Date:
4/15/2004
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 505.562.2253
PORTALES—Eastern New Mexico University's Department of Theatre and Dance will present the New Mexico Contemporary Dance Festival at 8 p.m. from April 29 through May 1 in the University Theatre on the Portales campus. Tickets are: $7 general admission, $6 Senior Citizens, $5 pre-college and $4 ENMU students with ID. Tickets go on sale April 21.
"The festival brings together a diverse group of dancers and choreographers that reflect a wide range of ideas and aesthetic points of view. The program will present udiences with an eclectic range of dance and music," said Ruben T. Ornelas, Festival director.
The dance concert will feature performances by dance ensembles from Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU), New Mexico State University (NMSU) and Santa Fe Community College (SFCC). Choreographers include: Bill Evans and Donna Jewell from the University of New Mexico; Joan Gonwa from SFCC; Debra Knapp from NMSU; Ruben T. Ornelas from ENMU; and Los Angeles-based Independent choreographer Keith Glassman.
The ENMU performers include Jonathan Weems, Monica Macias, Chris Chavez, Sean Miller, Andrea Hake, Krystle King, Stephanie Bemis, Melanie Lucero, Janelle Leas, Patrick Cox, Jennifer Senn, Korey Williams and Portales High School students Carey Smith and Charles Britton.
Graduating theater and dance major Monica Macias said, "I consider myself an athlete as well as a dancer. The dance I am performing, 'Heart of Sky,' is definitely a challenge to my athletic abilities as well as my skill as a performer."
Sean Miller, a theatre major from Albuquerque, said, "One of the dances I'm performing in, 'The Big Payback,' is both dance and theater. We talk, but the story is really in the movement. It's very different than what I have experienced before."
JonathanWeems, a graduate student in communicative arts and sciences, said,"'Bout,' the duet I'm performing, is about physical intimacy betweenmen or the cultural restraints that keep men from demonstratingphysical affection for each other. I am also performing a ritualisticdance, 'Volar,' about a man who becomes a bird."
For ticket information, call 505.562.2710.