Gary Schaaf
308.865.8642
UNK – “An Evening of Concert Dance 2010” will take place Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6, at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Both concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Miriam Drake Theatre in the Fine Arts Building. Tickets are $5 for general admission, faculty and staff, and free for UNK students with a valid I.D. Tickets can be reserved by calling the UNK Box Office at 308.865.8417 or e-mail boxoffice@unk.edu.
The concert will feature a variety of dance styles will including tap, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary and “popping.”
Opening the concert will be “Tap Dance XX,” choreographed by Gary Schaaf, professor and director of dance. “This will be a light, fun dance to excite and delight the audience,” Schaaf said.
Other dances included in the concert and choreographed by Schaaf will be “Struggle,” “Purple Haze” and “Mozart Concerto,” which is dedicated to the late Dr. Gary Thomas, a professor and past chair of the department of music for more than 30 years.
In addition, several student choreographed dances will be featured including, “Slow Me Down,” “Having To Say Goodbye” and “Life’s Nightmares,” all choreographed by Deidra Younghans of Hershey. A dance to “iRock Skinnies,” a “jerk” style of hip-hop and “Black and Gold,” both choreographed by Amanda Simmons of Aurora, and “Bye Bye Blackbird” choreographed by Simmons and Brittany Lewis of Grand Island will also be presented.
A traditional Tibet dance, choreographed by Jian Yuan of Senegal, titled, “Kang Ding Valentine,” will be performed in which dancers follow the lively rhythm of music and dance to express aspiring love. Yuan will also present his choreographed dance to “Red Fans,” which incorporates the use of fans as pops to express the movement of bodies in a contemporary dance style.
“Sound Groovers,” choreographed by Satoru Nishimoto of Japan, will feature a hip-hop style of dance called “lock.” Other dances include, “Chased” choreographed by Breanna Hyatt of Lincoln, “Camatose” choreographed by Danielle Policarpio of Kearney and “Hide and Seek” choreographed by Kassandra Wendell of Axtell.
The concert will also feature a quartet of men, dressed as bartenders, doing a robot style dance called “popping.” The song titled, “Aperitif” is choreographed by Yoshikatsu Noda of Japan.
