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DANCE


M&T Bank Dance Series

Jump Rhythm Jazz Project

Mainstage Theatre

Friday, March 19

8:00pmJump Rhythm Jazz Project

$23.50, Students $13
Groups (15 or more) $20.50 - Call 645-2787 for info
 
Pre-performance talk at 7pm in the Screening Room


JUMP RHYTHM JAZZ PROJECT is a company of rhythmically explosive, emotion-driven dancers that performs and teaches nationally and internationally.

In addition to this performance, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project will be in residence March 15-19, providing performances, interactive activities and master classes to WNY schools, UB dance students, and our partner hospitals in the Arts in Healthcare Initiative.

JRJP was founded in 1990 in New York City by Billy Siegenfeld. While touring Romance, dancers, educators and critics became aware of Siegenfeld and Hill's fresh take on the tradition of American rhythm dancing (Dance Magazine cited them as "a delightful latter-day Fred and Ginger"), and credited Siegenfeld with generating a style of dance built upon the rhythmic and dynamic foundations of swinging jazz music. This style is formalized and taught in Chicago and on tour as the Jump Rhythm Jazz Technique. In the fall of 1997, following years of choreographing on commission or on pick-up companies, Siegenfeld decided to organize JRJP into an ensemble of eight dancers to train in the technique and rehearse repertory and new works on a regular basis.

Now based in Chicago, JRJP continues to grow as a company whose concerts, workshops and classes both honor and expand upon the art of classic jazz performance - dancing and singing in joyous, high-energy bursts of body rhythms to the syncopated sounds of swinging jazz music, the blues, Latin jazz and blues-tinged funk. In recognition of its unique approach to jazz dancing, presenters in Chicagoland like Dance Center of Columbia College, Dance Chicago, the Ruth Page Dance Series and Chicago Human Rhythm Project have featured JRJP annually in its dance festivals.
 
Orchard Park native and UB alum Amanda Benzin is a member of JRJP!

Sponsored by:



Residency activities are supported by a grant from the Amherst Arts & Culture in Public Places Board, and funds raised by the 2009 UB dance alumni concert.

M&T Bank Dance Series

Moscow Festival Ballet in Swan Lake

Mainstage Theatre

Tuesday, March 23

8:00pm
Swan Lake
$26.50. Students $13
Groups (15 or more) $23.50 - Call 645-2787 for info
 
Pre-performance talk at 7pm in the Screening Room

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Moscow Festival Ballet brings together the highest classical elements of the great Bolshoi and Kirov Ballet companies.  Swan Lake, a full-length ballet in four acts, is one of dance's most popular and enduring works.

"This was an afternoon that deserved "bravos" within minutes of the opening steps."
- Las Vegas Review-Journal

"An impressive performance of a classical ballet, energized with dramatic expression and sensational steps."
- The Chronicle

Leading dancers from across the Russias have forged under Sergei Radchenko’s direction an exciting new company staging new productions of timeless classics such as Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita and Carmen. The Moscow Festival Ballet continues to expand its repertoire. In addition to commissioning new works from within Russia and abroad, the company specializes in Twentieth Century full-length ballets such as Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Legend of Love, Stone Flower and The Golden Age.

Since its inception, the Moscow Festival Ballet has completed two tours of Europe, with extraordinary receptions in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. The company has also performed with great success in Turkey at the Istanbul Festival and in Greece at the Athens Festival, and recently completed a two-month tour of Japan, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. The Moscow Festival Ballet has toured extensively throughout the United States. During the 2009-2010 season, the company returns to America for a 17-week tour.

Sponsored by:

M&T Bank

Sponsored in part by:

M&T Bank Dance Series

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet

Mainstage Theatre

Wednesday, April 21

8:00pmAspen Santa Fe Ballet, photo by Lois Greenfield

$23.50, Students $13
Groups (15 or more) $20.50 - Call 645-2787 for info

Pre-performance talk at 7pm in the Screening Room

Described by The New York Times as "A breath of fresh air," Aspen Santa Fe Ballet stands out as a model of what a small ballet company should be with its "musicality, athleticism, and technique-conscious delivery." Its versatile and gifted troupe of 10 young dancers, perform an eclectic repertoire of pieces by some of the world's foremost choreographers.

