Arts & Entertainment
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Dancers to combine talents with students
Performance honors
four dance legends
By Andrea Christensen
Staff Reporter_____
Two world-class ballet dancers will take the
stage with University of Nebraska-Lincoln
students this week at the Howell Theatre. They
will perform “And the Dance Goes On. . . A
Tribute to Four Legends of the Dance.”
-
Mcclis Pakri and Patricia Rcn/.ctti, the prin
ciple dancers with the Colorado Ballet Com
pany, have been in Lincoln for the past week.
Their performance will be an homage to re
cently deceased dancers Margot Fonteyn, Martha
Graham, Alvin Ailey and Sammy Davis Jr.
The duo will perform with UNL dance stu
dents. Pakri said working with student dancers
had been a pleasant experience.
“With the way the piece is choreographed,”
he said, “we don’t have too much physical
contact with the dancers. But in rehearsals
there has been a lot of camaraderie.”
UNL dance instructor Lisa Fusillo said that
working with professional dancers was a mar
vellous opportunity for students.
“The students arc learning what the disci
pline of ballet is all about,” Fusillo said. “This
production gives them a phenomenal opportu
nity to see, work with and interact with great
artists.”
tQ33 ~~ See DANCE on 10
Andy Fredrick/DN
Meelis Pakri and Patricia Renzetti rehearse Tuesday evening at Howell Theater. The pair, world-renowned artists with
the Colorado Ballet, will perform “And the Dance Goes On,fbeginning Thursday.
State patrons getting 1
lst-rate film discount
By Anne Steyer
Senior Reporter
The State Theater, 1415 O St.,
is a second-run movie house, but
second-run definitely doesn’t mean
second-rate.
As a second-run theater, the State
shows movies that have already
played in Lincoln.
This time around, however, the
admission price is discounted. The
State began screening second-run
films last December, and accord
ing to the theater’s management,
it’s working out well.
Manager Hai Tran said that with
the $ 1.75 admission price, seeing a
movie at the Stale Theater is not
only cheaper than seeing a movie
at a first-run theater, it’s also cheaper
than renting a new release on video
cassette.
“We gel a lot of families com
ing through," Tran said. “People
have caught on and they’re willing
to wait.”.
As a member of the United Artists
Theatre Company, the State books
films through a national booking
agency in Texas Which distributes
films to about 3,000 screens na
tionwide.
Tran said the State has run most
of the summer blockbusters, in
cluding “Robin Hood: Prince of
Thieves,” “Terminator 2” and “City
Slickers.”
The Slate is also showing some
of the sleeper hits of the summer.
“Naked Gun 2 1/2” will play through
Friday, before “Hotshots” opens.
Tran said the film usually changes
every week, although they may
keep one film longer, depending
on the response.
“We had ‘Robin Hood’ for four
weeks, but we’ll only have ‘Naked
Gun 2 1/2’ for one,” Tran said. “It
just depends.”
The popularity of a movie dur
ing its first run generally carries
over into its second run also, Tran
said. Some movies will generate a
big response, others will do aver
age business.
— 44
It ’s a good concept
and it’s about time
Lincoln had the
dollar house.
Tran
Manager of State Theater
->f -
Assistant manager John Vob
oril agreed.
‘“Dances with Wolves’ was
pulling in 100 people per show on
the weekend,” Voboril explained,
“so certainly the blockbusters do
belter.”
Tran said business has been
steady because of the lower ticket
prices. The State has a group of
regular patrons whocall about each
new show and come every week,
he said.
In addition, Tran said, the State’s
customer market has expanded.
Tran explained that before
switching to the second-run for
mat, the theater ran mainly horror
films, which brought in primarily a
college-age audience.
Chris Moore, a Lincoln deliv
eryman arriving despite the cold
for a screening of “Naked Gun 2 1/
2,” said he comes to the Slate mostly
for the movies they show, “but the
price is good too.”
“Nowadays,” Moore said,“SI.75
is a lot better than S3 or S5 dollars.”
Cheryl Barnhill, a freshman
business major at the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln, agreed. She said
that given admission prices and the
cost of concessions, she is willing
to wait for a movie to come to a
second-run theater.
Tran stressed that being a sec
ond-run movie house in no way
detracts from the quality of the
motion pictures shown at the Slate.
“We’re still showing quality
pictures,” Tran said. “It’s a good
concept and it’s about time Lin
coln had the dollar house.”
“- ^ - ~.David Badders/DN
Duffy's featuring old Lincoln band tonight
Green Things to find their roots
By John Payne
Senior Editor_
“God, this band started out as a
complete joke,” laughs Mike Keeling
from his Minneapolis apartment.
Keeling, bassist and vocalist for
Leafy Green Things, is recounting
the Lincoln band’s short history and
seems genuinely pleased with the way
his troupe has hunkered down in the
big city. The quartet that once preached
the simple virtues of “three-chord rock”
hasn’t abandoned its blue-collar ap
Eroach. In fact, they’re happy just to
e able to pay the rent. -
Five months ago, Keeling and his
bandmates left town to peddle their
wares in the Twin Cities’ thriving
music scene. The move brought to an
end the Leafies’ three-year reign as
Lincoln’s premiere mosh outfit, though
Keeling admits they didn’t really learn
to play until two years ago.
“When we first started playing
together, we wore dresses, or what
ever, just to make it interesting be
cause we knew how bad we were,”
Keeling recalls.
The Lcafies hope the move to
Minnesota will turn out to be the first
step toward landing a recording con
tract.
First, though, they will return to
Lincoln fora 10p.m. show tonight at
their old stomping ground, Duffy’s
Tavern, 1412 0 St. Cover charge is
$3.
Over the past five months Keel
ing, gui lari st/vocal i si Dan Boardman,
guitarist Dana Mjelde and drummer
Mark Munn have been busy putting
together new material for a demo
tape, which Keeling will send out to
as many independent labels as he can
dig up.
Aside from looking for a record
company to lake a chance on them,
they are also working hard to break
into a club scene that Keeling and
Boardman describe as “very closed.”
“Working your way into it diffi
cult,” says Boardman of Minneapo
lis’ live music circuit. “Especially
without knowing any of the other
bands. But I’ve got a decent relation
ship with some of people that do the
booking (at local clubs), so I bug the
hell out of them everyday.”
For a band like the Lcafics, Min
neapolis would seem like the perfect
place to carve a niche. With an abun
dance of solid independent record
companies, good bar bands don’t go
unnoticed for too long.
With that in mind, Boardman and
Keeling say the band’s first priority is
to revamp its live set for shows com
ing up later this month in Minneapo
lis and St. Paul. *
“Hopefully, this show at Duffy’s
will give us a chance lighten up and
work in some new things,” he said.
Boardman and Keeling agree that
relocating forced them to be more
productive musicians.
“We’ve written more songs since
we’ve been here than we had in a year
in Lincoln,” Keeling said. “We all
got up here and it was like ‘we’re
here, we better actually start doing it
instead of just messing around.' ”
Keeling expects to start laying down
tracks for a demo in a couple of months.
(Sy ” See LEAFY on 10