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New Mexico State University

Footnotes - Feeling the Beat

dancer

The NMSU Dance Program, under the direction of Debra Knapp, will present its 2002-2003 performance season finale, FEELING THE BEAT, on April 11 and 12. Performances will be held each evening at 8:00 at the Corbett Auditorium on the NMSU campus. Tickets, which can be purchased at the door, are $5.00 for general admission.

One faculty and six student choreographers will showcase a broad variety of dance styles and flavors certain to delight audiences of all ages and tastes. Some of the evening's selections will include RANGAT which is based on traditional Eastern Indian folk dance. Dancers, wearing brightly colored salwar-kameez costuming move in circles to measured steps, marking time by sticks called dandia. EURYTHMIC, set to music by the Blue Man Group, is an experimental solo which interprets the rhythms of the music through the translation into movement. PEASURE TO MEETCHA is a fun and electrifying Fosse-inspired work, in the Big Band jazz style. This dance-for-two incorporates body movements which vocalize a pleasurable meeting between the opposite sex, after a night on the town. In IRISH MIX, Irish dance is presented in all of its forms including softshoe and hardshoe solo, duet and trio. Megin Nichols, who has studied under some of the top Irish dancers in this country, makes a special guest appearance in this number.

The rest of the bill includes a light and spunky tap piece from the music of Glen Miller, a compare-contrast dance highlighting the similarities and differences between flamenco, Irish and tap styles, a percussive "call and response" number featuring two tap dancers and a drummer, two passionate flamenco pieces, a serious dance titled: TEMPTATON, and special choreography from dance faculty member Betty Burgess who directs the Dance Sport Team.

FEELING THE BEAT promises to be a spectacular performance filled to the brim with rhythm, passion, whimsy and percussion. Audience members are sure to leave the auditorium uplifted and energized after this fun-filled evening of wonderful dance!