Dance performance to have variety

Josh Coffman

Students could relax this week by lounging on their couches, watching reruns of old movies and letting the good times roll. But Stephen Stone and Jennifer Tarrazi-Scully want students to spend at least one day attending their concert.

Stone, a dance professor, and Tarazzi-Scully, a visiting professional-in-residence, are co-producing “An Evening of Dance,” which will run April 24-29 in the Russell H. Miller Theatre. The two-act production features six dance pieces with a diverse mix of modern music, ranging from Irish ballads to the Beastie Boys.

“People should see this instead of a movie,” Stone said,”because this is an intellectual and artistic endeavor that people right here in the metropolis of Bowling Green are aspiring to share with the community, in an effort to give them vibrant and vital stimuli for thought.”

Tarazzi-Scully said she is excited about the dance pieces that will be highlighted at the concert.

“It’s a very contemporary concert,” Tarazzi-Scully said. “We have two artists who did very modern work.”

Those two artists are Lees Ginger Harris and Chris Knutson. Harris, an instructor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, choreographed “Visual Melodies,” the first piece in “An Evening of Dance.” Fort Wayne-based dancer Knutson choreographed “Between a Rock,” a rock-and-roll piece.

Stone and Tarazzi-Scully also choreographed dances for the concert. Tarazzi-Scully’s is a “gender-bending” work entitled, “Ambiogirrluity.”

The piece is a solo performance about a woman going into a male-dominated work place and assimilating herself to the environment.

However, Tarazzi-Scully isn’t trying to make any serious political statement.

“I’m not making a commentary,” she said. “I’m just throwing out ideas and seeing what sticks.”

Both Stone and Tarazzi-Scully look forward to opening night on Thursday.

“I think all the pieces in this concert are pretty big pieces of art,” Tarazzi-Scully said. “The dancers have worked very hard … and I definitely believe in my piece.”

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