Ohio University’s Dance Division presents the 2019 Winter Dance Concert

Ohio University 2019 Winter Dance Concert, February 22–23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.

Celebrating 50 years of artistic inquiry and creative excellence, OHIO’s Dance Division presents the annual Winter Dance Concert for two nights only, Friday, Feb. 22, and Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, with a reception in the lobby following the Friday performance.

One of the Dance Division’s largest annual productions, the concert features six works by current faculty, guest artists and alumni, performed by undergraduate students from the Dance Division, and with lighting design by Lighting Designer/Technical Director John Bohuslawsky.  Spoken text, original music, unique set design and costumes and themes that trace our shared human experience make the concert distinctly intimate and engaging.

This year’s guest artists include Lisa Ford Moulton and OHIO alumna Jessica Lynn Fox based in Huntington, West Virginia, Jesse Keller Jason of The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, and Ohio-based choreographer Tom Evert. Dance Division Associate Lecturer Nathan Andary and Artistic Director Travis Gatling will also present original choreography.

 “The School of Dance was established by Shirley Wimmer in 1969 and in 2019, we are honoring and celebrating 50 years of dance education through the integration of the creative, physical, intellectual, and cultural practices of dance in our studio, classroom, and performance experiences,” Gatling said. “As part of our celebration, this year’s Winter Dance Concert will feature works choreographed and performed by alumni, as well as choreography by faculty and guest artists. We hope that the public will join us in recognizing 50 years of dance excellence as it continues to inspire, challenge, and move all of us.”

The dances include:

• “Bayou Blue,” inspired by one of Gatling’s previous works entitled “Before the Rain,” choreographed in 2007. He decided to revisit the original work to elaborate on themes of southern culture, particularly that of New Orleans. Through the rich musical heritage of blues and jazz, “Bayou Blue” explores the South's leisure pace and strong sense of community in times of celebration and sorrow.
• “The Drape of Night's Call” mines the depths of the human bodyand its ability to adapt and endure. Through the grieving of the loss of his mother, Andary's unique choreographic language explores the layers within human expression and its ensuing movement. International musician and composer Tom Berich’s timeless and eerie soundscape reveals the dancers' most internal movement expressions. The set design is by Bohuslawsky.
• Tracing memories through movement, “Memory Scroll 437: the things that stick to us,” choreographer Fox pulls from the history that lives within us as a collective body of stories to unfold. The charcoal notates both the real and imaginary sense of the self from the past, present, and the future, to find what is held/released/yet to be discovered within the walls of this thing we know as the body.
• Suffering, grief, and pain, whether anticipated or unforeseen, whether of the body, mind, or spirit, vex each and every person at some point in life. Although the specifics of pain are individual, affliction is universal to the human experience. “He Left a Heart Grown Tender,” choreographed by Moulton, explores the purpose of suffering, the journey of grief, and the personal and collective growth that can be initiated by painful experiences, chronic or acute.
• “The President” premiered in 1986 as the first dance Evert choreographed for his dance company, DANCEVERT, and it may also be one of his most popular and performed regularly over the years. This archetypal character dance revels in the trials and tribulations of the Chief of State.
• "I'm not myself you see" was initially choreographed in 2009 by Keller Jason at Ohio University as her senior project and she has restaged the work to be presented in the Winter Dance Concert. The solo explores Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel, “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,” and Keller Jason portrays Alice as she travels through her peculiar, haunting, and transformative adventures. 

The concert is free for all OHIO students with valid ID, thanks to Arts for OHIO.

General admission tickets are $12 and available for purchasing by calling the Memorial Auditorium Ticket Office at 740-593-1780.

There will be a special reception Friday evening, Feb. 22, directly following the performance to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Dance program at OHIO. This reception is free and open to the public.