Hip-Hop, ballet and acrobat-influenced dance make ASU’s Herberger Mainstage Spring Dance Collection a concert not to be missed

TEMPE, Ariz. – ASU Herberger Mainstage Dance presents one of its most variety-filled events of the year when faculty and students take the stage to perform nine original works for the Spring Dance Collection concert, March 25-28.

One of the featured pieces for the concert, “Pedestrian Groove,” was choreographed by Thaddeus Davis, a visiting artist named one of the top 25 dancers to watch by Dance magazine. Davis, 34, is a former athlete and ballet dancer who is now a choreographer and worked with ASU students during a residence in January. His choreography is athletic, dynamic and sensual – his style unconventional. He is a member of the Donald Byrd The Group company in New York.

Davis’s choreography method is to “take a non-linear idea and process it into a linear idea,” he says. Although his choreography contains elements of ballet, Davis says he is “exploring how to take that knowledge but not use it too much.” The result is precise choreography with refreshing new movements.

Another highlight of Spring Dance Collection is “Farewell,” a work for one dancer and a musician, choreographed by retiring professor Cliff Keuter. “Farewell,” is dedicated to Kathy Lindholm Lane, an ASU dance professor who died of cancer in January. “It is a farewell to Kathy and a farewell to time,” says Keuter.

Keuter has been a choreographer since 1970 and founded dance companies in New York and California before coming to ASU. He is currently the resident choreographer for the Center Dance Ensemble in Phoenix and has worked with modern dance greats Martha Graham, Anna Sokolow and Daniel Nagrin, to name a few.

ASU dancers will perform seven other works for Spring Dance Collection:

• “Unraveled,” choreographed by visiting professor Cynthia Roses-Thema, is a 
  
• contemporary ballet solo that incorporates hip-hop and acrobatic movement. Roses-Thema is a former principal ballerina for the Chicago and Cincinnati ballet companies who obtained her master of fine arts degree in dance from ASU.
  
• “On the Threshold,” choreographed by assistant professor Melissa Rolnick, is a kinetic response to Bach’s Cello Suites that is set on 14 dancers. Rolnick studied with Merce Cunningham and has performed nationally and internationally. Her recent work involves movement research with refugees of the Phoenix, Ariz. Survivors of Torture program.
  
• “Not Yet Titled,” choreographed and performed by visiting professor Karen Schupp, is a dancer’s search for balance while caught in the whirlwind of her thoughts.
  
• “Circumstance,” choreographed by graduate student Elizabeth Young, allows four dancers to spontaneously react to a percussionist, and vice-versa. 
  
• “Strange but True,” choreographed by graduate student Min Kim, is set on seven dancers and is influenced by Kim’s Asian culture.
  
• “Memories,” choreographed by undergraduate student Yeong Lee, is a solo for a woman who uses a chair in her exploration of the past.
  
• “Folding,” choreographed by undergraduate student Sarah Holcman, is a trio.

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