Russell H. Miller Theatre, FAC
April 24-27, 2025
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday • 7:30 PM
Sunday Matinee • 2:00 PM
The Western Kentucky University’s Department of Theatre & Dance continues to flourish on the hill as the only institution in Kentucky accredited by the National Association of Schools of Dance. You can see the WKU Dance Program in action as they conclude their season with their performance of Evening of Dance, featuring the WKU Dance Company performing an inspiring variety of ballet, jazz, modern, and tap dance choreography. Audiences of all ages will be intrigued by the skill and artistry displayed through this imaginative and profound dance concert.
This annual concert includes an array of dance styles and genres from classical to contemporary choreography created by WKU dance faculty and nationally acclaimed guest artists. The concert features work in styles from contemporary ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and beyond. Wired, choreographed by Associate Professor Anna Patsfall, is an abstract contemporary ballet inspired by the Video Art movement of the 1960’s. Choreographer Roberto Sifontes has revived his work Le Soirée de la Conte, which uses intricate contemporary ballet partnering work to explore the complexities of human relationships. Associate Professor Meghen McKinley’s choreography Sit, Stand, Lay uses modern dance to explore positions that are common and natural on a couch, which is a staple in every household, but embraces distinct and differing experiences. The Ripple Effect, choreographed by Amanda Poitras explores vulnerability while highlighting the dual nature of emotional resonance – how joy, compassion, and trust expand as readily as pain, fear, and indifference. Professor Amanda Clark transports the audience back to the 1960s in her work All Show and No Go, where jazzy, yet percussive movement provides a visual and aural scrapbook of memories.The concert also features Zugzwang, a choreographic work from one of our senior dance majors. Zugzwang is about the necessity of moving in chess when it is to a player’s disadvantage and parallels human experience.
Another highlight of this year’s concert is two choreographic works by national guest artists Eboné C. Amos and Victor Alexander. Eboné Camille Amos is an Assistant Professor of African American Studies in the Theatre and Dance Department at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee where she teaches African American history and culture. Audiences will get another opportunity to experience her work Freedom Summer, which premiered in our fall performance of WinterDance. Freedom Summer is a contemporary dance work that explores the magnetic power of the “cool” within African American cultural expression; exploring how this aesthetic can invite people from all backgrounds to appreciate the revolutionary spirit and authentic style through movement. Victor Alexander is a native of Cuba. He trained at the National Dance School in Havana and was a principal dancer for the National Contemporary Dance Company of Cuba for ten years. Alexander is currently the director of the Ruth Page School of Dance in Chicago, Illinois. His piece is titled Echoes of Silence: A Dance of Lost Heritage. This work captures both the idea of something missing (the absence) and the emotional reverberations (echoes) of that loss, while connecting it to the ancestral traditions that are no longer with us. The WKU Dance Company enjoyed having both Amos and Alexander on campus for guest residencies where they taught master classes and created and rehearsed their original choreography with the dancers.
The WKU Dance Company, the resident dance ensemble of the Department of Theatre & Dance, is composed of 37 dance majors and minors. Faculty and students began working on this concert in January and view it as the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work and dedication. The concert length is approximately 90 minutes. Performances will occur in Russell Miller Theatre within the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center on the WKU Bowling Green campus. Performances run April 24-27th, 2025, at 7:30pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and 2pm on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased in advance at wku.showare.com or at the door.
The WKU Dance Program invites high school students interested in the WKU Dance Program to participate in the Spring Dance Day, held on Sunday, April 27th. For more information about the Dance Program and events, visit https://www.wku.edu/theatre-and-dance/.
Ticket Information:
April 24-27, 2025
Russell H. Miller Theatre, FACThursday, Friday & Saturday at 7:30pm CST
Sunday at 2pmAdults $17
Students/Seniors (62+) $12
Wku.showare.com
-submitted by WKU Department of Theatre & Dance
Photo credits: E. Shura Pollatsek and Black Box Media, Inc.
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