Date: Nov 07, 2011

Hofstra Dance Performs Annual Fall Concert

Thursday, November 17, to Sunday, November 20, 2011, at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … Hofstra University’s Dance Program will present a wonderful mix of dance styles in its annual Fall Dance Concert, at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse, November 17-20, 2011. Show times are 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. on Saturday; and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets are $12; $10 for senior citizens (over 65) or matriculated, non-Hofstra students with I.D. Members of the Hofstra community receive two free tickets upon presentation of a current HofstraCard. For tickets and more information call the Hofstra Box Office at (516) 463-6644, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

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Special guest choreographer is Cathy Young, the newly appointed director of the Dance Division for the prestigious Boston Conservatory. Her piece, Flash/Back, portrays a group of quirky friends having a night out on the town, getting wilder as the evening wears on. This jazz piece is inspired by a score that references 1960s cool jazz and 1940s swing, re-mixed with contemporary sounds and rhythms. The movement is inspired by vernacular dances of the past, including the Charleston, Lindy Hop, and 60s social dances like the “Tighten Up,” reinterpreted and reinvented just as the music has been. This is a look at how the great music and dances of the past bring us innovation in the present.

Also on the program will be new work by Hofstra faculty Giada Ferrone, Niles Ford, Amy Marshall, Maxine Steinman, and Karla Wolfangle.

Giada Ferrone teaches ballet at Hofstra and is the founder and director of Toscana Summer Dance, a professional dance workshop in Italy which had its first season last July. Her piece, Invocation, represents the third part of the Moondog Dance Project, which pays tribute to the music of Louis Thomas Hardin, a.k.a. Moondog, a blind American composer and poet who lived a very unconventional and bohemian life. His music drew inspiration from Native American, contemporary jazz and classical music, mixed with ambient sounds from his environment.

Niles Ford, a “Bessie” award winner for dance performance, is the artistic director of the Urban Dance Collective. He teaches modern dance at Hofstra. His piece, We Are People, is a comment on the social and spiritual state of our world.

Amy Marshall is the artistic director of the Amy Marshall Dance Company and teaches modern dance at Hofstra. Her piece is called Kadogo, which means "small" in Kiswahili. This is the name given to the child-soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This piece takes a look at the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of children primarily between the ages of 15 and 18, but sometimes as young as 7-years-old, who are abducted to fight for government and other armed forces.

Maxine Steinman directs her own modern dance company and teaches the Limon technique at Hofstra. Her piece, By the Sea, explores the landmark Coney Island amusement park and boardwalk during its romantic heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. Using film clips to bring an authentic feel for the era, Ms. Steinman weaves movement and media seamlessly.

Karla Wolfangle teaches at Hofstra and was a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, the Lar Lubovitch Company and Boston Ballet. Her piece, she walks into a room..... is inspired by Hindemith’s “Four Temperaments” which is woven throughout the score. “She” in the dance title embodies the four humors as well as the qualities of the performers.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution of higher education where more than 12,000 full and part-time students choose from undergraduate and graduate offerings in liberal arts and sciences, business, engineering, communication, education, health and human services, honors studies, a School of Law and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. The Hofstra community is driven, dynamic and energetic, helping students find and focus their strengths to prepare them for a successful future. Located in Nassau County, New York, on over 240 acres, the University is less than an hour from midtown Manhattan.

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Related Link: More About the Department of Drama and Dance