New Danceworks II showcases ASU student and faculty choreography from the Herberger College of Fine Arts

TEMPE, Ariz. - Herberger College dance students and faculty will choreograph and perform the best of their repertoire this school year during the New Danceworksseries of concerts held in January and March on the ASU Tempe Campus. The series, part of the Department of Dance graduate curriculum, is the culmination of rigorous study by emerging artists who are establishing new techniques and trends that will change the face of modern dance.

New Danceworks II , Jan. 26-29, features a total of six works highlighting the research and choreogprahpy of Master of Fine Arts candidates Laura Atwood, Nickole Lanham, and Natalie King with additional choreography by faculty Karen Schupp and Jennifer Tsukayama, and guest choreographer Casey Blake.

Atwood choreographed two works for the concert.  "Enmeshed in Yellow" is a solo performed by Julia Vessey, inspired by the Charlotte Perkins Gilman short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." Atwood designed the lighting, costumes, set and video for the piece. The work "Broken," set on eight dancers, is about human sex trafficking of young women.   It was inspired in part by Atwood's travel to India last summer.

Blake's "5 of the 15 Ways He Did Not Complete Me" is a solo performed by Natalie King. King will set her work "What is Your Game Face?" on nine dancers. She also designed the costumes and set for the performance, which challenges the assumptions that female athletes cannot be feminine.

Schupp, a faculty member and artistic director of the concert, choreographed "Hello My Name is Deb" for a solo performance by Laura Atwood. Tsukayama, assistant professor, will set her work "Raw" on two dancers, Nickole C. Lanham and Jean Kelley. Lanham's performance incorporates thesis research in dance conditioning.

Tickets for the New Danceworks series are $5-18 and available online at http://herbergercollege.asu.edu/mainstage/or through the Herberger College Box Office, 480-965-6447.   New Danceworks II is Jan. 26-28, 7:30 p.m. and Jan. 29, 2 p.m.; New Danceworks III is March 2-4, 7:30 p.m. and March 5, 2 p.m. All concerts are in ASU's Dance Studio Theatre, PE East 132, 551 E. Orange St.

The Department of Dance, rated among the top 10 programs in the country, is a division of the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University. To learn more, visit http://dance.asu.edu 

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