BoardsJames Sewell Ballet is a six-member contemporary ballet company whose vast repertoire reveals its roots as a modern dance troupe.
When one realizes that the typical ballet company has as many as 55 members, the streamlined nature of the Sewell company becomes apparent.
This tiny but powerful troupe will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 2 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
Now based in Minneapolis, the company was established in New York in 1990 by James Sewell, who studied under the great George Balanchine. Sewell moved his troupe to his native Minnesota in 1993 where his company has performed ballet while operating under the structure of a modern dance troupe: small, mobile, financially viable and performing original works by living choreographers.
The group's mission statement is to create and perform a diverse and appealing repertoire that is accessible and understandable to a broad audience. The troupe particularly likes to perform in areas where dance has little or no presence, thus building audiences and exposing many to the art form of ballet.
Sewell's ecletic background as a dancer, actor, composer, world-champion gymnast and magician has given him a unique command over the human body. A leading dancer with Feld Ballets/New York for six years, Sewell established his own company as a vehicle for his personal choreographic vision, which endeavors to broaden the definition of ballet beyond the rigid corps of ballerinas en pointe in lockstep.
By asembling a group of classically trained professional dancers and then challenging them to dance new works that complement the traditional virtues of ballet, Sewell has won strong reviews from critics and an admiring audience.
One indication of his acclaim: Sewell has choreographed more than 30 ballets and his works have been performed by more than a dozen other companies in the United States and Taiwan.
The company repertoire includes works set to music by Beethoven, Mozart and Bach; ragtime artist Scott Joplin; operatic works by Gian Carlo Menotti and John Adams; jazz standards by George and Ira Gershwin; and by Sewell himself.
Charlotte Adams, director of the UNL Dance Program, will deliver two 15-minute pre-performance talks beginning at 55 minutes and 25 minutes before curtain in the Lied Center's Steinhart Room as part of Lied's ongoing education and outreach programming.
Tickets for the 8 p.m. performance are $24, $20 and $16. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Doane College students and youth 18 and younger with proper identification can purchase tickets for half-price.
Call the Lied Box Office at (402) 472-4747 or toll free, 1 (800) 432-3231 for ticket availability. Target "Treatseats" discount coupons are available at participating Target Stores.
Lied's Box Office hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays. On performance weekdays, the Box Office is open from 11 a.m. through the first intermission. For evening performances on weekends, the Box Office opens at 3 p.m.
Lied Center programming is supported by the Friends of Lied and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the Mid-America Arts Alliance; and the Nebraska Arts Council. All events in the Lied Center are made possible entirely or in part by the Lied Performance Fund, which has been established in memory of Ernst F. Lied and his parents, Ernst M. and Ida K. Lied.
(Photo by Erik Saulitis ©1994, Ballet Works, Inc.)
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Dan-Seki, a sculpture in stone, bronze, and water, by George Neubert, 1996. |
Gallery 72 in Omaha is featuring a showing of works by George Neubert, director of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden. The exhibition, which opened Sept. 5, runs through Oct. 4.
Neubert's work shows a decidedly Asian influence. The show, titled Scholar Stones and Collages, deals with landscape, placement and Asian aethestics. The stone works grow out of Zen, which focuses on austerity, meditation and communications with nature.
The stones are found forms combined with items such as sticks, pods and seeds. Some items have been cast in bronze before being fitted to the stones. Some of the stones hold water, which denote reflections and peacefulness.
This group continues Neubert's interest in nature and water. A previous series of sculpture was titled "River Rapid Series."
Neubert's collages also show an Asian influence and are created from found objects.
The gallery is located at 2709 Leavenworth St. in Omaha. Call (402) 345-3347 for more information about gallery hours.
"Vibrant Colors and Intricate Patterns, 1996-97 Gifts to the Lentz Center for Asian Culture," is the title of the center's annual donations exhibition running through Jan. 25, 1998.
Barbara Banks, director and curator of the Lentz Center, said the title was chosen because the 1996-97 gifts share a common vibrancy and attention to detail, qualities that are consistent even though the items are in different media and hail from China, Japan, Indonesia and New Guinea.
Leather, wood, glass, ceramic, ivory, lacquer and cloth are all means by which these skills are shown in the exhibition, with the colors especially vibrant on the ceramics, glass and costumes. The gifts vary in size from one inch to life size.
The gifts include a 19th century glass ginger jar from the Hilmes and Gadient collections in Kansas City, given in memory of Philip Hilmes. The jar is white with red overlay glass carved in delicate floral patterns. Later Chinese ceramics are known for their wide color range and combinations. Two large vases in brilliant colors are among gifts from a 1996 Nebraska alumnus, John Fosdick and his wife, Marguerita Fiorentino Fosdick, of New York. A tall hexagonally shaped vase with scenes and depictions of Chinese favorite items is a "famille verte" type and gourd-shaped, variously patterned vase is an example of "famille noire."
Elaborately carved leather puppets of the characters Ardjuna and Begasuksma in the Wayang shadow puppet theatre in Bali, a gift from Carolyn and Ephraim Goodman, will greet visitors as they enter the show. Other gifts from Harold Reich, the late Cecil Blunn, Marian Leatherman and the Fosdicks include several netsuke (ornamental pieces used to attach an item to obi, or sash, of a Japanese man's traditional dress during the Tokugawa period, 1603-1868), a portable shrine called a zushi, Chinese and Japanese ceramics, a late Qing Dynasty woman's costume and mask from the Blackwater Tribe of New Guinea.
The Lentz Center, 329 Morrill Hall, is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:30-4 p.m. Sunday. There is no admission charge, but a $2 donation is suggested for Morrill Hall visitors over the age of 2.
-Tom Simons
The UNL Dance Program of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and the University Foundations are sponsoring an African Folk Dance Workshop at 7 p.m. Oct. 7 in 304 Mabel Lee Hall.
The workshop will be taught by Dorian Williams Byrd. The cost is $2 for students and $3 for the public. For more information, call Kari Swanson, 472-5803.
A traveling photograph-text exhibit, "Love Makes a Family: Living in Lesbian and Gay Families" will be displayed in the North Lobby of the Nebraska Union from Sept. 26 to Oct. 12.
In this exhibit, photographs by Amherst, Mass., photographer, Gig Kaeser, depict a variety of families of all races with gay or lesbian moms, dads, grandparents, and/or teenagers. Text edited by Peggy Gillespie and Pan Brown from interviews they did with family members accompanies each photograph. Together, the words and images show the strength, support and love within these families.
For more information, contact the University Program Council, 472-8146.
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