2013-14 USC Dance Company Season Brochure

USC DANCE COMPANY

2013 2014

SEASON

FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

SUSAN ANDERSON Each new season gives us the opportunity to present our audiences with works that inspire, entertain and achieve greater heights of artistic excellence. Our 2013-2014 Season meets and exceeds these goals, offering traditional and avant garde choreography, while showcasing the artistry of our young dancers.

The excitement gets off to a grand start in November with a onenight-only performance by Ailey II, the junior company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. We are proud to be bringing this stellar modern dance troupe to Columbia as part of the University’s commemoration of 50 years of desegregation. As part of their visit, we will be collaborating with the Ailey II and Richland School District 1 to offer master classes and curriculum centered on Ailey’s influential choreography.

Back by popular demand this season will be Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s masterwork The Great Galloping Gottschalk. Originally created for the American Ballet Theatre, this contemporary work, set to the delightful music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, is typically performed only by professional companies. Kyra Strasberg, our Distinguished Artist-in-Residence (who has performed Corbett’s choreography), was instrumental in gaining this work for USC Dance.

Stacey Calvert, Associate Artistic Director of the USC Dance Company, will again stage iconic works by George Balanchine this season, and in April will host stars from the New York City Ballet.

There will be over 50 dance majors on stage. Thanks to the valiant efforts of our USC Board of Dance, this performance will again include a fabulous gala, with exciting details to come. Look for more information soon!

Wideman/Davis Dance, our professional dance company-inresidence, was recently awarded a prestigious MAP grant from the Doris Duke Foundation to create a new work. With the award, WDD Artistic Directors Thaddeus Davis and Tanya WidemanDavis will develop a brand new evening-length choreographic work, entitled Ruptured Silence: Racist Symbolism and Signs.

Through collaboration with other professional dance artists and scholars, this dance research piece is intended to “expose and question the history of the confederate flag, its current presence and its representation in the Southern States of America.”

Our season would not be complete without our emerging young student choreographers who will bring their creativity in composition to the stage, under the direction of Cindy Flach.

Those works will be adjudicated and the best will be chosen for competition at the American College Regional Dance Festival.

Additionally, USC Dance Conservatory, with Kerri Lambert as administrative director and Stacey Calvert as curriculum director, have big plans for a new production of the ballet Peter and the Wolf with orchestra as their final performance in May. I look forward to seeing you at the theatre for a season that guarantees to be unlike any other. With brand new creations, renowned masterpieces and great classics, the repertoire is sure to excite our audiences and highlight the versatility, technical brilliance and dramatic flair of our world-class young artists. Our 2013-2014 Season is going to be spectacular!

TICKET PRICES REGULAR SEASON PERFORMANCES STUDENTS USC FACULTY/STAFF MILITARY, SENIORS (60+) GENERAL PUBLIC

BALLET STARS OF NY PERFORMANCE $12 $16 $16 $18

STUDENTS 2ND BALCONY 1ST BALCONY ORCHESTRA

AILEY II 2ND BALCONY PERFORMANCE GRAND TIER ORCHESTRA

$15 $25 $30 $35

$20 $35 $40

TO PURCHASE TICKETS CALL THE BOX OFFICE AT 803-777-5112 OR CHARGE BY PHONE AT 803-251-2222

Brochure photos byJason Ayer unless otherwise noted.

Gentry George. Photo: Eduardo Patino, NYC.

NOVEMBER 6 , 2013 SPECIAL EVENT AILEY II IN CONCERT To commemorate 50 years since the desegregation of the University of South Carolina, the USC Dance program is excited to announce a performance by critically-acclaimed Ailey II, the junior company of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Ailey II is renowned for merging the country’s best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today’s most outstanding emerging choreographers.

Special Ticket Price: Orchestra: $40 | Grand Tier: $35 | 2nd Balcony: $20 Lead Sponsor for this performance:

PERFORMANCE 7 PM KOGER CENTER FOR THE ARTS MetLife Foundation is the Official U.S. Tour Sponsor of Ailey II

DECEMBER 3-6, 2013 STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHY SHOWCASE

FUTURE PERFECT

Faculty instructor Cindy Flach leads our talented student dancers as they present an evening of outstanding original choreography.

PERFORMANCES 6 PM DRAYTON HALL THEATRE

NOVEMBER 14-15, 2013 USC DANCE COMPANY

CLASSICS OVER TIME The USC Dance Company takes the stage for an evening celebrating masters of both classical and contemporary dance. The centerpiece for the evening will be The Great Galloping Gottschalk, the celebrated work of famed ballet and Broadway choreographer, Lynne Taylor-Corbett. Rounding out the performance will be George Balanchine’s Emeralds (from his neo-classical ballet, Jewels) and a brand new work by Assistant Professor Thaddeus Davis.

