The Glenn Korff School of Music’s dance program presents their annual Evenings of Dance performances Feb. 12-15 in the Lied Center for Performing Arts’ Johnny Carson Theater.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12-14 and 2 p.m. Feb. 15. Tickets are $12 general and $7 students and are available online. The Feb. 13 performance will be livestreamed on YouTube (the link will be live the day of the performance).
This is the 21st anniversary of the renaming of the spring dance concert to Evenings of Dance. This year’s performances are directed by Susan Levine, associate professor of dance. Hye-Won Hwang, associate professor of practice, is associate director of the performance.
Evenings of Dance features students performing in works by faculty and guest artists. It also includes the student-choreographed pieces that have moved forward to the American College Dance Association Regional Conference that students and faculty attend each spring.
Guest choreographers this year include adjunct hip-hop instructor Katie Heckman, a 2011 University of Nebraska–Lincoln dance graduate who moved to New York City and danced there professionally, and Millie Heckler, who is recently from Vermont and has performed around the world. Faculty choreographers include Ourada and Hwang.
“I loved having the opportunity to work with both of our guest choreographers,” said S.J. Eschliman, a senior dance major from McCook. “Millie Heckler’s residency gave me the opportunity to have a week of miscellaneous hip-hop and house dance classes. I was given the honor of being cast for Katie Heckman’s guest artist piece and have nothing to say about her but amazing things. Katie has refreshed my love for modern contemporary, and we have bonded over our love for the UNL dance program, as she is a proud alumna herself.”
Heckman appreciated the chance to return to the university as a guest choreographer and instructor.
“It felt like coming back home to something I know so well, but re-familiarizing myself with a new space (My college dance days were spent in Mabel Lee Hall) and new faces,” Heckman said. “It’s like a proud big-sister moment to see how the program has expanded and flourished and showing the university how the arts, especially dance, are showing up and demanding they be seen.”
The student choreographers include Talia Markussen, Meg Brady and Eschliman.
Brady said Evenings of Dance is a special show because it showcases student, faculty and guest choreographer’s work.
“I think it’s really special to see how the faculty’s own artistic style has impacted student’s voices and also how our students interact with outside artists,” Brady said.
