"Articulations" will be a concert of a different kind for the University of South Florida School of Theater and Dance.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published October 30, 2003
[Photo: Tim Burnaman]
Guest artist Darla Stanley and USF dance students Leah Marke and Kaitlyn Ebert rehearse.
TAMPA - The University of South Florida's Fall Dance Concert is usually one of the highlights of the local dance season, and this year's edition, "Articulations," could be a cut above.
"We're going all-out," said Sandra Robinson, the associate director of the USF School of Theater and Dance. "It's going to be a different kind of concert."
Guest artist Darla Stanley from Philadelphia has two pieces in the concert. "Elisions" is a work for 10 dancers, and "State of Shock," is a solo piece about survival set to 9:11 Blues by Toby Twining. Tonight's performance will be the premiere for that piece.
But Stanley's schedule won't allow her to perform in the second week of the concert. So instead of "State of Shock," next week's audiences will see a contemporary ballet titled "Forever Mine," choreographed by Vadim Fedotov of Orlando City Ballet and performed by Daniil Gaifullin and Stephanie Murrish, the principal dancers of the Sarasota Ballet.
The other pieces were all choreographed by USF dance faculty members. Two of those choreographers, Robinson and Lynne Wimmer, said their pieces are among the most ambitious they've ever done.
Robinson's "Walls of the Heart" was inspired by the World War II bombing of Coventry Cathedral. One of the most impressive aspects of the piece, Robinson said, is that designer Tom Lewis has created a cathedral that is destroyed and rebuilt right before the audience's eyes.
Wimmer describes her piece, "The House on J Street," as an "almost-musical" and a "a lighthearted look at paranoia." The 40-minute work uses 10 dancers, video shot by Wimmer in the Southwest and music by USF faculty member Paul Reller, who also appears in the piece.
Also on the program is John Parks' "Rags," which explores the lives of people in the inner city. It's part of a trilogy that Parks began over the summer during Anne Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project.
USF's Theater II, the more intimate and malleable of two main theaters on the Tampa campus, will be configured with a "thrust" stage, sort of a catwalk, with audience seating on each side.
The downside of that setup, Robinson said, is that it significantly reduces seating capacity. So reservations are strongly recommended.
PREVIEW: "Articulations," the University of South Florida Fall Dance Concert, runs tonight through Nov. 8 in Theatre II on USF's Tampa campus. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 for students and seniors. Call (813) 974-2323.
