Dancers, drummers and laptops — not a combination that one sees very often placed together, but it is on the agenda for UNL’s Glenn Korff School of Music dance program’s “Evenings of Dance” performances from April 16-19 in the Johnny Carson Theater.
When David Hall, an assistant professor of percussion and jazz studies coordinator of the percussion program, joined the UNL faculty, he expressed a desire to Susan Levine Ourada, an associate professor of dance, to collaborate.
“I was blown away by ‘Evenings of Dance’ last year – the choreography, performance and production are exceptional,” Hall said. “Susan’s artistic approach really resonated with me, and I thought doing a piece with dancers, drummers and laptops would be perfect.”
The piece will open up Act II each performance. It’s a movement titled “120bpm” from a piece called “neither Anvil nor Pulley” by Dan Trueman. The dancers include Amber Hongsermeier, Kayla Klammer, Patrick Stayer and Megan Stice. The percussionists include Cory Davis, Ian McCollum, Zach Paris and Adam Schweitzer.
“This is one of the most fascinating and exciting percussion set ups we’ve used here,” Hall said. “Each percussionist has a mixture of traditional percussion instruments, homemade objects and technology. Each set up has some tuned metal pipes and slabs of wood that are connected to a laptop via contact microphones. The laptop processes these sounds in real time with a number of really cool and futuristic effects that accompany the live performer. At the end of the piece, we actually use four modified golf video game controllers to create some more effects. The interaction with the laptops in real time is one of the most interesting things about the piece.”
The group has rehearsed separately for quite awhile, rehearsed together in Mabel Lee Hall earlier this week and will rehearse almost every night during the week leading up to the actual performances.
“I’m beyond excited to see and hear this in the newly renovated Johnny Carson Theater,” Hall said. “I’m so impressed and proud of these performers; their work is extremely compelling. I’ve come to think of this piece as a collaboration between not two quartets, but three. The laptops respond to the percussionists and vice versa, the dancers respond to both and then the percussionists respond to the dancers. Watching those interactions unfold in real time is remarkable.”
“Evenings of Dance” takes place each night starting at 7:30 p.m. and then at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $10 for UNL faculty and staff, and $7 for students and seniors. They are available approximately one hour prior to the performance at the Carson theater’s door.
“This is my tenth “Evenings of Dance” and my eleventh spring dance concert,” Levine Ourada said. “I named it EOD when I began working here full time as a homage to the concert I performed in during my undergraduate years, under the tutelage of an inspiring and devoted mentor.”
