KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Tap, ballet, bolero, rumba, hip hop, modern, jazz and flamenco — the University Dance Company’s fall concert features a cornucopia of dance forms in works by award-winning guest choreographer Bill Evans and University of Kansas dance faculty.

The concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Nov. 19 and 20, at the Lied Center of Kansas.

“Jukebox” by Evans pays homage to the Hollywood movie musicals of the 1940s with high-spirited and humorous dances featuring tap, jazz and modern dance moves, set to music by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. Evans, named one of the top three American tap dance artists by Dance Magazine in 2004, staged the dance for University Dance Company members during an October residency, in which he also taught tap and modern dance and gave a solo tap concert at the Lawrence Arts Center.

Jerel Hilding also pays homage to the musical as his ballet evokes images of whirling carousels and their colorful inhabitants. “Carousel,” which opens the fall program, was inspired by the windswept melodies for Richard Rogers’ “Carousel Waltz.” The waltz gives way to the Cuban bolero and rumba in “Circulo de Mujeres” (Circle of Women), a dance by Michelle Heffner Hayes. The performers dance as one woman or as the group that listens and commiserates in the tale of romantic love lost. The piece changes tone dramatically for the rumba section, which features traditional Cuban steps as well as a special hip-hop interlude.

Swedish songs of Hedningarna influenced Muriel Cohan’s dance “Earthsong.” Dancers throw themselves into the spirit of the throaty songs, which speak of elemental forces, passion and laughter. In Willie Lenoir’s “…of dreamscapes and flying ships,” dancers move along an imaginary field, dancing out flights of fancy and fantasy. A contemporary flamenco solo, “Exilio” (Exile), created and danced by Hayes, is performed to a song sung in Ladino by Sephardic Jewish singer Yasmin Levy. The solo uses traditional flamenco elements in idiosyncratic combinations to capture the soulful lyrics, which speak to the displacement of peoples across the world. “Jukebox” ends the program on a rousing note.

Tickets are on sale at the Lied Center, Murphy Hall and Student Union Activities box offices. They are $15 public and $10 students and seniors. Call 864-ARTS (2787) for more ticket information.