The Case Western Reserve University Department of Dance will hold performances of Confluence Feb. 25, 26 and 27 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 28 at 2:30 p.m. at Mather Dance Center.
The thesis concert includes three group works choreographed by Master of Fine Arts candidates Ziying Cui and Yidi Lin; a duet created by Karen Potter, chair of the department; and a solo by alumnus Christopher Bell (GRS ’12, dance).
Premiered in November 2015, Cui’s Intersection was inspired by Wislawa Szymborska’s poem We’re Extremely Fortunate. The ensemble work for 11 dancers is set to Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. A second group piece by Cui re-imagines an ancient Chinese ritual that had been recorded as Nine Songs by the ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan around 239-278 BC. Set to music by Matthew Burtner and Nancy Hennings, the dance features graduate dance students as well as undergraduate dance majors.
Inspired by Steve Reich’s Eight Lines, a piece of minimal music based on repetitions of only several rhythmic patterns, Lin choreographed an abstract dance work, X, to explore movements and to investigate the relationship between dance and music. Lin will also perform Untitled Chopin Solo, a piece by Bell, who holds an MFA in dance from CWRU and works in New York City as a dancer and choreographer.
Set to Elena Kats-Chernin’s Blue Silence, a duet for Cui and Lin, choreographed by Potter, will explore several complementarity properties and resultant synergies to yield planes of reflection.
Tickets are $7 for students, $10 for seniors age 60+ and CWRU personnel, and $15 for general admission. Reservations are recommended and may be made by calling 216.368.5246 or online at dance.case.edu/reservations.