Academic program debuts the Fredonia Dance Ensemble

In its debut year, the Fredonia Dance Ensemble rehearses for its first concert, to be performed in the 1891 Fredonia Opera House.

The Department of Theatre and Dance at SUNY Fredonia announces the inaugural concert of the Fredonia Dance Ensemble. Performances will be staged at the historic 1891 Fredonia Opera House in the village hall in Fredonia March 8 through 11. Featured will be new and remounted dances choreographed by Professor Helen Myers and a celebrated group of faculty and international guest artists.

Helen Myers directs the dance program at Fredonia.

"The program will be comprised of innovative original works that will capture the beauty of the body in motion,” Ms. Myers, dance coordinator for the department, said.   Featured in the program will be original dance pieces including Don’t Rush the Whoosh; twenty4seven; Tin Types; The Burghers of Calais; Jumpin’ Jack; 5 by 5 and Brothers.  These include choreographed pieces by regional favorite Elaine Gardner, founder of The Pick of the Crop dance company; Terry Beck, who has performed internationally with his Philadelphia-based dance company; Stacy West, Artistic Director of the Modern Dance Company in Saint Louis and Angelika Summerton, adjunct lecturer of dance at SUNY Fredonia, who has choreographed several musicals and classical ballets.

Department Chairperson Stephen E. Rees thanked the 1981 Fredonia Opera House for hosting these performances while the department’s stages at the Rockefeller Arts Center on campus are being renovated. He added this collaboration is a great example of how organizations should help each other in times of need.

The Fredonia Dance Ensemble will perform on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are $15 for general admission, $14 for senior citizens and $13 for SUNY Fredonia students and children. Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling 716-679-1891, by visiting the 1981 Opera House ticket office at the village hall, or via online ticketing at www.fredopera.org. Tickets will also be available prior to each performance at the ticket office.

Choreographers Terry Beck, Guest Artist and Dancer/Choreographer, has performed world-wide with his Philadelphia based Dance/Theatre Company Terry Beck Troupe. He has garnered numerous awards for dance and choreography including The Edinburgh Festival's Critics Award for Dance. His work has been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, among others. He won an Emmy for his short film "If the Walls Could talk". Besides his dance career, he is a noted Acupuncture practitioner and T'ai Chi instructor. Elaine Gardner, Choreographer, founded Pick of the Crop Dance in Los Angeles in 1979 as a forum for collaborations among dancers and musicians. Since moving to Buffalo, NY in 1981, she has created over one hundred dances for the company, and has also commissioned new works by choreographers from around the United States and Europe. Gardner also directs the dance program at Nichols School in Buffalo. Helen Myers, Artistic Director/Choreographer, is an Associate Professor and the Dance Program Coordinator at SUNY Fredonia. She trained professionally and appeared as a guest performer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and The Twyla Tharp Dance Company, and was a member of The Moving Arts Company and the Tom Evert Dance Company. Helen's choreographic credits include works for: the DancenowNYC Festival at the Joyce Soho in New York City, the Modern America Dance Company of St. Louis, the International Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists of Toronto, The Universidad Autonoma of Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, the Chashama OASIS Festival in NYC, The Crimson Coast Dance Society of British Columbia, The American Southwest Theatre Company (under the direction of Tony-award winning playwright Mark Medoff), The Las Cruces Chamber Ballet, and The Doña Ana Lyric Opera Company, among others. She regularly choreographs and performs around the United States, as well as in Canada and Mexico. Prior to coming to SUNY Fredonia, she also taught at SUNY Geneseo, The Ohio State University, Kent State University, Ohio Wesleyan, New Mexico State University, and Eastern New Mexico University, where she was given an award for Teaching Excellence in 1995 from the Secretary of State of New Mexico. Angelika ‘Geli’ Summerton has been an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Theatre & Dance at Fredonia since 1995 teaching Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Modern Dance. She is a 1982 graduate of the Academy of Music and Theater in Hannover, Germany and holds a Master’s Degree in dance education. Several years of dancing with the M.G.N. Dance Theater of Stuttgart touring Germany, Hungary and Sweden, were followed by intensive studies of the Cecchetti Method of classical ballet in the U.S. She completed the Teacher’s Coach Certification in this method, and worked with the Delta Festival Ballet of New Orleans and the State Ballet of Alabama on the production of The Nutcracker. Since arriving in Western NY, Geli has choreographed for a number of musicals including: Oklahoma!, Bye, Bye,Birdie, Anything Goes and Bells are Ringing, and has presented pieces for several Orchesis major concerts. Stacy West, Artistic Director of The Modern American Dance Company (MADCO) of St. Louis, joined the company as a dancer in 1987, and was appointed Artistic Director in 1994. She studied dance in NYC with Erick Hawkins and Robert Small. West is a regular master teacher for the American College Dance Festival and has taught classes for the festival at Emory University, Northern Iowa University and Washington University. Cirque du Soleil invited her to teach master classes for the touring cast of Dralion and the Orlando cast of La Nouba. MADCO recently performed at the Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists in Toronto and was named "the best of the best" by the Toronto Globe and Mail. Terri Filips is an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Fine Arts at Niagara University where she is resident choreographer. She is co-founder of InSync Dance Theatre, a professional tap and jazz company based in Michigan, for which she choreographs and performs. Terri has worked as a freelance teacher, choreographer and theatre director for numerous schools, community groups, studios and professional companies. She has choreographed two productions for Artpark in Lewiston, NY: South Pacific and Fame. This past summer she directed and choreographed a production for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre. She was awarded Hope College’s Mary Van Tamelen Prize for Creativity and was a recipient of a grant through the Michigan Council for Art and Cultural Affairs and the Holland Area Arts Council.

