Center for the Arts

UB Summer Dance Program Begins Today

 Every summer, UB dance faculty members Karen Georger and Shelley Hain offer dance classes in the UB dance studios.  These classes offer an opportunity for dance students to continue to practice, improve their techniques, and if they're not in college, get to know the dance studios at UB.  This year, the evening program includes instruction from a variety of UB faculty and guest teachers at the bargain rate of only $12 per class for intermediate and advanced level students age 16 and over with at least 5 years of dance experience.  The evening program runs from June 22 to July 16, Monday through Thursday.

For those seeking more basic instruction, a day program is offered for step one level students July 6-10, including Ballet, Modern, and Jazz instruction. The week-long program is $175 by pre-registration, and at least one year of dance is highly recommended as a pre-requisite. 

An intermediate/advanced level section is also offered July 6-10 from 9am to 12pm, for ages 13 and over with at least 5 years of dance experience.  This intensive week includes daily Ballet, and alternating Jazz and Modern, and is also $175.

Register for the day programs by emailing kgeorger@buffalo.edu, hain@buffalo.edu, or by calling 645-0600 or 645-0601.

Great Lakes Conference today

UB is hosting a conference on the Great Lakes and corresponding waterways between the US and Canada.  The conference is today at the Center for the Arts.  Check out the UB Law news blog for more details on the conference.

Two of Buffalo's professional dance companies start a new festival

The Center for the Arts is Western New York's premier presenter of dance, drawing national and international companies to perform right here on our stage.  The Center has a history of presenting a wide range of dance genres from traditional story ballet to cutting edge contemporary, as well as being the performing home of the UB Department of Theatre & Dance.  The multi-year host of national dance conferences like Jazz Dance World Congress and Dance Masters of America, the Center for the Arts has a reputation as a setting for dance education and creative development. 

It is no surprise, then that two Buffalo-based professional dance companies chose the Center for the Arts as a partner in presenting the Buffalo Dance Festival on August 1.   LehrerDance and Configuration Dance Theatre are working together to provide two 2-hour master classes in technique for dance students and a full evening of performances by both companies for contemporary dance fans. 

The registration form for the masterclasses is currently available for download at the Center for the Arts website, and tickets are on sale now for this unique event.

 

Lea Salonga video from Les Miserables, 2007

Lea Salonga, a Tony award winning Broadway actress and singer will perform at the Center for the Arts on Saturday, October 10. Lea was also the singing voice of Disney's Mulan and Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. See her June 2007 performance in Les Miserables on Broadway:

Indigo Girls partner with Rock for a Remedy

Popular music duo Indigo Girls have partnered with the national non-profit organization Rock for a Remedy to benefit local food relief organizations in each city on their Spring 2009 tour. Indigo Girls will perform at the Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo on April 20, 2009 at 8pm.

Donations collected from concert attendees will benefit the Food Bank of Western New York. Patrons are encouraged to contribute non-perishable food in a non-glass container. Donations of four items or more will be entered into a raffle to win a signed copy of the Indigo Girls' new album "Poseidon and the Bitter Bug" and other memorabilia.

Rock for a Remedy, Inc (RFAR) is a non-profit organization that partners with local food relief organizations and national touring artists to both gather food/monetary donations and encourage youth and adults to better their communities through charitable efforts. RFAR's mission is to not only alleviate hunger in North America, but to also encourage and motivate concertgoers to volunteerism and develop sustainable altruistic participation in the music industry at large. Audiences have contributed nearly 93 tons of food and several thousand dollars over RFAR's six-year history.

www.ubcfa.org

UB Art Galleries has a fabulous new website

UB Art Galleries has just launched a new website: www.ubartgalleries.org.  This new site is a wonderful upgrade including images of exhibited works, and really lovely informative enlargements when you click on the images.

