It’s not in every department that undergraduate students get to perform alongside their professors.
But in the Theatre and Dance Department’s faculty show “Strada,” five faculty members will present six pieces, using more than 60 student dancers from the program.
Mary Anne Santos Newhall, a rehearsal coach for the first piece “Panorama,” said the department is interconnected.
“One of the beauties of our department is that we all do different things, and we really enjoy working together,” she said. “And we bring all those different parts into what we do.”
The show starts Friday, and Santos Newhall said it’s an opportunity for students to see what the dance program contributes to the University.
“We only do one faculty show a year,” she said. “The public gets to see the new work of faculty and students, and it’s really the face of our program to the community.”
Artistic Director Vladimir Conde Reche said “Panorama” was choreographed by Martha Graham, the mother of contemporary dance. He said performers will get a second chance to present the piece with the Martha Graham Dance Company at Popejoy in about a month.
The company will run through its dance repertoire, and UNM dance will perform “Panorama” during the show.
Santos Newhall said the show is a tribute to retiring dance professor Jennifer Predock-Linnell, who has been teaching for about 30 years.
Reche said faculty member Joaquin Encinias, creator of Yjastros Flamenco Company, has a piece in the program that will be rich, distinctive and modern.
“He takes the tradition of flamenco and he … doesn’t lose the heart of flamenco,” Reche said. “He keeps it fresh and updated to our times with the use of music and movement vocabulary.”
He said the performance is the premier of two pieces in music and scores, and four pieces will be presented as well as a set design.
“The department is providing the students with a quality of work that can be compared to any university in the state,” he said. “That will be seen in the concert. It will show a high caliber of performance and choreography.”
*Strada
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Friday and Saturday till March 11
at 7:30 p.m.
Sundays till March 13
at 2 p.m.
Rodey Theatre
General $15
Faculty and Students $12
Staff and Students $10*
