Contemporary Dance Program - Performances
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Contemporary Masters
Available on DVD!
Each performance of Contemporary Masters is now available on DVD. Please download and complete the order form(s) of the performance(s) you wish to view again and again.
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Indiana University Dance Theatre
Presents
Contemporary Masters
Friday and Saturday, Jan 14 & 15, 2011, at 7:30pm
Ruth N. Halls Theatre, 275 N. Jordan Avenue, Bloomington
Featuring the work of modern dance icons David Parsons, Bella Lewitzky, and Donald McKayle , with works by IU Faculty AND a special performance of Caught, by Miguel Quinones of Parsons Dance (Friday only).
Advance Tickets: $20 for adults; $10 for children, seniors and IU Students with ID. Contact IU Box Office at 812-855-1103
Tickets at the Door: $25 for adults; $15 for children, seniors and IU Students with ID
Pre-Concert Talks: 6:30pm in the Grand Hall, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center:
- Jan. 14, David Parsons in Person
- Jan 15, Lewitsky’s Legacy
SPECIAL MATINEE: Contemporary Masters Family Matinee. This performance features master works only and is considerably shorter.
Advance tickets $5 for adults and IU Students, $2 for children & seniors. Contact IU Box Office at 812-855-1103
Tickets at the door $10 for adults $5 for children and seniors Saturday, Jan 15, 2011 at 1:30pm IU Box Office 812 855-1103
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Produced by the IU Departments of Kinesiology and Theatre and Drama
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Contemporary Masters Biographies
Bella Lewitzky (1916-2004) distinguished herself as a preeminent performer, choreographer, artistic director, educator, public speaker, and civic activist. Born in the California desert, Lewitzky began her career with modern dance pioneer Lester Horton, who became her mentor and most influential teacher. In a remarkable fifteen year association, Lewitzky became Horton’s leading dancer, his choreographic collaborator, and a master teacher of his technique. In 1950 Bella left Horton to pursue her own artistic development, and in 1951 she opened a school, Dance Associates. Later, she became the principal teacher-choreographer at Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts from 1954 to 1972 and became chair of the dance program there in 1958. In 1966, at age 50, she founded the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company and continued actively as a performer. Her dancers became noted for their purity of line, strength, agility, and elevation. In 1969 she became the founding Dean of the School of Dance at the California Institute of the Arts until 1972 when she resigned, owing to an increasing number of requests for company performances. The company eventually toured extensively to over 20 foreign countries on five continents and 43 states. Bella served on various important arts boards in California as well as nationwide. She was a passionate advocate of the art of dance as a transformative agent of the individual and society.
Donald McKayle, recipient of honors and awards in every aspect of his illustrious career, has been named by the Dance Heritage Coalition "one of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: the first 100." His choreographic masterworks, considered modern dance classics, Games, Rainbow Round My Shoulder, District Syoryville, and Songs of the Disinherited are performed around the world. He has choreographed over seventy works for dance companies in the United States, Canada, Israel, Europe, and South America. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and the Lula Washington Dance Theatre serve as repositories for his works. He is Artistic Mentor for the Limón Dance Company. Ten retrospectives have honored his choreography. In April 2005, Donald McKayle was honored at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and presented with a medal as a Master of African American Choreography. In dance he has received the Capezio Award, the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award, the American Dance Guild Award, a Living Legend Award from the National Black Arts Festival, the Heritage Award from the California Dance Educators Association, two Choreographer’s Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Dance/USA Honors, an Irvine Fellowship in Dance, the Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award, the Annual Award from the Dance Masters of America, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival, the Black College Dance Exchange Honors, the Dance Magazine Award, and the American Dance Legacy Institute’s Distinguished and Innovative Leadership Award, among others. For his work in education, he has earned the Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching, UCI’s Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award for Research, and he is a recipient of the UCI Medal, the highest honor given by the University of California, Irvine. At the University of California, Irvine he has also been awarded the title of Claire Trevor Professor in Dance, an endowed chair, and is a Bren Fellow. Mr. McKayle has served on the faculties of numerous international forums and many prestigious national institutions including the Juilliard School, Bennington College, Bard College, Sarah Lawrence College, the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and was Dean of the School of Dance at the California Institute of the Arts. His autobiography, Transcending Boundaries: My Dancing Life, published by Routledge was honored with the Society of Dance History Scholar’s De La Torre Bueno Prize. A television documentary on his life and work, Heartbeats of a Dance Maker, was aired on PBS stations throughout the United States.