Click to check it out: 

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo to host the Society for the Arts in Healthcare's 20th Annual International Conference

The Center's Arts in Healthcare program and partnership with Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute to be showcased before an international audience April 22-25, 2009

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will host the Society for the Arts in Healthcare's 20th Annual International Conference. The Conference will be held April 22-25, 2009, with the majority of events scheduled to take place at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

Designed to highlight best practices, innovative programs and cutting-edge research in the field of Arts in Healthcare, more than 300 students, educators, healthcare professionals and artists from across the United States, Canada, and Europe will convene in Buffalo. The conference will also highlight the work being done locally with the Center for the Arts' partner institutions - Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute - as well as the many assets of the Western New York community.

The Society for the Arts in Healthcare works to promote the arts in healthcare in order to humanize the healthcare experience and connect people with the power of the arts at key moments in their lives. A range of arts in healthcare initiatives supporting patients, families, caregivers and communities will be represented, including music, dance, drama, visual arts and literary arts programs.

Selected conference highlights include:

• A conference session entitled "Arts in Healthcare: The Next Decade, Challenges & Opportunities Ahead" will be presented as a panel discussion with: Donald L. Trump, MD, FACP, President & CEO Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Paul T. Hogan, Vice President, John R. Oishei Foundation; Paula Terry, Director of the Office of AccessAbility, National Endowment for the Arts; and Naj Wikoff, President, Creative Healing Connections. In addition, Cheryl Klass, President of Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo and Vice President for Kaleida Health will be part of a panel for the "Buffalo Arts in Healthcare Showcase."


• The conference will mark the launch of "Arts & Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice" published by the Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group in association with the Society for Arts in Healthcare.


• A performance by Julia Sweeney in a special staged reading of her one-woman show "God Said Ha!" on Thursday, April 23 at 8:00pm in the UB Center for the Arts co-sponsored by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare. Julia Sweeney is best known for her four hit seasons on "Saturday Night Live," and many will remember her androgynous character "Pat." (note: conference registration is not required to purchase tickets to this event).


• Erie County Executive Chris Collins and UB President John B. Simpson will welcome the Society's delegates at the Opening Plenary Session on April 23.  

This Arts in Healthcare initiative was established by the Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo to bring the performing and visual arts into healthcare settings at Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo and Roswell Park Cancer Institute. This is the first comprehensive program of its kind in Western New York, and is made possible by the John R. Oishei Foundation, Seymour H. Knox Foundation, and Bank of America Foundation. Support for the program at Roswell Park Cancer Institute comes from: Samuel Son & Co., Inc., The Pepsi Bottling Group, and The Cameron and Jane Baird Foundation.

The Center for the Arts is dedicated to the cultural enrichment of the University at Buffalo and its surrounding communities through the presentation of public arts and cultural events of the highest quality. Celebrating the creative process through innovative programming, the Center crosses socio-economic, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries. The Center nurtures excellence and innovation in the arts through education, presentation, community service, and research in the visual and performing arts, while broadening the base of understanding, appreciation, and support for the arts through meaningful community partnerships.

The Society for the Arts in Healthcare (SAH) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization located in Washington, DC. Founded in 1991, the Society is dedicated to advancing the arts as integral to healthcare. With over 1,700 members from around the globe, the Society advocates for the arts in healthcare through partnerships with arts and healthcare providers and related organizations; provides technical assistance through a national consultant service; convenes conferences, symposia and webinars on cutting-edge topics; offers information about model programs and best practices, including research and evaluation; and manages grant and awards initiatives that support innovative program development.

Attendance at conference events is open to the general public, but registration is required. For more information, please visit www.thesah.org. For more information on the Center for the Arts' Arts in Healthcare program, please visit www.ubcfa.org. ####

Melanie Aceto's choreography documented by Yuichiro Yamada

The Center for the Arts began with the concept that the arts inter-mingle, that media mix, and interdisciplinary collaboration should be encouraged.  UB dance professor and choreographer Melanie Aceto has been creating a new work that will be performed by Zodiaque Dance Company this weekend, and filmed by Japanese film maker Yuichiro Yamada. 

