MEDIA CONTACT: Judy Moore at 847-491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

February 15, 2005

Danceworks to Feature Four World Premieres

EVANSTON, Ill. --- New choreography by Northwestern University Dance Program faculty and guest artists — including four world premieres — will be unveiled on the Evanston campus during “Danceworks 2005.”

The annual dance concert is open to the public. Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25; 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27; 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 2; 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3; 8 p.m. Friday, March 4; 8 p.m. Saturday, March 5; and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 6, at the Josephine Louis Theatre, 20 Arts Circle Drive.

Dance faculty member Billy Siegenfeld, artistic director of the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, directs this year’s edition.

The four world premieres by Northwestern dance faculty members that will be performed during the show are so new they are still untitled.

Bril Barrett, who teaches his exuberant and rhythmically complex version of funk-based rhythm-tap and is the artistic director of M.A.D.D. Rhythms, is premiering a tap dance quartet that calls for the dancers to dance in high heels rather than flat tap shoes. “It’s all about ladies being ladies while rhythmically challenging stereotypes,” said Barrett.

Joseph Mills, director of Northwestern’s Dance Program and artistic director of Mills/Works, has created a dance for seven that explores community and intimacy. 

Dance Program alumna Jenny Shore, whose work for Danceworks last year was such a hit with faculty members and audiences, has been invited back to fill the guest choreographer slot this year. The costumed dancers perform to the threatening sound of metal that is part of the score.  “The banging metal and scraping edges of forks and knives in hand make the five woeful farm girls a sinister bunch,” said Shore.

Laura Wade teaches ballet and is the ballet mistress of Chicago’s River North Dance Company. Wade’s premiere work is a quartet danced to a piano sonata by Prokofiev. The theme is about the contradictory aspects inherent in one person  — for example, stubborn can be persistent, supportive can be controlling –- that creates the mood of being pulled in two directions.

“This year, three dance faculty members are re-mounting works from repertory they created for their own companies which means that the dances will be new to Danceworks audiences,” said Siegenfeld.

Molly Shanahan, who teaches modern techniques at Northwestern and is artistic director of Mad Shak Dance Company and the recent recipient of the Elizabeth F. Cheney Chicago Dance Award, has re-created “Dream With Me The Rain,” choreographed to selections from Puccini’s “La Boheme.”

Habib Iddrisu teaches West African Dance and is the recipient of the Best Dancer Award in Ghana. Iddrisu has choreographed a traditional Ghanaian rites of passage dance.

Two short pieces by Siegenfeld from the Jump Rhythm Jazz repertory, “Don’t Cloud Up On Me” and “I’ve Got Your Number,” both use staccato-body percussion to explore the universal fit between physical containment and unsaid anger.

“We build a vast array of styles into the programming of a Danceworks show to give audiences a sense of the breadth of genres we teach at Northwestern’s Dance Program,” said Siegenfeld. “This season we offer modern dance, rhythm-tap, rhythm-jazz and the West African piece.”

Tickets are $20 for the general public; $18 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $10 for students. To order tickets by phone, call (847) 491-7282.