SMU Fall Dance Concert Celebrates Women’s Voices

Three exciting contemporary works, including premieres by Princess Grace Award recipient Bridget L. Moore and by Meadows Artist-in-Residence Brandi Coleman and a re-created work by New York-based choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino, will be presented at SMU Meadows School of the Arts’ Fall Dance Concert, October 24-28 in the Bob Hope Theatre at SMU.

The concert, titled “Celebrating Women’s Voices,” represents the first time Meadows has presented an entire show of works by female choreographers.

The program opens with Lavagnino’s Seize en Jeu, a work for 16 dancers set to the fourth movement of Franz Schubert’s Trio in E-flat Major. A re-creation of her 2013 work Treize en Jeu, it features additional dancers in duets, trios and solos set against a backdrop of counterpoint group entrances and exits, creating a textured picture that reflects the complex musical score. The work reflects Lavagnino’s mission to create movement that engages an audience by aligning the rigor of ballet with the humanistic performance values of contemporary dance. A former Pennsylvania Ballet soloist, Lavagnino has been a faculty member of NYU Tisch School of the Arts since 1987 and has led her own company, Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, since 2000. She has created more than 40 works that have been performed both nationally and internationally.

The program continues with the premiere of Simply, Eartha by Dallas-based choreographer Bridget L. Moore, a work celebrating the life and legacy of singer/actress/dancer/activist Eartha Kitt. The six-part work reflects collective narratives conveyed through music and dance. Moore is the founder and artistic director of B. Moore Dance, and is known for creating works that provide both cultural and kinesthetic experiences rooted in African American and global dance aesthetics. She received both a 2012 Princess Grace Foundation Choreography Fellowship Award and a 2016 Princess Grace Professional Development grant for Arts Administration. She has received choreographic commissions from numerous companies, and her work has been presented at leading venues and festivals including Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce Theater and the Ailey Citigroup Theater.

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Concluding the program is Coleman’s upbeat new jazz work And One More Thing…, highlighting strength, resilience and an unwillingness to compromise as portrayed by a group of hard-hitting, unapologetic women. The piece is based in Jump Rhythm® Technique, a rhythm-generated, vocally supported approach to movement that focuses on percussive energy as a means of expressive dancing. Coleman is the associate artistic director of Jump Rhythm® Jazz Project (JRJP), an Emmy Award-winning performing and teaching company that celebrates the communal core of jazz performance: dancing, singing and storytelling in rhythmically syncopated bursts of energy. As an artist with JRJP since 2001, Coleman has both performed and led residencies and master classes at universities, companies and festivals across the country and internationally.

Fall Dance Concert performance times are 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $14 for adults, $11 for seniors and $8 for students, SMU faculty and staff. The Bob Hope Theatre is located inside the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 214-768-2787 or visit our calendar.