Purdue dance company to present Winter Works concert

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue Contemporary Dance Company will present its Winter Works 2012 dance concert on Dec. 7 and 8.

The dance company, which is housed in the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts, will present seven new selected works by faculty and student artists. The concert will be in the Nancy T. Hansen Theatre in Pao Hall.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. each evening, and there also will be a 2 p.m. matinee on Dec. 8. Tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for students and $7 for those 12 and younger. Tickets can be purchased at all Purdue box offices (765-494-3993) and through Ticketmaster (http://www.ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000).

"This winter's performance includes works dealing with current political and societal issues, as well as those exploring human drama," said Carol Cunningham-Sigman, Purdue professor in the School of Visual and Performing Arts and choreographer. "We are also happy to feature the music created by visual and performing arts' sound design majors for many of the dance works."

Winter Works performances include:

* Dance faculty member Rebecca Bryant presents "WITNESS," a performance piece that blends dance, theater and video to investigate the following question: "How do we, as a society, construct, absorb and consume death and violence?"

* Melodie Carr, faculty member, has created a sculptural work this semester titled "Transformations." Using silhouettes and shadows, this piece explores life forms that continuously transform from one shape to another.

* New work "five hundred parts per million," choreographed by Cunningham-Sigman, draws its inspiration from climate change data. The performers respond and react to the shifting environmental rhythms, flow configurations, and to the quiet and angry moods of the atmosphere. Trent Marshall, interdisciplinary engineering and sound design major in theater, composed original music for the work.

* Dance faculty member Mary Beth Van Dyke choreographed "Is There Room?" This modern dance work looks at the lack of civility that prevails in contemporary culture.

* "Luna," by faculty member Sally Wallace, is a work inspired by the moon as a feminine symbol. The moon represents mystery and calm, but is also blamed for lunatic behavior, of which "luna" is a root word. Wallace explores cycles, or qualities, that can be expressed in women, with eight strong female dancers.

* Senior Kelley Jones, an aeronautical and astronautical engineering major and dance minor, choreographed a work titled "fprintf('Exploration=%d',just_another_day)." This light piece takes viewers into the world of the workplace and the people who go there day after day to produce amazing feats.

* Hillary Steckel is a senior in industrial engineering with a minor in dance. Her piece explores restriction of space and simplification, which eliminates many choreographic tools such as dancers' use of space and physical interactions.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Sources: Carol Cunningham-Sigman, 765-494-5993, carolec@purdue.edu

Rebecca Bryant, rgbryant@purdue.edu

Melodie Carr, mjcarr@purdue.edu

Mary Beth Van Dyke, vandyke@purdue.edu

Sally Wallace, sallyw@purdue.edu

Kelley Jones, jones123@purdue.edu

Hillary Steckel, hsteckel@purdue.edu