Dance showcase: 'WinterDance 2019' features original choreography performed by K-State students
Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019
Tickets are available now for "WinterDance 2019," an annual dance showcase featuring original choreography by K-State dance faculty and performed by K-State students. "WinterDance 2019" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5-7 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Chapman Theatre at Nichols Hall.
MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University School of Music, Theatre, and Dance will present "WinterDance 2019" at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5-7 and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Mark A. Chapman Theatre in Nichols Hall.
Tickets can be purchased online at k-state.edu/mtd/tickets, in 119 Nichols Hall or one hour before each curtain time at the Chapman Theatre box office.
"WinterDance 2019" is a showcase of dance styles, including jazz, tap, modern and African dance. Each piece is choreographed by K-State dance faculty and performed by students.
"I Wandered, Shining by Moonlight" is a three-piece suite of contemporary dance that explores translation of poetry through music and dance with an original composition by Jacob Thomas, a sophomore in applied music from Overland Park. The suite of dances embodies a through line of impermanence in nature, civilization and memory.
"PlastiCity"is a contemporary dance piece that transports the audience to a dystopian future where humanity's need for convenience has led to catastrophic environmental consequences.
"Unfurling," a contemporary piece by Kate Digby, assistant professor of dance, explores the unleashing of feminine power. In a forest of branches that rise and fall, dancers gallop across the stage like deer, flit like hummingbirds, slither like eels and pounce like lions as they challenge one another to unfurl.
Digby has also staged excerpts from David Parker and The Bang Group's hit show "Nut/Cracked," which is "The Nutcracker" — but not as we know it. Mixing Tchaikovsky's original score with music by Duke Ellington, Glen Miller and others, "Nut/Cracked" turns the sugar-coated ballet into a percussive piece of dance theatre. Nothing is sacred as "Nut/Cracked" twists and melds various dance traditions into an ode to American eclecticism that honors the power of the human urge to dance while riding Tchaikovsky's voluptuous waves of rhythm.
The K-State African Ensemble, led by Neil Dunn, instructor of dance, and Julie L. Pentz, professor of dance, will show "Kpatsa," a social dance from the Ga-Adangme ethnic group from Ghana. Commonly used as a recreational dance, it was traditionally associated with puberty rites for young women.
Pentz also has choreographed the lively tap ensemble piece "Sing Sing Sing" and a new jazz dance work.
The following students are performers or crew members in "WinterDance 2019":
Ellen Reardon, senior in marketing, Andover, musician; Kelsey Hoines, senior in fine arts, Atchison, dancer; Delaney Thomas, freshman in interior design, Basehor, dancer; Grace Rieke, senior in psychology, Belleville, dancer and rehearsal director.
From Greater Kansas City: Avery Moore, junior in human development and family science, Leawood, dancer; Olivia Mangual, senior in finance, Olathe, dancer; Olivia Roberts, sophomore in pre-professional elementary education, Olathe, dancer; Ellie Ward, senior in secondary education-earth science, Olathe, dancer; Christine Carter, freshman in sociology, Overland Park, dancer; Mikayla Enyart, freshman in early childhood education, Overland Park, dancer; and Danielle Mitchell, freshman in pre-professional elementary education, Overland Park, rehearsal assistant.
Kacie Engel, senior in statistics and data science, Hays, dancer; Reba Kreider, senior in food science and industry, Horton, dancer; Dani Rathbun, junior in secondary education and mathematics, Independence, dancer; Kai Smith, sophomore in open option, Junction City, dancer; Natalie Longhurst, senior in management, Lawrence, dancer; Gabrielle Henry, junior in philosophy and theatre, Leavenworth, lighting design; Elizabeth Huskey, freshman in open option, Lincoln, dancer; Abigail Svoboda, senior in marketing, Lincolnville, dancer.
From Manhattan: Grace Harms, sophomore in social work, dancer; Anne Kenworthy, senior in secondary education and theatre, dancer; Brenn Lies, junior in theatre, lighting design; Haley Nelson, sophomore in open option, dancer; Stacy Zhang, sophomore in computer science; and Hannah Wandling, junior in educational studies, dancer.
Taybor Smith, junior in apparel and textiles, Marysville, dancer; Hannah Stecklein, senior in mechanical engineering, McPherson, dancer; Taylor Curtright, sophomore in psychology, Milford, dancer; Emma Simonton, sophomore in pre-professional elementary education, Paola, dancer; Natalie May, senior in entrepreneurship, Peck, dancer; Zoe Abner, junior in fine arts, Riley, dancer; Jacob Long, junior in music, Russell, musician; Hanna Leiker, junior in management information systems, Salina, dancer; Jesse Barnes, senior in theatre, Topeka, lighting design; Hope Wedel, sophomore in theatre, Valley Center, dancer; and Juli Doolittle, sophomore in business administration pre-professional, dancer, and Ceslie Parker-Waller, senior in theatre, dancer, both from Wichita.
From out of state:
Liz Kritikos, senior in theatre, New Lenox, Illinois, dancer; Kimberly Coussens, senior in biology, Zionsville, Indiana, dancer; Masie Dulitz, sophomore in music education, Kearney, Nebraska, dancer; Kelby Meisinger, freshman in pre-professional elementary education, Louisville, Nebraska, dancer; Josie Medill, freshman in communication studies and pre-law, Roca, Nebraska, dancer; Katherine Boulanger, master's student in theatre, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, costumes; Nicole Boulanger, senior in elementary education, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, dancer and rehearsal director; Emma Hochman, senior in political science, Norman, Oklahoma, dancer; and Katelyn Gehrt, non-degree graduate in accounting, Cypress, Texas, dancer.
From out of country:
Winniebell Zong, master's student in English, China, dancer; and Jazmin Royg, junior in psychology and modern languages, Paraguay, dancer.
