Around Columbia

USC Dance Presents Voices of Choreography

Share This Article

November 2-3

COLUMBIA, SC - The University of SC Dance Company will take the Koger Stage November 2-3 for Voices of Choreography, a concert showcasing dance works that span the gamut from neoclassical to modern styles.

Show time is 7:30pm for both evenings. Tickets for the concert are $12 for students, $16 for USC faculty/staff, military and seniors (60+) and $18 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased through the Koger Center box office at (803) 777-5112, or can be charged by phone at (803) 251-2222.

Works to be performed for the concert include:

• The South Carolina premiere of Tensile Involvement by Alwin Nikolais, a 1953 work famously featured in the 2003 film, The Company;

• Bella Folia, a piece created for the USC Dance Company by renowned Boston-based choreographer Gianni Di Marco;

• La Source, a 1968 work by George Balanchine; and,

• If Only I…, a work by dance Assistant Professor Thaddeus Davis, recipient of the Choo San Goh choreography award.

USC Dance Artistic Director Susan Anderson says the opportunity to perform Tensile Involvement, a chance made possible by a grant from USC student government, satisfies her longtime goal of educating both the students of the dance program and the audience about dance history. “Nikolais was not only known as an artistic pioneer along the lines of Warhol, but was also a composer and designer whose abstract dances combined motion with technical effects to create a complete freedom from established patterns of technique. Choosing this piece allowed us to present this iconoclastic artist’s work to a future dance audience.”

Another significant aspect of performing Tensile Involvement, she says, is that it has allowed the program’s dance education track, headed by Dianne McGhee, to develop a curriculum based on the piece to present to area public schools.

Anderson also counts as a personal highlight for the concert the development of Gianni di Marco’s Bella Folia, which the choreographer created specifically for the USC Dance Company. “Kyra Strasberg, a distinguished artist-in-residence at the dance program, danced with di Marco at the Boston Ballet, where she was a principal dancer in the company, and knew how beneficial it would be to have an original work staged on our dancers. Having this experience with Gianni enhances their readiness and individual creative processes as they work to become professionals.”

Also on the evening’s program, the USC Dance Company continues its association with the cherished works of George Balanchine with a performance of La Source, a 1968 piece that expanded on an earlier work set by the legendary choreographer to the music of the Léo Delibes ballets Sylvia and Naila. Associate Artistic Director Stacey Calvert, a former soloist with the New York City Ballet (co-founded by Balanchine), will stage this work.

For more information on Voices of Choreography or the dance program at the University of South Carolina, please contact Kevin Bush via phone at (803) 777-9353 or email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.