TCU Fall Dance Concert onstage Nov. 3-5 at Ed Landreth Auditorium

TCU dance students will present works of classical ballet, as well as modern dance

Fort Worth

11/6/2006

TCU Ballet & Modern Dance students performed four concerts during the weekend of Nov. 3 - 5. The program, titled Live@DanceTCU,  featured premieres by Ballet & Modern Dance faculty Susan Douglas Roberts and Andrea Harris.  Li-Chou Cheng, professor of professional practice, restaged Act II of the classic ballet Giselle.  In addition, guest choreographer Michelle Dexter restaged her work Chula.  The concert featured lighting design by Roma Flowers.

Pessoa is the title of the modern dance choreographed by Susan Douglas Roberts.  Pessoa also refers to the poet's name, and it is the Portuguese word for "person."  Originally created in 2001, the dance has undergone a number of changes choreographically.  However, the essential intention remains: to convey the poetics of human presence and absence, that which binds us to time, even as it is slipping away.

Ode: Killer Bees, Y2K, and the right to a fully-automated kitchen, created by Andrea Harris and the dancers in the work, takes a tongue-in-cheek look at fear in the American media.

Chula, choreographed by guest artist Michelle Dexter, is a high-energy work that builds as it goes.  Moments of skilled partnering work will leave audience members on the edge of their seats as they find themselves mid-gasp.

Giselle, Act II is restaged by Professor of Professional Practice, Li-Chou Cheng. This ballet, first produced in 1842, is still considered the very essence of the romantic ballet.  Act II takes place in a moonlit glade inhabited by spirits or Wilis: young women who died of broken hearts.  Albrecht has come to mourn at the graveside of Giselle when he is prevented from leaving and ordered to dance to his death by Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis.  Even though Albrecht broke Giselle's heart in life, she rises from the dead to save him.  The story of Albrecht and Giselle represents one of classical ballet's most timeless tragic romances.