Performing Dance Company to feature work by Lesley Telford of Netherlands Dance Theatre

The future of dance can be found at the University of Utah.

Each semester, students from the Department of Modern Dance audition to work in a professional setting with esteemed faculty and guest choreographers. Together, they form Performing Dance Company (PDC) and present a wide, exciting gamut of what’s fresh in contemporary dance.

This fall’s lineup includes work from Department of Modern Dance faculty members Satu Hummasti, Sharee Lane, and Eric Handman. The show will close with a premiere by work by guest choreographer Lesley Telford, a former dancer with the world-renowned Netherlands Dance Theatre.

In Strip Dance, choreographer Hummasti says that she and her dancers look at what it means to “…shed particular modern dance performance conventions. We attempt to strip ‘performance projection,’ feigned theatricality, and empty virtuosity in lieu of unremarkable steps and living inside each emotional state and moment of the dance as it arises.”

Lane looked to the color spectrum for inspiration for her piece titled Blanc. “Color plays a major role in setting up a particular mood or state of mind and is one of the ‘languages’ of the soul. It has a profound impact on our sense of well-being or un-easiness and does affect one’s feelings, moods, and emotions,” said Lane. “The spectrum of colors I have used is based off the Chakra Systems of the Body which are all interweaved together.”

Lesley Telford describes her work, one29 , as “a look at the collection of thoughts and memories that compose an individual. These multiple bits and pieces become part of our identity.” Telford has enlisted a large cast made up of both Modern Dance and Ballet students to help execute her vision. The work will also be performed in the Department of Ballet’s upcoming Utah Ballet concert.

PDC takes the stage October 9, 10, 22, 23, & 24 at the Univeristy of Utah Marriott Center for Dance. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.utah.edu, 801.581.7100, or at the door. This is an Arts Pass event: U students receive free entry with UCard.