The pizzazz of Broadway style dance will come to Athens April 2-4 at 8 p.m. in the New Dance Theatre as the department of dance restages The 40s, Lou Conte’s classic, as part of the Dance Repertory Project.
Considered one of the masterpieces in American dance history, The 40s will feature 14 dance majors and minors in original costumes, performing to original big band music. True to the original, the show will be overseen by Conte, who will visit campus for the final rehearsals and performance. Claire Bataille, one of the original dancers, staged the piece for the campus performance.
Lisa Fusillo, head of the department of dance, calls the high-energy piece athletic, infectious and a real crowd-pleaser.
“It makes you want to get up and dance with them,” she said.
When Conte was artistic director at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The 40s was the company’s signature piece.
“It was their show-stopping number,” Fusillo said. “It would get encores. Everybody wanted to see it.”
The reconstruction of The 40s was made possible by American Masterpieces: Dance, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, which is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts with Dance/USA.
Of the grants awarded by the NEA, there is only one for dance at colleges and universities-and UGA was one of 25 institutions from across the country selected to receive this award, according to Fusillo, who originally applied for the grant two years ago.
Fusillo was looking for a project for dance students outside of modern dance and ballet. Broadway dance, she said, is a good in-between dance style. It utilizes ballet, modern and jazz skills and blends them together. The grant has been matched by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts with additional support from the UGA Parents and Families Association.
Fusillo said she’s also excited for the department’s students, who will learn a famous piece from its famous creator-“learning first-hand, not second- or third-hand.
“It’s one of the most exciting projects that we’ve done, and it really represents what we can do with the support of this university,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a very exciting show. It has everything from classical ballet to modern dance to musical theater.”
As part of the Dance Repertory Project, Rebecca Enghauser, an associate professor in the department of dance, will perform a duet with student Elizabeth Lee. Enghauser created the modern dance piece, entitled Verdant Encircled, for the UGA Arts Festival in September. The performance is set to Aaron Copland’s Variations on a Shaker Melody, which will be performed live on piano, marimba and vibraphone.
Denise Posnak, a lecturer in the department of dance, has choreographed Conclave, which explores the themes of repetition, inertia, task-oriented work and fragmentation. Conclave will be performed by a trio of female students.
Joan Buttram, an associate professor in the department of dance, has choreographed a neoclassical take on Sleeping Beauty that will be performed to Tchaikovsky’s original score.
The show also will feature Within/Without, a new contemporary ballet created exclusively for UGA by international choreographer Kennet Oberly. The ballet has a lyrical quality based on the emotions of personal relationships.
George Staib, dance professor from Emory University, will perform a solo entitled, NarcissEros.
Tickets, which are $15 and $10 for students or senior citizens, are available at the cashier’s office in the Tate Student Center, or at the door of the show. For ticket information, call (706) 542-8579.