Released: April 2, 2012
Lincoln, Neb. - The tango has fascinated the world for hundreds of years with its stories of passion told through dramatic dips and breathtaking embraces. On Saturday, April 14 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Lincoln audiences will have the chance to experience this powerful dance, firsthand. The show is the exciting finale of the University of Nebraska Hixson-Lied College's third annual Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium.
"This is Tango Now: Identidad" uses the ferocious drama, passion and beauty of tango dancing to tell a moving human story of universal themes: will power, love, and the struggle for independence. The stage of "Identidad" explodes with light and colors, movement and energy, passion and emotions and music from the most celebrated Tango masters - Osvaldo Pugliese and Astor Piazzolla.
Tickets are available at the Lied Center Ticket Office in person, via phone at 402-472-4747 and online at www.liedcenter.org. Prices are extremely affordable - just $18 for adults and $9 for students/youth. UNL students can see the performance free of charge by reserving a ticket at http://marketplace.unl.edu/liedcenter/.
"Not many people have ever seen the power of real, authentic tango up close," said Rhonda Garelick, IAS founding director. "'This is Tango Now' brings this highly charged art form to the stage in a full production with lights, sets and a live band. The story of 'Identidad' is about a marionette that breaks free from her puppetmaster to travel the world and explore her new found freedom. It is the perfect way to end this year's Symposium. "
"This is Tango Now" is a creative project formed by the musician-anthropologist Alfredo Minetti and the renowned tango artists Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo. The three bring different but complementary backgrounds to the group and are united by an unconditional passion for tango and by a commitment to presenting it in all its beauty, diversity and complexity.
They explore all the tango disciplines as one: dance, music, poetry, singing, theater, fine arts, literature, fashion, film, social aesthetics, the humanities, social sciences. It is an inclusive, multilayered and multifaceted way to integrate this tradition into the contemporary world.
Additional Events
On April 5 at 5:30 p.m., C. Daniel Dawson, an artist, photographer, New York University faculty member, will give a lecture entitled "WIDI MAMBO - Listen to the Important Matter" at UNL's Van Brunt Visitors Center. Dawson's area of expertise deals with the African diaspora and its influence on the arts around the world.
- The lecture is free and open to the public.
- To register to attend the lecture, please contact Petra Wahlqvist at pwahlqvist2@unl.edu or 402-472-3215.
On Thursday, April 12, "This is Tango Now" will conduct a two hour-long lecture/master class for UNL students and the public at 4:30 p.m. in 119 Westbrook Music Building. The free lecture/master class covers tango music, singing and dancing, and will include UNL students playing and being critiqued by the visiting artists. The company will also deliver a tango dance workshop on Friday, April 13 at 9:30 a.m.
- For more information or to attend, contact Petra Wahlqvist at pwahlqvist2@unl.edu or 402-472-3215.
- For the dance workshop, participants must be at least 16 years of age and registration is required.
About IAS
The Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, founded and directed by Rhonda Garelick, is sponsored by the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, presented, in part, by the Lied Center for Performing Arts, and funded, in part, by the Hixson-Lied Endowment. IAS 2012 Season III is supported by the Cooper Foundation and is devoted to exploring the rich cultural fusion that results from "Immigration, Migration, and Transplantation in Performance". More information on all IAS 2012 events can be found at www.unl.edu/ias.