The University of South Carolina Dance Program will present a dynamic repertoire of classical and contemporary dance at the UofSC Dance Company’s Fall Concert, October 20-21 at the Koger Center for the Arts.
The show time for the concert is 7:30 p.m. every night. Admission is $15 for students, $20 for UofSC faculty/staff, military, and seniors 60 and older, and $22 for the public. Tickets can be purchased online at kogercenterforthearts.com or by phone at 803-251-2222. The Koger Center is located at 1051 Greene St.
The concert includes a reconstruction of the dazzling classical ballet grand pas Paquita by Associate Professor Jennifer Deckert, the first contemporary ballets Encircle by instructor Eduard Forehand and Courtly by instructor Olivia Waldrop, and Warm Hearts, hot feetan original contemporary work by assistant professor André Megerdichian.
Created in 1846, the ballet Paquita tells the story of a young Roma girl in Spain who discovers that she is of noble birth. The ballet’s third act, first staged on its own as Marius Petipa’s Grand Pas Classique in 1881, is a rousing entertainment featuring a vibrant ensemble, sparkling solo variations and a beautiful duet.
For Deckert, the ballet is satisfying on two fronts. On the one hand, it is a fundamental work in the canon of classical ballet. On the other, it is the rare ballet that allows the individual personality of the dancers to shine.
“I think one of the reasons I love this ballet so much is that although it falls into classical form, there is less rigidity and the joyful nature of the movement allows the individual personalities of the dancers to come through. “Deckert said.
“Part of our dancers’ journey as university students is to find their own voice as performers,” she adds. “I always strive to give them classic experiences that also allow for personal expression in their performances.”
Forehand is a new addition to the UofSC dance faculty who has danced with professional ballet companies such as Charleston Ballet Theater and Louisville Ballet over an 18-year career. His original Encircle, he says, is an energetic contemporary cutting-edge work that investigates movement in circular patterns.
“The circles are endless,” he explains. “It reflects the process of repetition and how we can always go back and change things. [The work] is never quite finished and keeps turning.”
Using a cast of four, Waldrop’s Courtly is an exploration that fuses contemporary ballet and social dance elements.
“I haven’t created a lot of duets with our dancers in the past and wanted to explore that,” Waldrop explains. “Although there is no separate narrative, we work to create relationships so that the audience feels the connection in every movement of the work.”
Megerdichian says Warm Hearts, hot feet, first performed on the UofSC stage in 2019, is a revamped version of his effervescent, norms-infused work that pays homage to some of America’s great dance innovators of the 20th century. As described in 2019, “I got this idea from José Limón, Martha Graham, Bob Fosse, Gene Kellyand Gwen Verdon sitting in a bar, listening to music and sharing their stories. warm hearts, hot feet belongs to them in a way, reveling in good music and winking at us.”
“Our students deliver on all fronts,” Megerdichian says of the overall gig. “The diversity of techniques and personal idioms they are able to embody will make for a performance that everyone will enjoy.”
For more information about the UofSC Dance Company Fall Concert or the University of South Carolina Dance Program, contact Kevin Bush by phone at 803-777-9353 or by email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.
