Experience Magic at Alchemy
Next week the true sparkle of the University of Utah School of Dance will come to the historic Kingsbury Hall stage via Alchemy.
Alchemy is a legacy concert celebrating not only the 75th year of the U’s College of Fine Arts, but also the history of dance in Utah. The School of Dance’s roots are richly intertwined with those of three significant professional dance companies here in Salt Lake City: Ballet West, Repertory Dance Theater, and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. With Alchemy, U Dance students will perform 3 works that have been prepared in partnership with these three companies. Performances will take place on April 19 and April 20 at 7:30, and will also be streamed online.
Coppélia at the San Francisco Ballet in 1938
First, a piece of Classical Ballet: Coppélia. Originally choreographed in 1879 by Arthur St. Leon, it was first shown in the United States in 1939 at the San Francisco Opera Ballet with choreography by Willam Christensen. Christensen, an Utah native, would later go on to found Ballet West and as well as help create what was then the U’s Department of Ballet.
Coppélia tells the story of a young man who becomes so infatuated with a life-size doll that he rejects his fiancé. The fiancé pretends to be the doll come to life, and by doing so ultimately wins the young man back and also saves his life. The excerpts of Coppélia presented in Alchemy come from Act I, during the celebration of a festival. The excerpts have been staged with the help of past Ballet West principal dancers Tauna Hunter and Bruce Caldwell (the latter of whom also serves as Ballet West’s company archivist).
The second piece, Passengers, choreographed by Viola Farber, was created through collaboration between Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) and the U’s former Department of Modern Dance in 1970. It was later restaged for University of Utah students in 2000 by Linda Smith. Notably, Passengers is performed without a score, relying instead on the sounds of the dancers movement, talking, and counting during the piece. For Alchemy, this piece has again be restaged by RDT artistic director Linda Smith.
The final piece for the night is a premiere of choreographic work by Daniel Charon, creative director of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, entitled The Parable.
The faculty, staff, and students of the School of Dance are dedicating this concert to two titans in the dance community who passed away earlier this year, Joan Woodbury and Bené Arnold.
Alchemy will not only reflect the past and present of the School of Dance, but celebrate the possibilities of its future and the richness of the dance community in Utah. We hope to see you there.
Tickets for the show can be purchased at tickets.utah.edu and at the door. University of Utah students get free access with their student ID thanks to the Arts Pass program, which makes hundreds of arts experiences accessible to U students each year.