[NEohioPAL]Kent Dance Ensemble presents "Hold Up/Bear Up" at Kent State University

[emadden]

Contact: Kimberly Karpanty
Artistic Director, Kent Dance Ensemble
(330) 672-0127
kkarpant at kent.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
KENT DANCE ENSEMBLE PRESENTS: =93HOLD UP/BEAR UP=94
Kent State University=92s touring dance company presents its annual concert

Kent, OH - Kent State University=92s School of Theatre and Dance will proudly 
present the Kent Dance Ensemble=92s 2002 main stage concert, Hold Up/Bear Up, on 
April 5, 6 & &. Twelve dancers representing the Bachelor of Fine Arts programs 
in dance performance and dance education make up the 2001-2002 
pre-professional student company. Hold Up/Bear Up will feature three premieres 
by KSU faculty and two revitalized works by acclaimed guest artists Art 
Bridgman and Myrna Packer from New York and Peter K. Kyle, Jr. from Seattle, 
an instructor at the University of Washington and a performer with the Mark 
Morris Dance Group.

Hold Up/Bear Up is intended as encouragement for the state of the world in 
general, and reflects a common theme in this repertory=97the support of the 
human body by other human or man-made structures. Opening the concert will be 
a new work by KSU=92s new Artist- in-Residence, Chung-Fu Chang. B=3DB experiments 
with both the possibilities and limitations of dance movements within three 
mobile sets. This whirling, dynamic septet has an urban contemporary flavor 
that contrasts an excerpt of Concerto No. 2 in D Minor by J.S. Bach.

Crosslagged, a new duet choreographed by Assistant Professor Tommy Parlon, 
explores the tactile and emotional relationship between two people. The 
choreography unfolds in organic layers of gesture and images that are 
punctuated by explosive movements of motion and emotion.

Artistic Director Kimberly Karpanty=92s new ensemble work for eight women is 
inspired by the choral pieces of Thomas Tallis and Zbigniew Preisner. Current 
events of global importance as well as the intimate human struggle to choose 
are represented with disparate movement, contrasting character and a stage 
divided symbolically in half.

The five solo episodes of Peter Kyle=92s Return: in parts will be performed with 
only a rhythmic breath, body and vocal music score. This challenging piece was 
developed during explorations of =93imperfections=94 in vocal articulation as a 
result of physical exhaustion, and by the sounds of the body moving through 
space.

Closing the concert will be Crowd, a piece for thirteen women which explores 
the urgency, power and unpredictability of urban energy, and contrasts 
aggression with caring. The driving score by the Korean drumming group 
Samul-Nori complements the energy of the work. The Kent Dance Ensemble learned 
the piece during a one-week residency in October, sponsored by the Ensemble=92s 
outreach program, the School of Theatre and Dance and the Honors College.

Hold Up/Bear Up, will be performed in E. Turner Stump Theatre, located in the 
Music and Speech building on Kent=92s main campus. Performances are Friday, 
April 5 & Saturday April 6 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, April 7 at 2:30 PM. Tickets 
are $10 General Admission, $8 for senior citizens, Kent State faculty and 
staff and $7 for students with ID. Call the School of Theater and Dance Box 
Office at (330) 672-2497 between noon and 5pm Monday through Friday for 
reservations. The Ensemble performs regionally and nationally while 
maintaining an outreach program in area schools that reaches all ages of 
students K-12. Please call Artistic Director Kimberly Karpanty at (330) 
672-0127 for further information on the Ensemble=92s upcoming performances and 
outreach programs.
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Elisabeth Madden
Interim Managing Director
School of Theatre & Dance
Porthouse Theatre