Check out the article in UB Reporter:
http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/2009_02_18/yamada_documentary

UB dance alum to perform with Zodiaque

The Department of Theater & Dance proudly welcomes home UB alumna Gina Pero as a guest performer and choreographer for the university’s Zodiaque Dance Company. Invited by company director, Associate Professor Tom Ralabate, Gina’s piece “The Highest Journey” will be featured in the upcoming spring Zodiaque Dance Company concert, in the Drama Theatre at UB’s Center for the Arts from February 18 to 22. She will also perform the solo work “Dust and Water,” choreographed for her by renowned New York choreographer Jason Parsons.

After earning her BFA in Dance in 2002, Gina has been a company member of the Solstice Dance Company and has performed as a dancer internationally in Japan, China, Italy and Mexico. In America, she has appeared as a principle dancer in the film The Great Observer and in several Las Vegas shows, including Charo and The Latin Music Awards. She has done commercial work for Dockers, The Bellagio Hotel and MTV, as well as choreographed for the Cirque de Soleil Fashion Shows and The Las Vegas Hilton. Most recently, Gina appeared as a Radio City Rockette in the 2008 Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

This year, the Zodiaque Dance Company celebrates its 35th season as resident dance company of the University at Buffalo. The Zodiaque Dance Company welcomes its graduates back to its studios and stage as guest performers, choreographers, master class teachers, and lecturers on a continuing basis, as part of the department’s commitment to developing a network of UB alumni artists. Celebration 35! opens February 18th in Center for the Arts Drama Theater and runs through February 22nd. Tickets are available through the Center for the Arts: http://ubcfa.org/webmodules/pages/dtl_Pages.aspx?pageID=30

Finding beauty in heartache: Fado is the Portuguese blues

When the Center for the Arts scheduled world-renowned Fado singer Mariza for this spring, I admit, I had no idea what Fado music was.  I enjoy world and folk music. I don't mind if I don't understand all the words of popular groups like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Deep Forest, or the Putomayo collections because, beat, tempo, and emotion are universal human experiences that extend beyond language.  But Fado - that was not a familiar word or style.  It did not take much searching to find abundant information on this genre which is extremely popular throughout Europe, as well as in Portugal's hottest tourist destinations.  

Fado has endured since the style developed in the nineteenth century among the urban and working poor of Portugal, including sailors. Similar to the American blues and soul music, Fado emerged as a soulful lament of working conditions, loss of love, and an expression of grief, heartache and disappointment.  Many believe the emerging Fado music was influenced by North African and Brazilian cultures colonized by imperial Portugal, and, like Tango, imported by immigrants into Portugal.  Even the traditional Fado instrument, a tear-drop shaped guitar, evolved from an African and Afro-Brazilian lute.³  

Fado became tied to politics, when under the dictatorship that lasted from 1934 to 1974, lyrics were controlled by the government and the genre was generally used to promote nationalism.²  Since fall of the regime, the music of such stars as Mariza has become a source of Portuguese pride, promoting Portuguese traditional culture to the world.

In Fado, directly translated as "fate", lyrics and tone consistently reference a sense of loss and longing or nostalgia.  In Portuguese the word for this longing is "saudade", a word which is frequently heard in the lyrics.  

The song in the video below, sung by Mariza, is titled "Chuva" or "Rain".  The words describe a tremendous loss of love, crying out when it rained, and being reminded of the longing whenever it rains.

Modern Fado gave rise to stars like Amalia Rodrigues (1920-1999), who became such a national heroine of Portugal, that the country declared three days of mourning upon her death.  Amalia performed in the traditional black dress associated with the genre, and was accompanied by the traditional guitar.  Mariza continues the tradition, but usually adds contemporary design and accessories, and often enhances well-known ballads with percussion and cello.

Mariza releases highly-anticipated Terra, her fifth full-length album on January 29, in time for the February 25 concert at the Center for the Arts. English translations will be available in the performance programs.  I have been won-over by Mariza's passion and the tear-jerking sense of longing in her voice in just the recordings.  I expect this to be one moving concert.

Sources for more information:

1. Mariza Official Website
http://www.mariza.com/

2. Fado, the Portuguese Soul Music - International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/20/news/fado.php

3. National Geographic - Fado
Click here for link

4. Fado.com
http://www.fado.com/

5. World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/staticpages/index.php/fado