Athens, Ga. – The Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company of Salt Lake City, Utah, will be in residence at the University of Georgia department of dance from Oct. 15-17 with a public performance on Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. in the New Dance Theatre.
Primary support for the residency is provided by a grant from the Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. The Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company is the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which also supports the residency.
Founded in 1964 by Shirlie Ririe and Joan Woodbury, then dance professors at the University of Utah, the company has performed in every state in the U.S. as well as internationally. As part of its mission, the Ririe-Woodbury company stresses its commitment to “furthering contemporary dance as an accessible and valued art form through performance and dance education that raise the standards, deepen the understanding and promote personal connections with dance.”
The UGA residency will include the performance of a newly choreographed piece by Charlotte Boye-Christensen, the company’s artistic director. Boye-Christensen has been commissioned to create new works for the Milwaukee Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Cuba’s Ballet de Camaguey and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Second Avenue Dance Company. The performance will also include choreography by Karole Armitage, Ann Carlson and Larry Keigwin.
A variety of master classes will be available to students in the UGA department of dance during the residency, and the six members of the company will take part in lecture demonstrations that will be open to the public Oct. 16 from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and 12:30-1:45 p.m. at the department of dance. The residency will culminate with the Oct. 17 public performance.
The performance “is a great opportunity to see these works of art by the various choreographers in one repertory concert, and to see the dances performed by six outstanding performers who are selected from throughout the U.S.,” said Bala Sarasvati, the UGA Jane Willson Professor in the Arts, modern dance program coordinator and artistic director of CORE Concert Dance Company.
Admission to the performance is $10 for students and senior citizens and $15 for general admission. To purchase advance tickets, see the UGA Tate Center box office, call 706/542-8579, or see tate.uga.edu/tickets.
The New Dance Theatre is located between Soule and Green streets across from the South Campus parking deck. For more information on the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, see www.ririewoodbury.com.
UGA Willson Center for Humanities and Arts
The Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts is a unit of the Office of the Vice President for Research at UGA. In the service of its mission to promote research and creativity in the humanities and arts, the Willson Center sponsors and participates in numerous public events on and off the UGA campus throughout the academic year. It supports faculty through research grants, lectures, symposia, publications, visiting scholars, visiting artists, collaborative instruction, public conferences, exhibitions, and performances. For more information on the Willson Center, see www.willson.uga.edu.