An
internationally renowned choreographer worked with students to present a contemporary
ballet that will be part of Danstage 2017 at the University of
Wisconsin-Stevens Point April 7-9 and 13-15.
Performances
begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 7-8, and Thursday to Saturday,
April 13-15. A 2 p.m. matinee will be offered Sunday, April 9. The production
will be held in the Noel Fine Arts Center Jenkins Theatre by the UW-Stevens
Point Department of Theatre and Dance. It features new work by guest
choreographer Eddy Ocampo as well as new pieces by Associate Professor Michael
Estanich, Associate Professor Jeannie Hill and Professor Joan Karlen, who are
UW-Stevens Point faculty.
Ocampo served
a week-long guest residency in February to prepare for Danstage with support of
the College of Fine Arts and Communication Great Artists Great Speakers Fund.
His piece, “Atomos,” features partnered dancers reveling in the creation of
time. He will return to campus April 1 for a final technical rehearsal.
“Eddy asks our dancers to give their all to the creation
process,” said Karlen. “Learning an entire ballet in four days requires urgency
and commitment. I’m inspired seeing dancers grow by the day in this profound,
transformative process.”
Residencies
like this have a significant impact on dance students, she added, inspiring
them to create dance and theatre companies as well as join regional, national
and international companies.
Additional
pieces at Danstage 2017 will include “The Biggest Wail from the Bottom of my
Heart,” a new narrative work by Estanich
that explores relationships and identity in our current culture.
In Karlen’s
work, “Signal,” dancers sweep through a wind-filled stage. The work features a
new music score by John Strassburg and projections by guest designer Zlatko
Cosic.
“Sounding
Off” is a new work by Hill, featuring 12 tap shoe-clad dancers navigating life
on the track. The piece explores how people’s experience is perceived by
others, how we negotiate differing points of view and when it is time to speak
up.
Set to a
reimagined jazz score of “Waltz of the Snowflakes” from “The Nutcracker,”
Estanich’s “Snow” highlights exuberant, lyrical full company dancing by
graduating seniors.
Ocampo has
created ballets in Europe, Mexico, Canada, Russia and the United States. He
served as school director of the Giordano Dance Center and Giordano II. He is
the founding artistic director of the American Jazz Dance Festival-New
Generation in the Russian Republic and has served numerous artistic residencies
in prestigious universities and colleges throughout the world. Ocampo has also
been honored with national and international awards for his choreography.
Danstage
2017 tickets are $22 for adults, $21 for seniors, $17 for youth and $4.50 for
students with UW-Stevens Point ID. Tickets are available at the UW-Stevens
Point Information and Tickets Office, located in the Dreyfus University Center
concourse, by calling 715-346-4100 or at http://tickets.uwsp.edu.
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