PERFORMANCES 7:30 PM KOGER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

DECEMBER 3-6, 2013 WIDEMAN/DAVIS DANCE AND SLIPPAGE PRESENT

CANE Wideman/Davis Dance, directed by dance faculty Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis, and SLIPPAGE, a Duke University-based research group that explores emerging technology in live performance, present the responsive environment dancework CANE. Inspired

by Jean Toomer’s experimental 1923 text of the Harlem Renaissance, CANE explores memories of African American sharecropping held by a technologically-devised canefield.

Fusing technology, visual arts and dance, CANE suggests possibilities of shimmering mediated histories mixed in realtime via a specially-constructed responsive environment.

PERFORMANCES 8 PM DRAYTON HALL THEATRE

FEBRUARY 12-15, 2014 USC DANCE COMPANY

BREAKING THE BARRIER

Take a seat on the leading edge of dance as the USC Dance Company, under the direction of Thaddeus Davis, premieres all-new innovative dance works, featuring premiere choreography from Assistant Professor Tanya Wideman-Davis, an original work by faculty member Stephanie Wilkins and more!

PERFORMANCES 7:30 PM DRAYTON HALL THEATRE

APRIL 10, 2014 STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHY SHOWCASE

INFINITY

University dancers will take center stage for the Spring showcase of their original choreography.

PERFORMANCE 7:30 PM KOGER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

APRIL 11, 2014 9TH ANNUAL

BALLET STARS OF NEW YORK GALA PERFORMANCE

For the ninth consecutive year, we host principal dancers from the New York City Ballet for an evening of dance mastery that will leave you breathless! Under the direction of faculty member Stacey Calvert, a former soloist with the NYCB, our dancers will share the stage with top stars of the professional ballet realm and the USC Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Donald Portnoy, to present a world-class display of dance excellence!

Special Ticket Price: Orchestra: $35 | Grand Tier: $30 | 2nd Balcony: $25 Students: $15

PERFORMANCE 7 PM KOGER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

APRIL 12, 2014 SPECIAL EVENT

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF USC DESEGREGATION COMMEMORATION FEATURING

WIDEMAN/DAVIS DANCE & USC DANCE COMPANY The University’s year-long commemoration of 50 years as a desegregated institution culminates in a special event coproduced by the Department of Theatre and Dance and the School of Music. A centerpiece of the evening will be the premiere of a new work by Wideman/Davis Dance (Artistic Directors, Thaddeus Davis and Tanya WidemanDavis), commissioned by USC for this event and set to a new composition by Bert Ligon, Director of Jazz Studies at the School of Music. Theatrical performances that highlight the struggles and aspirations of the civil rights movement will be interspersed throughout the evening.

PERFORMANCE TIME TO BE ANNOUNCED KOGER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

MAY 23-24, 2014 USC DANCE CONSERVATORY

PETER AND THE WOLF

Students from the USC Dance Conservatory, our afterschool program for students aged 3-18, present the perennial favorite, Peter and the Wolf. The thrilling, timeless story of a boy who matches wits with a fearsome wolf features choreography by faculty of the conservatory and performances by our exceptional students that will delight and inspire!

PERFORMANCES MAY 23 6:00 PM MAY 24 2:00 PM DRAYTON HALL THEATRE

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE! Be a subscriber for our 2013-14 dance season and receive 15%-20% off the normal ticket price! As our thank you, our subscribers receive the best seating in the house, including orchestra seats at our premier event, Ballet Stars of NY!* Fill out and return the form enclosed with this brochure along with your payment, or print out your subscription form at our website: artsandsciences.sc.edu/dance. Then, get ready for an unforgettable season of great dance performances!

SUBSCRIPTION PRICES LEVELS

SUBS. RATE

NORM. RATE

STUDENT $90 $107 USC FACULTY/STAFF, $110 $131 MILITARY, SENIORS 60+ GENERAL PUBLIC

$120 $143

CORPORATE

$460 $572

*Subscription packages include orchestra tickets to the “Ballet Stars of NY” performance. Admission to the gala after-party is not included. Subscription packages do not include admission to Special Events (Ailey II and Desegregation Commemoration).

QUESTIONS? CALL RONA WALSTRA IN OUR MAIN OFFICE!

803-777-1001

ARTSANDSCIENCES.SC.EDU/DANCE

UNIVERSITY OF SC DANCE PROGRAM 324 Sumter St. Columbia SC 29208 803.777.5636 | dance@sc.edu