Diverse cultures and new concepts merge in compelling ASU dance concert

TEMPE, Ariz. - Acclaimed choreographers from Latin America, China and the U.S. will unveil a compelling blend of cultural and conceptual work when ASU Herberger Mainstage Dance presents Sharing Unimaginable Worlds, April 27-30 at ASU's Galvin Playhouse.

Praised by critics worldwide, Claudia Lavista and Victor Manuel Ruiz, of Mexico's Delfos Danza company, are featured guest choreographers for the concert. They join artistic director and Herberger College dance professor Shouze Ma, visiting artists Kimberly Karpanty and Luc Vanier, and ASU student dancers and faculty in a vibrant concert of vision, sound and movement.

"The diversity of work to be presented is both conceptually and physically exciting," says Ma. "Eastern fusion, Mexican contemporary dance, post-modern and dance theatre are all explored in innovative dimensions."

Delfos Danza approaches dance as a laboratory of images and emotions in movement arising from the creation of the work. For the ASU concert, Lavista and Ruiz will set the work "Skin Uncovered" on 12 ASU dancers who perform the fast-paced, high-impact work with precision and grace.

A founding member of China's first modern dance company, Guangdong Modern Dance, Ma has infused the Herberger College Department of Dance with new energy, bold choreography and precise technique since joining the faculty last year. He will perform his work "Transcending Reality," a fantasy look at the Buddhist concept of the cycles of life, with five student dancers. The New York Times once said Ma's performance and choreography had "an intensity so strong that it seemed at a breaking point."

Sharing Unimaginable Worlds includes six other works choreographed by students, faculty and visiting artists. They include: "Cityscape II" by Master of Fine Arts candidate Lindsey Bauer; "Release It" by Karpanty and the ASU Dance Arizona Repertory Theatre company; "Not Yet" by faculty member Karen Schupp; "Somewhere (2006)" by Vanier, of the University of Wisconsin at Madison; "DdawMenoFxect5" by undergraduate Meghan Bingle, and "The Adventures of Socially-Awkward Susan" by undergraduate Jillian Scott.

Tickets for Sharing Unimaginable Worlds are $5-$18 and available online athttp://herbergercollege.asu.edu/mainstage/ or through the Herberger College Box Office, 480-965-6447. Show times are April 27-29, 7:30 p.m.; and April 30, 2 p.m., in the Galvin Playhouse of the Nelson Fine Arts Center, located on the ASU Tempe campus at the Southeast corner of 10 th Street and Mill Avenue.

The Department of Dance in the Arizona State University Herberger College of Fine Arts is nationally ranked in the top 10 by Dance Teacher magazine. Its graduate program is ranked fifth and its undergraduate program is ranked ninth. The ARCO Performance Arts College Guide calls the department one of the "most highly recommended programs" in the country. To learn more about the Department of Dance, visit http://dance.asu.edu.

Media Contact:
Denise Tanguay 
480.965.7144
denise.tanguay@asu.edu