USC Dance Company Celebrates Classics Old and New Nov. 14-15

November 1, 2013

COLUMBIA, SC – November 14-15, 2013

 The University of South Dance Company will present Classics Over Time November 14-15 at the Koger Center for the Arts.
 
Classics Over Time will celebrate masters of dance from both the classical and modern eras.  Scheduled works include: The Great Galloping Gottschalk, the celebrated work of famed ballet and Broadway choreographer, Lynne Taylor-Corbett; Emeralds, the first part of George Balanchine’s Jewels suite; and, Mass Hysteria, a brand new work by Assistant Professor Thaddeus Davis.
 
Distinguished Artist-in-Residence Kyra Strasberg, rehearsal director for The Great Galloping Gottschalk,describes it as “like a puzzle…so complicated and intense that eachpiece is a masterpiece in itself.”  Taylor-Corbett is the Tony-nominatedchoreographer of such Broadway successes as Swing!, Chess and Titanic, in addition to the films Footloose and My Blue Heaven. She was commissioned by Mikhail Baryshnikov while he was artistic director of American Ballet Theatre to create The Great Galloping Gottschalk,the idea for which she has said was directly inspired by the music ofthe popular 19th-century composer, Louis Moreau Gottschalk. 

 

Ailey

The USC Dance Company will perform Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s ballet masterpiece, The Great Galloping Gottschalk, November 14-15, 2013 during Classics Over Time.

 

 
“Lynne Taylor-Corbett is the most detail oriented choreographer alive,” says USC Dance Artistic Director Susan Anderson.  “She also has a great theatrical eye, and that’s infused throughout the piece.  It has personalities involved in it, and stories within stories within stories.”

Emeralds represents not only the iconic style of its creator, the legendary American choreographer George Balanchine, but also the world of the French ballet in the early 19th-century “romantic” era.  The first in Balanchine’s three-part 1967 masterpiece, Jewels, Emeralds is set to the music of French composer Gabriel Fauré and has been described in The New York Times as moving with “a solemn, seamless grace while instilling…a sense of enchantment.”  The abstract movements of Jewels were inspired by Balanchine’s love of the priceless gems of famed jeweler Claude Arpels, (Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds) and each pay homage to a different composer and style of dance.
 
Distinguished Artist-in-Residence Stacey Calvert, who performed the piece with the New York City Ballet, is rehearsal director for Emeralds, and says the challenge of the company is in the details.  “Emeralds requires a very sophisticated and mature way of dancing,” she says.  “It’s very flowing and quiet, almost like the corps is underwater.  It takes a mature, artistic dancer to perform correctly, as it’s about the quality with which they are moving as opposed to accomplishing a technical feat.”
 
“It’s exciting that we have dancers who can dance these roles,” says Anderson.  “It’s like an actor having the chops to play Hamlet.”
 
Assistant Professor Thaddeus Davis’ describes Mass Hysteria as a “pure dance work.”  The acclaimed choreographer, recipient of the prestigious Choo San Goh award, says it is “an educational tool for our students to explore contemporary dance and the process of making new work.” 
 
Classics Over Time will be performed at 7:30pm November 14-15 at the Koger Center for the Arts.  Tickets for the concert are $12 for students, $16 for USC faculty/staff, military and seniors (60+) and $18 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased in advance through the Koger Center box office at (803) 777-5112, or can be charged by phone at (803) 251-2222.  The Koger Center for the Arts is located at 1051 Greene St.
 
For more information on Classics Over Time or the dance program at the University of South Carolina, contact Kevin Bush by phone at 803-777-9353 or via email at [email protected].