Featured Dances on this concert

Dance Title: Don’t Rush the Whoosh
Choreography by: Elaine Gardner
Music: Mouth Music by Talitha Mackenzie

"Don't Rush the Whoosh" is an innovative representation of silk sails on ocean waters. It contains two movements, both of which are sung in traditional Scots Gaelic. The expressive modern dance movements require great strength and skill, yet flow seamlessly with the rhythmically energetic music. Gardner created this piece in 1991, when Pick of the Crop Dance Company was in residence at Buffalo State College. Elaine was intrigued by the composer's source material. The lyrics and melodies of the two musical pieces, sung in Scots Gaelic, are traditional Scottish "mouth music", rhythmically energetic pieces sung without instrumental accompaniment. Both are connected with the process of "waulking", part of the procedure involved in making tweed wool. The melodies, however, are cast in a very contemporary (pop) musical setting.

Dance Title: twenty4seven
Choreography by: Helen Myers
Music: “No Pain for Cakes” by John Lurie

"twenty4seven" is a witty portrayal of life in corporate America. In this dance each step has a secret, and each dancer a story to tell. The movement is bursting with athletic energy, while the peculiar characters are both intriguing and funny. Set to the jazz music of John Lurie and The Lounge Lizards, this dance is sure to entertain.

Dance Title: Tin Types
Choreography by: Terry Beck
Music: Original Score

"TinTypes" is a dance/theatre work based on portrait photography from the late 1800's. In order to create these photographs, the exposure time was extraordinarily long and those being photographed had to hold still for a great deal of time. The subjects of these photos were unable to show any emotion on their faces, however, closer examination of these portraits shows that intimacy is often expressed in body language such as touch, hand holding, and leaning. "TinTypes" explores this level of intimacy and its search for expression in this dance work. Original music has been created by Dr. David Rudge and performed by members of the Improv Collective.

Dance Title: The Burghers of Calais
Choreography by: Stacy West
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, David and Steve Gordon, Vangelis, Dead Can Dance

In 1347, six prominent citizens of Calais, France offered to sacrifice their lives to save their city from destruction by their English adversaries in the Hundred Years War. In commemoration, Auguste Rodin was commissioned in 1884 to create a sculpture depicting the six heroes departing for their imminent death. Using this sculpture as its spark of inspiration, the dance, "Burghers of Calais," is an expressive piece that utilizes the poses of each character in the sculpture. It explores the inner turmoil of the characters and their loved ones with movements bold and powerful, as well as delicate and sincere.

Dance Title: Jumpin’ Jack
Choreography by: Terri Fillips
Music: “Jumpin’ Jack” by Scotty Morris

"Jumpin' Jack" is a rollicking good time! Set to contemporary swing music performed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, this dance mixes swing and tap dance styles with energy and fun. Filips created this piece on her professional jazz/tap company, InSync Dance Theatre, and has re-staged the work on members of The Fredonia Dance Ensemble.


Dance Title: “5 by 5” (Five waltzes by five dancers)
Choreography by: Angelika Summerton
Music: Five Waltzes by Chopin

"5 by 5," choreographed by Angelika Summerton, is a ballet divertissement of five Chopin waltzes danced by five dancers. The gracious bond of these girls is the central theme of this arrangement. Each dance in itself tells an individual story about being in love, wedding preparations and a serious quarrel between two of the friends. All five waltzes together allow the audience to take part in a medley of relationships. Chopin's music provides for a lively variety of movements to tell the story in a rustic setting.

Dance Title: Brothers
Choreography by: Helen Myers
Music: “Dialogo” from the Sonata for Violoncello Solo by Gyørgy Ligeti, performed live on cello by Dr. Natasha Farny

"Brothers" is a searching look at the relationships between siblings. This all-male cast explores communication between brothers as revealed through gestural work, weight sharing, and dynamic partnering. The music, by contemporary composer Gyørgy Ligeti, is performed live by Dr. Natasha Farny, cellist.