Dancers to mix jazz, ballet, African
■m rruiaaeipma aance iroupe
brings its eclectic style to the
Hult Center on Monday
By Jen West
Oregon Daily Emerald
Dance often expresses much
more than the movement of feet. It
can explore the artistic characteris
tics of a simple handshake.
Philadanco (Philadelphia Dance
Company) incorporates such cul
tural idiosyncrasies into its per
formances. The Hult Center for the
Performing Arts will present Phi
ladanco on Jan. 21 at the Silva
Concert Hall.
Joan Myers Broton, who serves
as both the troupe’s executive di
rector and artistic director, said
she founded Philadanco in 1970
for young African-American
dancers who had little or no op
portunity to perform without
leaving the community. She said
she enlisted her friends’ and rel
atives’ help, and they all worked
together to start up Philadanco.
Philadanco has now grown to
include dancers from many cultur
ai oacKgrounas and performs tor
audiences around the world, ac
cording to Dawn Marie Watson,
one of the dancers in the company.
Brown said Monday’s perform
ance will consist of two ballets
from “Messages from the Heart”
and two other selections.
‘The audience is going
to expect high energy
—but we surprise people. ”
Gabriele TesfaGuma
dancer, Philadanco
“It was supposed to be a full
evening of four ballets, but two of
the ballets (from “Messages from
the Heart”) were not to my liking,”
Brown said.
The program will also include
musical selections from Zap
Mama, an Afro-Euro a cappella
women’s ensemble; Led Zeppelin;
The Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria,
a Bulgarian female choir; and an
original score by composer
Michael Wimberly.
Japan Night
continued from page 6
shows recipients that many people
are thinking of them.
“The cranes are usually given to
someone who is sick or has suf
fered misfortune,” Honda said.
An origami booth will be one of
the activities open to visitors after
the formal events of the evening
conclude. There will also be tradi
tional Japanese games with prizes, a
Japanese club with a nonalcoholic
bar and a Japanese haunted house.
The $6 student admission ($7
general) includes the bento dinner,
one free drink, cotton candy and
entrance to all entertainment.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and close
at 9:30 p.m.
E-mail reporter Mason West
at masonwest@dailyemerald.com.
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Brown said the company’s goal
is to “expose the audience to the
work of many choreographers.”
Watson described the company’s
style of dancing as a mix of ballet,
jazz, modern and African dancing.
“You can expect a very ener
getic performance,” she said. “You
always get your money’s worth.
We dance all night long.”
She said one of her favorite
dances in the show is called
“Hands Singing Songs,” which
explores how handshaking has
evolved and changed. The slang
term for the hand gestures is
“dap,” she said, and it is the
way many African Americans
shake hands.
“It shows how expressive we
are,” Watson said.
Gabriele TesfaGuma has been
dancing with Philadanco for
five years.
“The audience is going to expect
high energy — but we surprise
people,” he said.
He predicted that audiences will
be left wondering how the dancers
maintain such high energy
throughout the performance.
“There’s always something
new happening, and it keeps per
forming fun and exciting,”
TesfaGuma said.
He added that in his experience,
the dance world is changing to em
phasize more of the technical as
pects of dancing.
A dancer’s personality shines
through the performance, he
said, and “all the dancers (in
Philadanco) are very well
trained, but it’s still important to
be able to touch people — bring
emotions to performance.”
The performance will begin at
8 p.m. following a preconcert lec
ture by Brown. The lecture is free
and open to the public. It will be
gin at 7 p.m. in Studio One at the
Hult Center.
Tickets are $18 to $26 for the
general public and $14 for youth
and students. Tickets may be pur
chased at the Hult Center box of
fice by calling 682-5000, at the
EMU Ticket Office or online at
ww w. hultcenter. org.
E-mail reporter Jen West
at jenwest@dailyemerald.com.
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