The Department of Dance at Case Western Reserve University will open the 2019-20 season with Avanti, a presentation of new and revisited works.
Performances will be held Nov. 1–2 and 7–9 at 8 p.m., and Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m. All performances are at Mather Dance Center.
Headlining the program will be Like Fragments from an Old Song, created for the graduate dancers by internationally acclaimed guest choreographer Pam Tanowitz. Alongside this work is the return of the historic and lyrical Air for the G String by modern dance pioneer Doris Humphrey, and the fast-paced Caffeinated by guest choreographer Larry Keigwin. Rounding out the program is a second restaging of Gary Galbraith’s Islands of Desire, which premiered in 2014, and his new work Brothers, featuring the department’s male dancers.
Like Fragments from an Old Song is set to and inspired by Broad and Free, a composition for violin and piano by contemporary composer Caroline Shaw. The work was created during Tanowitz’s eight-day CWRU residency in September and explores fragmented movements woven together by the dancers’ connectivity and intuition, with an homage to the history of Mather Dance Center.
Returning to the Mather stage is Caffeinated, an energetic and charming dance set to Philip Glass’ Glasspiece #3. The work was commissioned by New York University’s dance department and was expanded in 2018 by Jaclyn Walsh, Keigwin’s regisseur, for a cast of 12 CWRU dancers that includes graduate students and undergraduate dance majors.
The department will again present Doris Humphrey’s graceful, sculptural and processional quintet Air for the G String set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air from his Orchestral Suite #3 in D Major.
Department of Dance Professor and Artistic Director Gary Galbraith will reprise his sensual duet Islands of Desire, which explores the travails of a couple who long to reconnect but are hampered by the ever present multimedia that infuses the lovers’ personal space.
Brothers, a new dance work by Galbraith, showcases seven of the men in the dance department. Set to the music of Barbatuques, Brothers brings forward a camaraderie among the men in a highly rhythmic and dynamic field of motion. Drawing from the strengths of the men, this dance has a tribal quality yet remains a contemporary, communal ensemble.
Tickets are $10 for students, $12 for seniors ages 60+ and CWRU personnel, and $15 for general admission. Student discounts are not available for the Nov. 9 performance.
Reservations are recommended and may be made by calling 216.368.5246 or online at dance.case.edu/reservations.