Student dancers will perform four contemporary works, including a selection from “Walking with Pearl…Africa Diaries,” during the Spring Dance Concert, set for Thursday, March 21, through Sunday, March 24, in the Belk Theater of the Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts. Performances will be at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday.
“Walking with Pearl…Africa Diaries,” choreographed in 2004 by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Urban Bush Women, is inspired by the work and writings of Pearl Primus, an African American modern dance choreographer and anthropologist who kept extensive diaries on her research into the cultures of Africa. An excerpt of the piece was restaged for students by members of the Urban Bush Women during the group’s week-long campus residency in January. Assistant professor of dance Kim Jones coached the students for their upcoming performance.
The concert also will feature “Voices,” choreographed in 2003 by dance professor Sybil Huskey with Suzanne Renner and performed to the experimental “Dolmen Music” by Meredith Monk. The three parts – “Lullaby,” “Aria” and “Ballad” – explore the dichotomies of life and the many voices and messages that shape individuals. For this special 10th-anniversary revival, Dance Department alumni Kara Woods Boulware, Ashleigh Dearing Eller and Jana Smith, who premiered the work in 2003, will return to campus for the opening night performance.
Associate professor of dance E.E. Balcos choreographed “A Night at the Opera,” which sets contemporary movement to four popular selections from operatic repertoire: Puccini’s “Nessun dorma,” Mozart’s “Queen of the Night” aria, the “Flower Duet” from Delibes’ Lakmé and "Libiamo ne' lieti calici," the famous toasting duet from Verdi’s La Traviata.
“Come, meet me at the threshold,” created by assistant professor Gretchen Alterowitz in collaboration with the six cast members, ponders places of transition, those in-between moments where the future becomes present and the present becomes past.
Tickets are $14; $9 for UNC Charlotte faculty, staff and seniors; and $6 for students. For more information, call 704-687-1849.