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Courtesy Photo
KELLY HOLCOMBE, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln dance instructor, will perform in this year’s “Nebraska
Dancing” concert sponsored by the Omaha Modern Dance Collective. Holcombe will perform her original piece,
“I Spy,” and also will dance in a group presentation of “Angelica.”
Concert showcases dance diversity
By Liza Holtmeier
Staff writer
In the modern dance world,
Nebraska probably doesn’t appear on
anyone's list of dynamic hubs.
But a few local choreographers are
trying to change that.
The Omaha Modern Dance
Collective, a nonprofit group for mod
em dancers, choreographers and audi
ence-goers, will present its fifth annual
“Nebraska Dancing” concert this week
end m Omaha. The concert is one of the
few chances in Nebraska to see modem
dance created by local artists.
This year’s concert features a num
ber of highlights, including a piece
OMDC commissioned from University
of Nebraska-Lincoln dance teacher
Kelly Holcombe and a performance by
guest artist Sandia Organ, a former
Houston Ballet soloist.
OMDC commissioned a piece from
Holcombe after her performance as
guest artist at last year's concert.
Taffy Howard, OMDC president,
said the organization wanted a piece that
would pro\ ide a friendly introduction to
modem dance.
“Modern dance sometimes gets a
bad reputation It's called weird or
avant-garde,” Howard said. "But people
only say that because they’re not famil
iar with the movement.”
Howard said OMDC asked
Holcombe for a light-hearted humor
ous piece with which audiences could
identify. Holcombe's finished product is
a work satirizing '60s spy films and
television shows.
She divided the piece, titled “I Spy,”
into four sections. Set to music from
flicks such as “James Bond” each sec
tion plays upon different kinds of spy
imagery. Dancers blast on stage with
guns, sneak through alleys and coyly
seduce the “other side.” The fourth sec
tion includes a surprise ending.
Gail Ogden, an OMDC board mem
ber, said Holcombe’s choreography
reflects the variety of influences in her
dance career. A strong ballet back
ground gives her movement a sense of
precision and focus, while her time
spent performing with the modern
dance troupes Piloboius and Morrhx has
instilled in her a high level of creativity.
In addition to “I Spy,” Holcombe
will present and dance in another piece
titled ".Angelica.” The work is actually
an excerpt from a larger piece based on
images from “Dante's Inferno" and
“Paradise Lost." It depicts tliree angels,
played by Holcombe. Howard and Patti
Zukitis, before their fall from heaven.
The concert also w ill feature guest
artist Sandra Organ, an Omaha native
and Houston Ballet’s first African
American female ballerina. Organ will
perform a modern solo on pointe titled
“Mountain O' Things,” which she
choreographed to music by Tracy
Chapman.
The show's other six pieces run the
gamut of modem dance. Pieces range
from a Martha Graham vocabulary to a
Mexican folk dancing influence.
The six works were chosen during
an open audition in August. Local
choreographers submitted 25 pieces to
be considered by a three-member panel
of independent judges selected bv
OMDC.
During the selection process, judges
looked for pieces representing modem
dance’s diversity.
“There’s usually something some
one will like on some level somehow,”
Ogden said. “(The concert) usually
doesn’t leave a bad taste in anyone’s
mouth.”
The fifth annual Nebraska Dancing
concert will be presented Friday and
Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Lied Education
Center for the Arts at Creighton
University, 24th and Cass streets in
Omaha. Tickets are $10 for general
admission, $8 for seniors and students
and $6 for OMDC members. For reser
vations, call (402)551-7473
‘Mothra’ invades
Morrill as part
of fund-raiser
By Sarah Baker
Senior staff writer
Despite the cold weather, stu
dents may want to leave the
sweaters in the closet this week -
end.
Thanks to the good people at
the natural history museum in
Morrill Hail, Lincoln will fall
prey to science fiction’s biggest
ana most menacing moth.
The fabled silver screen neme
sis of Godzilla, known to science
fiction buffs as Mothra, will be
onscreen in Lincoln for one day
only.
“Mothra,” the 1962 Japanese
science fiction classic, pits the
famed Godzilla, king of mythical
monsters, against a giant insect
that can be stopped only by the
singing of a secret melody.
