Lived Experience!
Dance Reflections Transferred or Layered
Sister, Choreography by Mary Chase
L to R: Amnih Abotteen, Amanda Beittel, Mariclaire Gamble
Photo by Mark Rutkowski
Artistic Director: Lyn C. Wiltshire
Co–Artistic Director: Holly Williams
Performances:
B. Iden Payne Theatre
February 22 & 23 at 8:00 PM
February 24 at 2:00 PM
Tickets:
$16 adults, $13 UT faculty & staff, $10 students available online at www.utpac.org or by phone at 477–6060
Media and Resources:
- Director Information
- Choreographer Information
- Dancers
- Synopsis
- Guest Repetiteur
- Featured Choreography
- Rehearsal Photos
- Press and Reviews
Synopsis:
Our award–winning student dance company presents Twyla Tharp's The Fugue*, and cutting–edge, contemporary choreography in a variety of new works by faculty, students, and guest artists. "Lived Experience! Dance Reflections Transferred or Layered" performed by Dance Repertory Theatre is a collaborative performance reflecting a shared commitment to artistic integrity, creative exploration and the enrichment of original work.
* Choreography by Twyla Tharp, © 1999 Twyla Tharp
Artistic Director:
Lyn C. Wiltshire was touched by dance at a very young age growing up in New York City and her career fits the model of passion and fervor surpassing credentials. She has trained and performed with many notable teachers and dance companies, including the Dance Theatre of Harlem and toured nationally and internationally with The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. To her credit she has performed in film, television and with symphony orchestras around the country. Her path to academia has been by way of “the school without walls”, choreographing and teaching until finally her reputation preceded her. As an Associate Professor of Dance at the University of Texas she is a dance educator, administrator and director. Beyond her work at UT, Lyn has presented workshops, master classes and lectures in London, Portugal, Taiwan and all over the U.S. and Hawaii. Her choreography has been commissioned by companies in Texas, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, New York and California and through this network presented to Canadian and European audiences. During her time at the University, Lyn has directed and choreographed for the UT performing ensemble Dance Repertory Theatre and in 2004 and 2006 the ensemble premiered her work in Innsbruck, Salzburg and St. Johann, Austria for performances in the Young Tanzsommer Festival. In 2004 she became the Artistic Director of L'A.R.T Dance Project. She is privileged to take this opportunity provide direction and bring her expertise to the dance project. She is the recipient of Choreography Awards and Masters Fellowships for Choreography and Dance and is on the registry of the National Choreography Plan. She synchronized a five–year affiliation between the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Glenda Brown Choreography Project as one of the departments Summer Intensive Programs. Through her efforts, the first M.F.A. in Dance at UT was initiated in the department. In addition, she has served on the Dance Advisory Panel for the Indiana Art's Commission, Louisiana Division of the Arts and has adjudicated pre–professional companies throughout the mid–west. She was an adjudicator for Regional Dance America's National Festival to be held in Pittsburgh, PA in 2007.
Co–Artistic Director:
Holly Williams has performed nationally and internationally with the companies of Mark Morris, Laura Dean and Jose Limon. In Morris' company she performed in the original casts of L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, The Hard Nut, Going Away Party, Love Song Waltzes, New Love Son Waltzes, and in numerous other works. Ms. Williams' choreography for the Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Austin Theatre Alliance, Dallas Theatre Center and the concert stage have won her national acclaim. She has presented concerts of her own work in Austin and at the Merce Cunningham Studio in New York, and her choreography has been commissioned by companies in California, Texas, Louisiana, Kansas and Oklahoma. In recent years she has created new works for the State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara, the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive, the Universidad de Las Americas in Pueblo, Mexico, Contemporary Ballet Dallas, Ballet Austin Senior Young Artists, and Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth. In summer 2004 her dance/video work “Bolero” made its international debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland and her signature work “Black Magic” toured to Innsbruck, St. Johann and Salzburg, Austria as part of the Tanzsommer Festival. She served as a 2004 dance panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. and as a panelist for the 2006 American Masterpiece program of Dance/USA. She has a B.A. from Barnard College/Columbia University and an M.F.A. from Texas Woman's University, from which she received the 2001 Distinguished Alumnae Award in Dance. At the University of Texas she currently is Senior Associate Chair and directs the M.F.A./Dance program.
