An eclectic program of four new dances exploring narration in motion will be presented by members of Milwaukee-based Wild Space Dance Company in its performance of “Heads Up” Friday, Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theatre.
Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, 920-832-6749.
The performance features “Trace Elements,” a whirlwind convergence of classic film-noir orchestrations and contemporary dance along with excerpts from the company’s recent premiere of “By Accident and Necessity,” featuring shifting video images by renowned Milwaukee photographer Tom Bamberger.
Landscapes, both human and natural, are at the heart of “Heads Up” according to Wild Space Artistic Director Debra Loewen. The vastness and sensual beauty of the natural world are explored in two dances, while landscapes of human interaction are revealed in the other two.
“One dance is a meditation on time and space and another becomes an elegant elegy for the loss of wilderness,” said Loewen. “The other two dances feature an intimate and complicated lover’s duet and a big, zany, over-the-top performance set to a collage of music from Alfred Hitchcock films. A veritable layered landscape of who done it.”
Wild Space Dance Company has served as a company-in-residence at Lawrence since 2000, bringing professional dance to the Lawrence community and providing students principles of dance art in performance through classes and workshops taught by Loewen and members of her company.
“Deb Loewen’s choreography is always literate and theatrical while testing the boundary of abstract dance and narrative power of theatre,” said Tim Troy, professor of theatre arts and J.Thomas and Julie Esch Hurvis Professor of Theatre and Drama. “The yearly showcase by Wild Space is an integral part of our theatre department’s season.”
Founded in 1986 and known for its artistic collaborations, Wild Space Dance Company combines dance with visual art, film, text, architecture and unusual environments in an effort to expand the audience for contemporary dance throughout Wisconsin.