David Parsons, Artistic Director/Co-Founder of Parsons Dance has enjoyed a remarkable career as a performer, choreographer, teacher, director, and producer of dance.Mr. Parsons was born in Chicago and raised in Kansas City. He was a leading dancer with The Paul Taylor Dance Company, where Mr. Taylor created many roles for him in works such as Arden Court, Last Look and Roses. He is a recipient of the 2000 Dance Magazine Award, as well as the 2001 American Choreography Award, for his work as a co-producer of AEROS, a production featuring the Romanian Gymnastic Federation that was featured on Bravo. Mr. Parsons has created more than 70 works for Parsons Dance. He has received commissions over the years from The American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the American Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow, the Spoleto Festival, and Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, to name a few. His work has been performed by Paris Opera Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Nederlands Danse Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, Hubbard Street Dance, and BatSheva Dance Company of Israel, among many others. In June 2007, Mr. Parsons was honored to be the very first contemporary choreographer ever to stage work at the centuries-old Arena di Verona, in Verona Italy, where he choreographed Verdi's Aida. The Arena is one of Italy's most respected operatic venues. In September 2007, he directed and choreographed Gotham Chamber Opera's production of Maria de Buenos Aires, which made its world premiere at a sold-out engagement in New York, at NYU's Skirball Center for the Arts. In the July 27, 2007 edition of The New York Times, Jennifer Dunning called David Parsons "one of the great movers of modern dance."
Photo of Parsons Dance, Caught, by Kielpinski
Nascimento Novoby Parsons Dance.
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IU Contemporary Dance Program Calendar 2010-2011 Academic Year
FALL SEMESTER 2011
AUGUST
- 22-26 - Laurie Eisenhower in residence setting work for faculty concert, Eisenhower and Shea repertory rehearses.
- 29 - CLASSES BEGIN, Modern dance technique classes D211 & D311 combined until Sept. 9
SEPTEMBER
- 5 - Labor Day, (classes do not meet)
- 6-8 - Auditions for IU Dance Theater Faculty/Guest Artist Concert
- 9 - Casting and Rehearsal Schedule posted for IUDT
- 12 - IUDT rehearsals begin and Connie Dinapoli in residence teaching master classes through Sept. 30
- 17-18 - Motion capture filming in studio – no rehearsals during this time
- TBA - Speed Dating for Hammer and Nail
- 27 - Last day to drop a First 8 weeks course with an automatic “W” by 4:00 p.m.
OCTOBER
- Students should begin to meet with their academic advisor(s) in order to obtain registration approval for spring course schedule.
- 26 - Last day to drop a full semester course with an automatic “W” by 4:00 p.m.
NOVEMBER
- 10-13 - Dance Exchange Concert featuring Adjunct Faculty Ben Wegman, in Liz Lerman’s The Matter of Origins, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
- 11 - First audition for the dance major for the 2012-13 academic year
- 22 - Thanksgiving recess begins after last class and last day to drop a Second 8 weeks course with an automatic “W” by 4:00 p.m.
- 28 - Classes resume
DECEMBER
- 5 - Student Dance Workshop, Wilkie Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
- 11 - Senior Dance Major’s Showcase, John Waldron Auditorium Freshman choreography is performed, 3:00 & 5:00 p.m.
- 12-16 - Final Examination week– Indiana University Dance Theatre will rehearse during this period
*Additional guest artists to be announced during Fall Semester
SPRING SEMESTER 2011
JANUARY
- 5 - Dancers return for rehearsals for Faculty/Guest Artist Concert
- 9 - CLASSES BEGIN
- 13-14 - Annual Faculty & Guest Artist Concert, Ruth N. Halls Theatre, 7:30 p.m. & family matinee featuring Freshman piece on 1/14.
- 16 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Official Holiday, (classes do not meet).
- TBA - Auditions for Hammer and Nail Concert, Choreographic Performance Project
FEBRUARY
- 4 - Ron Brown, Evidence, a Dance Company, IU Auditorium, 8:00 p.m.
- TBA - Arts Week, performances
- TBA - NSAL Contemporary Dance Competition
- 17 - Second audition for the dance major for the 2012-13 Academic Year
MARCH
- 7-10 - American College Dance Festival, East Central Region Conference, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI
- 10 - Spring recess begins after last class.
- 19 - Classes resume, Academic Advising begins for all students. Students should begin to meet with their academic advisor(s) to obtain registration approval for summer/fall course schedule. Class permissions available from academic units
APRIL
- Early Registration using OneStart Self-Service for all currently enrolled students
- 13-15 - Hammer and Nail Concert at the Buskirk Chumley Theatre, Two Programs,5:30 and 8:30 p.m.
- 24 - Pattern of the Heavens, choreography by Adjunct Faculty Lauren Weber-Frederick and IU Dance grad., the Ivy Tech John Waldron Auditorium, 8:00p.m., free admission
- 24 - Student Dance Workshop, Wilkie Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
- 30-May 4 - Final Exam Period