Guest Repetiteur:
Shelley Washington
Shelley Washington studied with Twyla Tharp at Wolftrap Academy, American University, prior to being invited to join Twyla Tharp Dance Company in 1975. She had previously danced as a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Ms. Washington furthered her training at the Juilliard School. In 1977 she performed in the film “Hair” and in 1985 in “Singin' in the Rain” on Broadway and served as Dance Captain for that Production. In 1987 she was honored with a Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance.
From 1988 to 1992 Ms. Washington joined the American Ballet Theater in Association with Twyla Tharp as a Soloist and Rehearsal Director. In 1993 she was the Rehearsal Director for Twyla Tharp's “Cutting Up” tour starring Ms. Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov, Twyla Tharp and Dancers City Center Season in New York and Tharp Dances 'International Tour.
Ms. Washington continues to work with Ms. Tharp as a Repetiteur, setting, staging and directing ballets for various companies including American Ballet Theater, The Boston Ballet Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Martha Graham Dance Company, The Australian Ballet, The Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ballet Rambert, The Royal Ballet, The Dutch National, The Zurich Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Kansas City Ballet, Miami City Ballet, The Royal Danish and the Royal Swedish Ballet. In addition, Ms. Washington spent the summer of 1999 working with Trevor Nunn's Company “The Royal National Theatre” as a Movement Director and Choreographer for the play “A Darker Face of the Earth” which opened August 5th at the Cottlesloe Theater in London, England.
In 2000 Shelley embarked upon a new journey as she discovered yoga. Just as in her dance career she threw herself wholeheartedly into the practice. In 2003 Shelley made her first trip to Mysore, India where she spent 3 months studying with the world renowned Ashtanga Yoga teacher, K. Pattabhi Jois. She became so inspired by the experience that she returned 7 more times between 2003 and 2007 to further her studies. In 2005 Shelley became officially authorized by the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore to teach Ashtanga Yoga.
Choreographers:
Mary A. Chase, Yebel Gallegos, Julie Nathanielsz, Twyla Tharp, Holly Williams, Lyn C. Wiltshire
Featured Choreography:
Remembering Qualities – a new work by Lyn C. Wiltshire uses movement which seeks to capture the essence of emotions, feelings and behaviors we experience as the mind and the body reflect various human qualities
Exister No Es Ser – created by Yebel Gallegos is inspired by the imaginative idea of a group of supernatural beings...being...existing, in a moment of transformation. The movement is their pathway, the trail that will lead them to the evolution of a different adaptive state.
Isabella – choreographed by Julie Nathanielsz was first conceived as a very special dress, by costume technologist Eleanor Fluharty and designer Jennifer Madison. But rather than be left on a dress form or hanger, the dress needed to perform. The upshot was a dance–for–a–dress, inspired by the life of Isabella Blow, the stylist, director, and darling of the beau monde.
The Fugue (Excerpts) – by choreographer Twyla Tharp is among the most innovative of her early pieces, set to the percussive beat of the dancer's own feet on a micro phoned floor. Quoting from Standard–Times (1997), The choreographer says that “The Fugue,” created in 1970, represents her beginning. “It's the first piece of mine I consider intact. I take it personally, very seriously.”
Sister – choreographed by Mary A. Chase and composed by Mark Huffman is a group work that explores simple gestural interactions and developing these moments into larger dance phrases. As the piece unfolds many kinds of bonds and relationships emerge. There are varying levels of interaction from intimate moments between two people to more casual brushes of the larger group. This piece was inspired by a visit to Chapel Dulcinea in the Texas hill country.
Nursery – choreographed and performed by Mary A. Chase is a solo that incorporates the playfulness and innocence of an imagined or remembered child (both my unborn child and myself as a child) in juxtaposition with the fear and felt responsibility to care for and protect that child. This work was generated from nursery rhymes and finger games as a way to explore a mixture of excitement, awe, anxiety and anticipation.
Futari Tomo (Two Together) - choreographed by Holly Williams is a Japanese Taiko drumming composition featuring the pounding rhythms and fluid movement unique to this dynamic art form.
Dancers:
Amnih Abotteen, Katarina Arneric, Amanda Beittel, Meg Brooker, Mary A. Chase, Ashley DePalermo, Carly Entress, Erin Finger, Jessica Gallardo, Mariclaire Gamble, Sarah Goocher, Lisa Kobdish, Emily Larson, Erin Lee, Kara Liotta, Elissa Marshall, Cori Miller, Amanda Oakley, Megan Rushing, Michelle Stuckey, Erin Sullivan, Emily Walker, Krystal Wigfield
