Lincoln Center, Amherst College, the University of California at Los Angeles, The Juilliard School, as well as companies in South America and England. His repertory company, Daniel Lewis Dance, has performed and taught extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Scandinavia.