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08.18.2005

Contact: Sally Corbett, 404.727.6678, sally.corbett@emory.edu or Nancy Condon, 404.727.6687, nancy.condon@emory.edu

RELATIONSHIPS, NATURE AND MUSIC INSPIRE NEW CHOREOGRAPHY IN EMORY DANCE FACULTY CONCERT

Written by Anna Leo
The Emory Dance Program opens the 2005-2006 season with a concert featuring work by the full-time dance faculty. Performances are Friday-Saturday, Sept. 16-17 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 18 at 3 p.m. in the Dance Studio of the Schwartz Center. Tickets go on sale September 8 for the general public and September 6 for Emory faculty, staff, students, and Friends group members. Tickets, available by calling 404-727-5050 or online at www.arts.emory.edu, are $10 and $7 for students with I.D., children 12 and under, Emory faculty and staff, professional artists, patrons over 65, members of arts at Emory Friends groups and other dance discount category members.

Program director Sally Radell presents two pieces for the concert weekend, each showcasing cast members who are related to each other. Radell says of her work: "I love to combine autobiographical text, props and movement to explore real-life challenges and dilemmas." "Car Talk," choreographed for Radell and her six-year-old son, Jackson Moore, combines all of these elements and includes a fleet of toy-radio-controlled cars. Radell's new trio features a score by composer and Emory staff member Kendall Simpson and is performed by mother and daughter dancers Suyenne and Julia Mulatinho Simões, along with 2005 Emory graduate Rose Benavente.

Gregory Catellier has also created a work around a family member. "Working Honeymoon," a duet for Catellier and wife Camille Jackson, was created during a weeklong stay last May at Split Tree Farm, a dance retreat and working farm in north Georgia. "This was the first vacation Camille and I had since our nuptials in October. Since we were working on the dance during our stay at Split Tree, it became our 'working honeymoon'. The work itself follows the arc of a relationship." The piece was choreographed in sections opening with "They meet and dance" and ending with "After ecstasy the laundry." Catellier will also design the lighting for all works on the concert.

George Staib began work on his new piece for 12 dancers with music by George Frederick Handel last spring. A musician as well as a choreographer and dancer, Staib's work is often inspired by music. "This piece satisfies a long-time desire to work with baroque choral music. I am hoping that through the movement choices, the viewer will be able to find the humor within the labored, and meaning amidst the frivolity," says Staib of the dance. This piece showcases professional dancers from the Atlanta community.

"Equally Possible," Lori Teague's new duet, will feature herself and adjunct faculty member D. Patton White. These two artists have collaborated in the past and continue that relationship in building this work. "Patton and I share a genuine love of improvisational performance. Our stories (verbal and non-verbal) get tangled in the space enough to allow us to see where to expand or hone in. There is complete honesty, no fear and abandonment in the building of the work."
Anna Leo premieres her first solo for herself since 1982. Titled "Sun Dial," the work was initially inspired by the natural sunlight and the shapes it created on the floor of the Schwartz Center dance studio. "I structured the piece on the 24-hour cycle of a day. Movement phrases in specific areas of the stage, and dramatic lighting work together to create metaphors for the idea of transformation." Steven Everett of the Emory Music Department has created an original score for the piece.

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