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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1997)
Classes lend participants chance to dance By Liza Holtmeier Senior Reporter When Wayne and Rose Ann Foster auditioned for “Familiar Movements” at the Wagon Train Project, all they wanted was a chance to dance. “We thought dance would keep us from getting old,” Wayne said. “We were looking for a way to get lim bered up, and this project seemed interesting.” But after three weeks of rehears ing with their new acquaintances, the Fosters found they received more from the experience than they had hoped for. “We had become a family,” Wayne said. “We wanted to continue to dance and we wanted to stay together as a group.” The Fosters and other “Familiar Movements” dancers decided to do so by starting “A Family Experience,” a family-oriented movement class taught by University of Nebraska Lincoln dance instructor Ann Shea. Shea teaches the public classes Tuesdays at the Wagon Train Project, 504 S. Seventh St., from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Shea said most class participants were people who once were interest ed in dance only as audience mem bers. After performing in “Familiar Movements,” they were “bitten by the performance bug,” she said. “From the outset, (this class) is out to prove that if you want to per form, there is no reason you can’t,” Shea explained. “Picasso once said that every child is an artist. The chal lenge is to keep that spirit throughout our lives. This class provides the opportunity for people to rediscover their artistic bent.” Shea uses mostly modern-based mQvement in the class, She said this^ gives dancers a solid foundation while allowing them to explore and formulate their own movement. Participants begin each class with warm-up exercises, facing inward as a circle. Shea said she emphasized using the whole body in a fiill range of motion. After warming up, the class mem bers participate in improvisation exercises. Shea gives a few basic guidelines on which the dancers car\ Classics return to theater By Gerry Beltz Assignment Reporter The Huskers are cornin’ home to battle the Red Raiders, and Bogie is coming to the Cinema Twin to battle the Nazis. “Casablanca” opens Friday at the Cinema Twin, 201 N. 13th St., for a one-week run, the first of a possible series of older films playing on the big screens in Lincoln. Jennifer Speck, manager of the Cinema Twin, said she had been working on the project for some time and was thrilled to finally have every thing come together. “We have been getting a ton of calls about the film, from both older and younger people,” she said. “I’m really excited about this happening.” Although “Casablanca” wasn’t the first choice, it was the easiest one to come to an agreement on, she said. “It was something all of us at Douglas Theatre Co. could agree on, and we figured if all of us can agree on it, then the general public could agree with it,” Speck said. After seven days of Bogart, Speck will open “Summer Stock,” a musical starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, Speck said. “You can’t go wrong with Kelly and Garland,” she said. “Summer Stock” isn’t the most widely known musical, but Speck said that was partly the reason behind Nikki Fox/DN ANN SHEA, a UNL dance instructor, leads a group of “Familiar Movements” dancers in warm-ups at the Wagon Train Project. base their movement, but she said the final product belongs to the dancers. Class participant Terrence Moore said he learned die most about dance through improvising. “I enjoy extending the boundaries of my body while exploring the aspects of working with an ensem ble,” Moore said. “The thing that has become most apparent is the impor tance of movement and touch. The connections we establish during the class are very interesting.” Moore, who started dancing six months ago, takes the class with his daughter, Aryelle. She has danced since she was three and participated in “Familiar Movements” last spring. Another parent-chiId team con sists of Deb Roelfs and her 15-year old son, Matt. Matt Roelfs, a Lincoln High sophomore, joined the class with his mom because of his interest in dance and the hope it would help him with football. “It should improve my flexibility and agility,” he said. “I also like the expression part of it.” Deb Roelfs said she learned more about her own dancing by watching her son. “He has so much more energy than I do, and his movements are totally different from my own,” she explained. “I’ve been inspired by watching him.” Although Deb Roelfs also takes dance class at UNL, she said she enjoys the Wagon Train Project class more because it is less structured and composed of dancers with a wide range of abilities. “This class offers something that everyone should have the experience of feeling: the openness and the free dom of dance,” Deb Roelfs said. In addition to the Tuesday night class, the group is rehearsing a move ment piece based on “Spoon River Anthology,” by poet-author Edgar Lee Masters. The play consists of a group of monologues delivered by the dead residents of Spoon River, 111. Shea said she hopes the dancers will perform it in a spring recital. In the meantime, Shea wants to concentrate on showing the class that dance is a mind-set. “If you feel like a dancer, you are a dancer,” she said. Each class session costs $5 and is open to people of all ages and abili ties. choosing to run it. “Movies like ‘Singin’ In The Rain,’ people have seen a million times, but for a lot of people this is like going to a new movie,” she said. Speck added that even if no one else came to see “Summer Stock,” one steady customer would be attending. “I could sit and watch that movie 50 times,” she said. “Casablanca” shouldn’t have any audience problems, though, she said. Lincoln businesses and moviego ers have been spreading word of “Casablanca,” and Speck said she had been very pleased with the over all response. “Everyone has been very sup portive,” she said. “We have adver tisements up in bookstores, coffee shops and senior centers. It’s been very encouraging with the amount of help they have given us. “Everybody has been just great.” Whether or not these retro films continue is largely up to how well the public takes to the movies, Speck said. “If we get the same attendance we have been getting in support of the idea, we’ll try to keep doing it,” she said. The best way to show support, Speck said, is for interested moviego ers to let her know what they think. “I love to hear from the public, but if I don’t know what they would want to see, I can’t follow through.” Show times for the Cinema Twin are available by calling 475-5969. American Heart Associations^^ Fighting Heart Disease and Stroke ___ Nothing Quite Like... 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