Axe ’Em, Jacks!
The Stephen F. Austin State University dance program will present "Danceworks" November 15 - 17.NACOGDOCHES, Texas-The Stephen F. Austin State University dance program will present "Danceworks," a concert featuring the SFA Repertory Dance Company and student choreographic projects, Nov. 15-17 in the Norton H.P.E. Complex dance studio, Room 201, on the SFA campus.
Co-directed by professors Stan Bobo and Elizabeth Rhodes of the SFA Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, the concert will feature works by dance program faculty members, guest artists and five dance majors.
Bobo contributes "'Twixt Dusk and Dawn," an innovative and popular tap work that was premiered last year and has been restaged for this year's company. Adjunct faculty member Heather Samuelson will debut a contemporary ballet quartet to Claude Debussy's "Claire de Lune," which Samuelson has created especially for four company members. Rhodes brings back a straightforward jazz dance study to Dave Brubeck's "Take Five." The piece allows nine dancers to playfully explore the manipulation of geometric jazz dance phrases. The title of the work is "9 x 5."
Guest artist Holly Williams of the University of Texas at Austin conducted a residency for dance program students and restaged her signature work "Black Magic," a delightful and musical work to the rhythms and vocals of Louis Prima and Tony Bennett. The work has received accolades from across the nation and was performed at the American College Dance Festival Association's Gala at the Kennedy Center. Former SFA dance faculty member Christy Sadler Gorman also returns as a guest to restage her haunting lyrical work "Beyond the North Wind," which was inspired by a trip she took to Stonehenge. Jan Simonds' percussive "Inner Origins" also will be featured. Simonds is a former dancer with the Jose Limon Company and professor emeritus at University of Houston Clear Lake.
In addition to the performances, guests also may donate canned food items for the Nine Flags Christmas Festival "Stock the Pantry" Canned Food Drive sponsored by the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau. All canned food items donated will be given to local charities to benefit Nacogdoches County residents.
Performance times are 7 p.m. Nov. 15 and 16, and 3 p.m. Nov. 17. Tickets, which will be sold at the door, are $10 for general admission, $8 for senior citizens and SFA faculty and staff members, and $5 for students. Cash and checks will be accepted. The box office, located in the lobby of the Norton HPE Complex, will open one hour before curtain. For further information, call (936) 468-1812, or e-mail dance@sfasu.edu.