Dance at Herberger College opens its Mainstage season with New Danceworks I
WHAT: The Herberger College Department of Dance at ASU presents New Danceworks I, a modern dance concert comprising five pieces.
WHEN: Oct. 24-26, 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 27, 2 p.m.
Special Preview! The second dress rehearsal, Oct. 23, 2002, is open to the public. Same admission charge; show time is 4 p.m.
WHERE: Dance Theatre, PE East 132, 551 E. Orange St. on the ASU campus in Tempe.
TICKETS: $14 adults, $12 seniors, faculty and staff; $5 students.
INFORMATION: 480-965-6447.
Three of the Valley’s best and brightest dance artists will have their most striking works presented in “New Danceworks I.” This modern dance concert showcases the choreographic talents of three masters of fine arts (MFA) graduate students in the Herberger College Department of Dance at ASU. This is their thesis performance.
Five pieces make up this dance concert:
“Home,” in three sections, choreographed by MFA student Tara Z. Mullins and set on a total of 10 dancers; “Bridging and Branching,” in two sections, choreographed by MFA student Beverly Kerr and set on a total of six dancers; “Architecture of Myth,” in three sections, choreographed by MFA Heather Rich and set on nine dancers; “Those Awkward Unfulfilling Teenage Love Scenes From 1980s Movies,” a solo choreographed by graduate student Brad Garner and performed by Rich ; and “The Fairs,” also choreographed by Garner and performed by Kerr.
Mullins was recently awarded the 2002 ASU Faculty Women’s Association Distinguished Achievement Award. Her work, “Home,” is a culmination of her experience as a student, teacher, citizen and spiritual being.
“I began to carefully consider my own personal ideas about home while working last year with the students at Thomas J. Pappas Junior and High School for Children of Homeless Families,” Mullins says.
“Is home a place? A building? What did home mean to my grandparents? My parents? Is home outside our bodies or inside our hearts?
“‘Home’ is a three-section exploration of this idea. “Not Home” looks at my grandmother Maddelena’s brave journey from Sicily to America in the early 1900s with her aunt but without her parents. “New Home” is a comedic yet dark perspective on the American Dream, consumerism, and gender roles around the time my parents were growing up. The last piece, “Finally Home,” is a spiritual journey into the true place that is home for me, the struggles to find that place, and the relationships that strengthen it.”
The Department of Dance is committed to providing a stimulating and diverse environment where students develop as scholars, educators and artists through participation in innovative programs, residencies, performances and partnerships.
The department is nationally ranked in the top 10 by Dance Teacher Now magazine. Its graduate program is ranked 5th and its undergraduate program is ranked 9th. The ARCO Performance Arts College Guide calls the department one of the “most highly recommended programs” in the country.
Media Contact:
Megan Krause
480-965-8795
megan.krause@asu.edu