ASU Herberger Mainstage New Danceworks II concert features energetic, multimedia works

TEMPE, Ariz. - ASU Herberger Mainstage Dance will present a concert of energetic choreography and multimedia works during New Danceworks II , Jan. 27-30.  Master of Fine Arts candidates Casey Blake and Leanne Schmidt, along with guest choreographer Mark Haim and faculty member Karen Schupp, will set five dance works on ASU dancers.

Blake, currently pursuing her master's degree in dance and technology, created the multimedia piece the eyes of the i's in collaboration with award-winning visual artist and ASU graduate student Arina Melkozernova and composer and ASU doctoral student Nahla Mattar. The work, set on eight dancers, examines the role of everyday technology in the construction of personal identity.   Blake, Melkozernova and Mattar recently returned from Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey where they presented the interdisciplinary project at the Third International Symposium of Interactive Media Design.

Haim, currently on the faculty at the University of Washington, is originally from New York and has created new works for several dance companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He has taught at the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and also at the American Dance Festival. His work, Daisy , performed by Leanne Schmidt, is a quirky, energetic look at a field of daisies.

Schmidt choreographed two works for the concert. Modern is Now, Isn't It? pokes fun at the clichés of modern dance and is set on seven dancers. The English Suites is set on four dancers to the music of English Suite No. 4 , by Sebastian Bach. Last year, Schmidt's work Drawn earned her a nomination as best student choreographer at the Kennedy Center's National College Dance Festival held in Washington, D.C.

Schupp is a performer, choreographer and lecturer in the Department of Dance and also is co-artistic director of Schupp/Shaw, a Phoenix dance company. She will set her piece Re-searching , a highly physical work based on the art of Ana Mendieta, on seven dancers. Schupp recently received an ASU Devil's Advocate Award for her contributions to the ASU community.

WHEN: Jan. 27, 28, 29 at 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.

WHERE: Dance Studio Theatre, PE East 132, 551 E. Orange St., on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe

TICKETS: $15 adults; $13 seniors, faculty, staff and ASU alumni; $5 students. Buy-one, Get-one free on the first Friday of any Mainstage production.

INFORMATION: 480-965-6447

The Department of Dance in the ASU Herberger College of Fine Arts is nationally ranked in the top 10 by Dance Teacher magazine. Its graduate program is ranked fifth and its undergraduate program is ranked ninth. The ARCO Performance Arts College Guide calls the department one of the "most highly recommended programs" in the country. To learn more about the Department of Dance, visithttp://dance.asu.edu/ 

Media Contact:
Denise Tanguay 
480.965.7144
denise.tanguay@asu.edu