The Owens Art Center in the Meadows School of the Arts is currently hosting SMU’s annual Fall Dance Concert at the Bob Hope Theatre.
The performance is supplemented by SMU’s wind ensemble and marks the celebration of 100 years since the birth of acclaimed dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille.
The first piece featured is a short, plotless piece by internationally renowned choreographer and founder of the New York City Ballet, George Balanchine. The performance, titled “Valse Fantaisie,” was first performed in 1953 and features the light footwork of one male and five female dancers.
The second part of the repertoire, called “Sweet in the Morning,” is a solo performed by Garfield Lemonius and choreographed by distinguished African-American dancer and choreographer Leni Wylliams. The only existing work of the late Wylliams, it depicts the spirit and belief in afterlife of an African-American male.
“Diversion of Angels,” choreographed by nationally acclaimed choreographer and dancer Martha Graham, is a piece in which the different aspects of love and the way they fit together are explored.
The piece presents love as a mix of three couples dressed in different colors, depicting their characteristics by their movements. The yellow couple represents the quickly fleeting innocence of adolescent love.
A couple in red stands for erotic love, while the couple in white corresponds to the perfect balance of individuals in mature love.
The highlight of the performance, a piece choreographed by de Mille, to whom the entire show is dedicated, is a modification of a Scottish ballad to a story taking place in the South during slavery.
It tells the story of “The Four Marys,” four female slaves, one of whom has a passionate affair with her master, resulting in the birth of an illegitimate child. Knowing she will die for the deed she has committed, Mary Hamilton drowns her child and is then put to death at he gallows. The ballet was a hit when it was first performed in 1965 but has not been enacted since the 1970s.
The last performance, titled “Swing Concerto,” is played out by a large group of dancers and choreographed by a visiting artist-in-residence in the division of dance, Danny Buraczeski. He has had extensive experience with jazz styling, having appeared in several Broadway musicals, including “Mame” and “The Act.”
The production features a melange between two different musical styles, combining aspects from Eastern European Kzelmer music and the swing orchestras of Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman.
The 2005 Fall Dance concert, which was first performed Nov. 3-6, will be repeated Nov. 10-13 at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available at the Meadows Ticket office and are $12 for adults, $9 for seniors and $6 for SMU students.
