Student Production examines exploitation of women dancers with new work, Blush

WHAT: Student Production in the Herberger College of Fine Arts at ASU presents Blush: Memoirs of a Young Showgirl, an original dance piece by Natalie Greene and based on her experience of working at a B-rated casino.

Student Production is a student-driven organization within the Department of Theatre that is committed to providing opportunity, resources and support to ASU students who are ready for the challenge of bringing their artistic vision to life.

WHEN: March 9-11, 2003, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: The Student Laboratory Theatre at the Prism, 851 E. Tyler Street in the Ritter Building on the ASU campus (northwest corner of Terrace and Rural, just south of University Drive).

TICKETS: $3 available at the door only

INFORMATION, TICKETS: 480-727-7877; student_production@hotmail.com

Growing up, many little girls dream of becoming ballerinas and dancers; they spend their childhood years learning tap and jazz and want nothing more than to become professional dancers. Many dedicate their lives to dance and work throughout high school and college, learning routines and becoming better at their craft.

All of this dedication and hard work, however, seems almost trivial and a waste of time when they find that the world only cares about one thing – how they look in revealing outfits. This becomes a rude awakening for many young dancers who come to realize they have spent a lifetime preparing for a career that they find meaningless, degrading and shameful.

This is the way Herberger College dance major Natalie Greene felt when she wrote the modern dance theatre piece Blush: Memoirs of a Young Showgirl. Growing up with her best friend and dance partner Kelli, she was jealous that her friend made it into the professional dance world. Kelli performed all over the world in theme parks, cruise ships, and finally at The Santa Rosa Star Casino. When Natalie went to visit her best friend at the new job, though, she found that making it into the professional dance world had come at a terrible price.

The dancers there performed vulgar dances and let themselves, Greene felt, be degraded and tricked into thinking that they were still artists. Greene says that this was an important story to tell. “I became completely disillusioned with my ambition, my industry and my art form. I wanted to show how so many of us are betrayed by contemporary society and media,” states Greene.

Blush: Memoirs of a Young Showgirl is the second show of the Student Production Spring 2003 Season. Following Blush is the new hit Broadway piece The Shape of Things by Neil Labute. This piece looks at ideas of art and manipulation in art and is scheduled to run March 30 through April 1.

Media Contact:
Megan Krause
480-965-8795
megan.krause@asu.edu