"If there's a classically trained company of the future, it's Aspen Santa Fe Ballet."
- Boston Herald

This program includes a performance of Twyla Tharp's legendary work "Sue's Leg."  "Sue's Leg" was made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts' American Masterpieces: Dance initiative, administered by the New England Foundatoin for the Arts. 

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet company was founded in 1996 by Bebe Schweppe on the idea of acquiring repertoire and inviting top choreographers in the field to create works for the company. With its sophisticated repertoire and broad appeal, combined with a successful blend of entertaining and engrossing contemporary dance, ASFB is one of the real success stories in American dance today. Audiences locally, nationally, and internationally have embraced this vibrant company on stellar stages from The Joyce Theatre in New York to the famed Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, from The Kennedy Center in Washington DC to New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival and in foreign venues including Canada, France and Italy.

Sponsored by:







New England Foundation for the Arts
       

Buffalo Dance Festival

Mainstage Theatre

Saturday, July 31

$22 General Public $17 Students Configuration Dance Theatre

$60 Workshop & Performance Package - Includes 1 performance ticket, Master Class Workshop (3 classes)
Workshop registration & performance package is available only by contacting buffalodancefest@gmail.com or info@configurationdancetheatre.org.  Call 716-883-4510 for more information, or visit configurationdancetheatre.org


The Buffalo Dance Festival returns to UB Center for the Arts on Saturday, July 31 and will feature LehrerDance , Configuration Dance Theatre and The Bill Evans Dance Company. These three highly acclaimed companies will join forces to create a dynamic evening of dance and an afternoon of exciting master classes. Joseph Cipolla and Jon Lehrer, Artistic Directors of Configuration Dance Theatre and LehrerDance, founded the Buffalo Dance Festival and held the inaugural performance in August 2009. This year's Buffalo Dance Festival continues the goal of showcasing the highest quality professional dance in Western New York. 



Configuration Dance Theatre combines classical ballet's formal traditions with modern dance's dynamic expressiveness to create dramatic and emotional performances. The ability to bring studied discipline to contemporary choreography extends from the wealth of professional experience within the troupe. This Buffalo based company’s compelling performances have drawn rave reviews from critics locally and around the country. The New York Times says, “… the dancer’s innate classicism was the first great pleasure of Configuration Dance Theatre”


LehrerDance is an inspiring and innovative contemporary dance company based in Buffalo, New York. Under the direction of Jon Lehrer,LehrerDance the company showcases Jon's unique choreography and embodies his definitive style.  Jon's extensive background in both the modern and jazz dance idioms fosters choreography that is organic, artistic, accessible and often humorous, reflecting life experience and the human condition. Dance Magazine says, “LehrerDance took the house not so much by storm as by quantum physics.”


The Bill Evans Dance Company was founded in 1975. It was based in Seattle until 1984 and then Albuquerque until 2004. It was re-established in greater Rochester, NY, when Evans became a Visiting Professor and Guest Artist in Dance at The College at Brockport. BEDC has performed in all 50 states (in such venues as the American Dance Festival, the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), throughout Mexico and Canada, and in many countries in Europe, Asia and Australasia. It was among the most-booked companies in the U.S. for several years under the Dance Touring and Artist-in-the-Schools Programs of the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Evans has choreographed and re-staged more than 60 of his contemporary dance, vernacular jazz and rhythm tap works for his company. Bill Evans Dance Company


Email: buffalodancefest@gmail.com

Bellydance Superstars

Mainstage Theatre

Sunday, November 14

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY, MARCH 5 AT 10AM

Bellydance Superstars8:00PM

Advance Tickets
Adults $43.50, $33.50
Children (15 & under) $33, $25.50
Seniors (60+) $37.50, $28.50
College students $35, $27
Groups (15 or more) $40.50, $30.50

Day-of Tickets
Adults $49.50, $39.50
Children $37.50, $30
Seniors $42.50, $34
College students $40, $32
Groups $46.50, $36.50

*Prices include $1.50 renovation fee.

With over 700 shows in 22 countries to their credit the Bellydance Superstars are the world’s premier dance troupe elevating the art of Bellydance to mainstream status while incorporating other dance styles including Indian, Ballet, Polynesian and Tribal to create a spectacular show with great variety, amazing costumes and fabulous music. No wonder these 16 Dancers with master percussionist Issam Houshan have been called “the next Riverdance” and “the most important dance troupe in the World”.