PAD to present Dance Closeup Sept. 7-9

Tango, rhumba and Indian bharata natyam will share the stage with contemporary multi-media works and live improvisation in Dance Closeup, the biennial concert of original choreography by faculty in the Dance Program in Washington University’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences.

Performances begin at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Sept. 7 and 8; and at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. Performances take place in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio, located in Room 207, Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd.

Tickets are $17 for the general public and $10 for students, children, senior citizens and Washington University faculty and staff. Floor-mat seating — in keeping with the event’s intimate, informal atmosphere — is available for $6. Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre Box Office, located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, and through all MetroTix outlets.

For more information, call the Box Office at (314) 935-6543.

Launched in 1995, Dance Closeup regularly serves as the unofficial kickoff to St. Louis’ professional dance season. This year’s installment will feature ten works choreographed and performed by faculty and guest dancers.

“Dance Closeup always reflects the breadth of styles and expertise among the dance faculty,” said artistic director Mary-Jean Cowell, Ph.D., associate professor and coordinator of the Dance Program. “However, this year’s program is exceptional in its variety of approaches, including connections with the new field of performing arts and technology.”

The concert will feature Leonardo’s Chimes, an ambitious multi-media work by David Marchant, senior lecturer in dance, and composer John Toenjes of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. The piece utilizes motion-tracking technologies (programmed by Ben Smith) that allow Marchant to move through virtual “hot spots,” thus activating prerecorded sounds then selected and layered by Toenjes.

“The computer has been programmed to change the pitches and general direction of the music depending on how the mover/performer chooses to play Leonardo’s Chimes on any given night,” Marchant explains. “The result is a spontaneous ‘conversation’ among the musician, dancer and programmer.”

Henry Claude, music director for the Dance Program, will lead a performance by his Nuclear Percussion Ensemble, which also features Matt Henry and Adam Rugo. In addition, the group, which is dedicated to innovative percussion work, will collaborate with several of the dancers to create an improvisational piece.

Christine Knoblauch-O’Neal, senior lecturer in dance and director of the Ballet Program, will perform Courtesan, a solo work choreographed by Jennifer Medina, assistant professor of dance at the University of Missouri—Kansas City and a company member with the Wylliams/Henry Danse Theatre.

“Movement has been drawn from the images of a courtesan’s life, as well as that of a captured bird,” Medina explains. “This dance is dedicated to women everywhere who have had to live their lives in a compromised way.”

Other featured dances are:

* Beauty Bound: Cecil Slaughter, lecturer in dance, choreographs and performs this piece, which explores “personal transformation from uncertainty to hope and faith.” Slaughter, who also serves as artistic director of the annual Washington University Dance Theatre, is founder and director of The Slaughter Project dance company. Set to music of Operatica.

* Tracings: Adjunct instructor Dawn Karlovsky choreographs and performs a solo inspired by the flow and energy of Japanese calligraphy. The original score is composed by St. Louis musician Tory Z. Starbuck.

* Quietly: Adjunct instructor Mary Mazello, a Washington University alumnus, choreographs and performs this modern-influenced jazz dance, set to music of Sigur Ros.

* Pastpresentpresentpastpresent: Cowell choreographs and performs in this work for four dancers, which also features Marchant, Karlovsky and Mazello. Set to music of Arvo Part, the piece examines “the flow of awareness” and the constant revisiting and revising of memory.

* Nada Tanu Manisham: Adjunct instructor Asha Prem choreographs and performs this classical Indian dance in the bharata natyam style, which honors the god Shiva (symbolized by the drum in the accompanying music). Prem is founder and director of St. Louis’ celebrated School of Dances of India.

* Tango and Rhumba: Adjunct instructors Estella and Randy Ruzicka, founders of The Tango Society of St. Louis, choreograph and perform these traditional dances. Music for the tango will be Ceylos by J. Gadé. Music for the rhumba will be Harlem Nocturne, performed by the Mancini Orchestra.

* Lunar Tides: Mary Ann Rund, adjunct instructor, choreographs and performs in the this duet with Karlovsky.