Release date: April 18, 2002
Contact: Sally Corbett, Director of Public Relations News and Information, Arts,
at 404-727-6678 or sacorbe@emory.edu

"Tilt" to Feature Work of Eight Emory Student Choreographers

"Tilt," Emory Dance Company's Spring Concert, features eight dynamic new works that explore the variety of human emotions and perspectives. The Emory Dance Program will present "Tilt" April 25-27 at the Mary Gray Munroe Theater, located in Emory's Dobbs Center (third floor), 605 Asbury Circle, Emory. The number for tickets and information is 404-727-5050.

Among the choreographers presenting new works is Kathleen Wessel. Her work for eight dancers translates the frenzy of everyday life into movement. Wessel draws on personal experience and other dancers for inspiration.

"I have set out on an exploration of the controlled versus the uncontrolled," says Wessel. "To release and immediately regain composure is a rare ability in life, but a source of infinite possibilities in movement."

Wessel also explores the ways that her dancers' diverse personalities can provide motivation and insight, infusing a single piece of movement with the dynamics of their individuality.

Another highlighted work is "One Moment," a composition by Katherine Dunn, which features an original sound score created by Drew Boles. Boles, an Emory honors student in music composition, arranged the work from common phone company recordings, such as operators' voice scripts and busy signals. "One Moment" leaves intentional space for investigation onstage, allowing each performance to live in a solitary moment. Dunn strives to heighten the audience's sense of the unanticipated by layering her choreography with Bole's sound score.

Power and athleticism are at the core of Lindsay Belton's work, "Kinetic Kaleidoscope." Belton explores shape in dance by creating physical, almost gymnastic sculptures with the bodies of her five dancers. She complements these sculptures with an angular, energetic movement vocabulary. The result is an explosive display of strength amid an array of linear patterns and geometric contours in space.

"Performance is like playing," explains choreographer Stacey Menchel. Through a lyrical/jazz and ballet vocabulary, her work investigates the emotional variety that people are capable of in their day-to-day interactions. Her dancers engage a range of expressions from quirky to theatrical, as they investigate the many ways that chairs can be used both as props in dance, and as tools to create new movement.

Jacqi Levy presents a work in which contrast and dynamic change provide the backdrop for an investigation of the psychological need for control. Set to music by Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet, the piece takes advantage of unexpected tempo changes to play with the ways that a loss of control can be translated into movement. In Levy's untitled work, the dancer is often driven by an outside force, resulting in a body that is at times detached and mechanical, and at others released and feverishly tossed about.

Casey Viggiano, a theater studies major at Emory, became involved in the Emory Dance Program while attempting to design a musical theater curriculum for herself at Emory. Viggiano uses the sounds of today's popular rock and electronica, namely the groups Incubus, Eve 6 and Mirwais. Delving into the atmospheres created by these scores, she explores the sights, sounds and emotions of the nightlife of young adult women.

Two-time choreographer for Emory Dance Company Lauren Gordon uses a hybrid of modern and ballet techniques in her latest work for six dancers. She investigates posture, gesture, directness and flow in a work that is inspired by her research into how coupling dance and touch therapy promotes movement.

Courtney L. Emery presents "Cling," a work for four dancers set to music by John Cage. Emery examines the ways in which women can, but do not always, provide a source of resilience in each other's lives through her exploration of connection between dancers.

Tickets for "Tilt" are $6 general admission and $4 for Emory students with ID, senior citizens, and children 12 and under. Advanced ticket purchase is recommended, as performances usually sell out. For tickets or more information, call 404-727-5050, email boxofice@emory.edu, or visit www.emory.edu/ARTS/.

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