May 21 & 22, 2010 at 8PM
Spencer Theatre- Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry Street
Kansas City, Mo. 64110
Tickets are $24 for adults, $18 for students, and $15 for seniors. Tickets can be purchased online here at the Central Ticket Office (816-235-6222).
Desire by Gary Abbott
Desire by Gary Abbott, co-director of Deeply Rooted Productions in Chicago, is a visually stunning work portraying the attraction of individuals for each other. Set to the music of Hans Zimmer and Geoff McCormick, three couples exchange glances, feel impulses of desire and love and the primal urge for a physical connection with each other.
To Each Her Own by Paula Weber
To Each Her Own by Paula Weber to the music of Arvo Part and Giovanni Pergolessi is a poignant work for four women depicting the similarities of the women and the distinct differences in their personalities as they choose their paths that are ever changing revealing each individual and what they are made of. Starting in simple leotards, each woman as the dance progresses becomes their individual self and the characteristics of that self is apparent as they perform and the clothing that they chose to add.
To Each Her Own is a multi media work set to the music of Edgar Meyer with choreography and video by Ruth Barnes. The starting point of Chloe/Christina is Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World. This mixed media solo pulls the observer in by synchronized live and recorded movement and challenges what the observer is seeing by disrupting the balance between the dance and the video image.
Moore in Time by Mary Pat Henry
15 minutes, 10 dancers
Inspired by the beauty of the sculpture of Henry Moore and the abstract sculpture garden at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Using the exciting frontiers in electronic music, Mary Pat Henry and the dancers will trigger electronic sensors, which create and alter the music during the performance.
Southern Exposure by Mary-Pat Henry
"Southern Exposure" is a multi-media dance/ theater work by Mary Pat Henry, inspired by the photographs and artwork of renowned artist William Christenberry’s "Klan Room". Drawing on the striking images of Christenberry and the memories of Mary Pat Henry, growing up the in South during desegregation, "Southern Exposure" asks us to question “prejudice” and look back to history to see who we were and who we are now.
Set on the artists of the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company and using the pop music from the 60’s, social conscious jazz artists such as Nina Simone, gospel artists, and an original score , in collaboration with the Marrs Sound Archives, "Southern Exposure" is a music journey to an era and a people that defined America at its best and its worst. With original film by video artists Steven Cadie and scenic/costume designer Antonia Roberts, "Southern Exposure" embodies, visually, a pivotal time in America full of social graces and racial prejudice.
Whether it is racial injustice or prejudice concerning gender, political, or cultural bias, "Southern Exposure" hopes to create an open dialogue in communities. This thirty minute work will be performed in collaboration with other works such as "Trains" by Mary Pat Henry to the music of Stephen Reich about the trains bound for the Nazi concentration camps, "Church of Nations" by Kevin Iega Jeff that questions the idea, "Is there such a thing as a just and holy war?", and the light hearted and humorous "Whispering Bench" by Mary Pat Henry looking at gossip and its effects.
The performance will include a community component with community leaders/activists with seminars to dialogue about prejudice, as well as open discussions with high school students who will attend the concert.