The Department of Dance will present the annual ‘Complex Rhythms’ dance concert in the Power Center for the Performing Arts. Performances run from Feb. 7 through Feb. 10.
The concert will feature works by four choreographers who will draw from African and African-American aesthetic forms.
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The featured works will include the restaging of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s 20th-century masterpiece “Shelter,” created in 1988. The performance is an unsentimental commentary about homelessness and disenfranchisement.
Alumna Jennifer Harge will premiere a new work titled, “studio a: will you die with me?” Harge describes the piece as a ritualistic practice aiming to rupture oppressive practices embedded in modern and postmodern dance.
Two members of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s dance faculty will also showcase their artistic work.
Robin Wilson, associate professor of dance, will perform new work inspired by themes and textures from Cuba, where she will travel in May. The dance will be set to live music by members of the Detroit jazz group, Straight Ahead, which includes Marion Hayden, lecturer II in music at SMTD.
Highlighting work of legendary jazz composer Leonard Bernstein, Bill DeYoung, professor of dance, will perform choreography to Bernstein’s “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs.” While Bernstein was well known for his music compositions and conducting, he also was outspoken in his political views and strong desire to further social change.
Tickets for all performances are available at tickets.smtd.umich.edu/single/eventlisting.aspx.