The film is being shown
Sunday as part of the second annu
al Dinosaur Theater and Auction, a
fund-raiser to benefit the natural
history museum in Morrill Hall.
Mary Dupuis, a representative
of Friends of the Museum and an
organizer of the event,
said this is the sec
ond year the fund
raiser will feature
a science fiction
B-movie. w.
showed a Godzilla
movie,” Dupuis
said. “Apparently
people who are
into museums
are also into
campy movies.”
The fund
raiser will also
include pizza
and a silent auc
tion with numer
ous items includ
ed.
Dupuis said
last year the fund
raiser attracted a
crowd of about 100, ^
and this year they are
hoping for more.
“We have some really neat
auction items, like rugs, bookends
and a lot of nice print work,” she
said.
Items were donated by a num
ber of local groups and concerned
citizens.
All of the proceeds from the
event will go to support the revi
talization of the Nebraska wildlife
ganery in tne casement 01 Morrill j
Hall. I
Dupuis said the gallery cur- ;
rently consists of about 30 diora- !
mas that were built in the early
1060s and needs renovation
because of leaks and other techni- ■
cal problems, well as being out- j
dated.
“Museums have become much
more interactive,” she said. “The j
new displays will give the muse- J
um-goer more information than
they could ever get through a glass
case ”
The renovated displays will
include bird and snake sounds, as
well as model skeletal remains, |
Dupuis said.
She said this year the group ;
hopes to raise about $6,000, up j
from last year’s $5,000 goal,
which was achieved.
“We are hoping like mad it will
be bigger and better,” she said.
The Dinosaur Theater and
Auction takes place Sunday at
Morrill Hall, 14™ and U streets, on
the University of Nebraska
Lincoln campus in the auditorium.
The event begins at 3 p.m.
\
auction, and “Moir.ra” will be j
shown following the silent auction
at 4 p.m. A live auction begins at 7 -
p.m.
Tickets for the event are $10
per person, $20 per family and raf
fle tickets for prizes are $ 1 each.
All tickets can be purchased at
Morrill Hall. For more informa
tion, call the museum at (402)
472-6365.
|
_-_i
Artist brings work to life using movement, elaborate costumes
By Jason Hardy
Senior staff writer
Although Halloween is over, Lincoln residents
will still have the chance to see some incrediblv
outlandish costumes.
Sha Sha Higby, a visiting artist from San
Francisco, uses art and movement to illicit emo
tions and sensations from her audience. She com
bines ornamented outfits, put together like sculp
tures, with body movements that, in effect, bring
those sculptured costumes to life.
Higby will bring her unique and mysterious art
to Lincoln this week for both a performance and
exhibition. She also will visit different University
of Nebraska-Lincoln classes related to the individ
ual elements that make up her work.
For her show Higby dons the sculptured cos
tumes and dances with ritualistic movements.
Slowly Higby moves in cyclical patterns, deli
cately showcasing different views of the costumes
that she turns into living artwork. Each pose and
movement provides a different image while slowly
evolving mto something different for each viewer,
Higby said.
“I want people to feel they were taken to a
whole other world,” she said. “It's an extremely
visual experience. It’s a body environment that
moves quite slowly, but you want it to move slowly
because you want to study all aspects of this sculp
ture that is moving”
The wearable sculptures Higby uses in her per
formances are made from a number of different
objects layered beneath thousands of pieces of silk,
animal skins, seed pods, bells, feathers, lace and
mirrors. In some cases, the sculptures have taken
more than two years to finish.
Higby’s inspiration for the performance and
sculptures comes from a number of different cul
tures she has seen, and elements of nature. Her
dancing style has been compared to traditional
Indonesian techniques while her masks bear simi
larities to Japanese “noh” pieces.
Wendy Weiss, associate professor of textiles,
clothing and design and gallery director for the
Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, said the gallery
currently features five of the sculptured costumes
Higby has made
“These costumes are extraordinary,” Weiss
said. “They’re suspended from the ceiling in a very
animated way so even when they're not on a
dancer, they look like they’re moving in space.”
Her week will wind up with two performances
of her work entitled “Wooden Sun” at the 7Th
Street Loft, 504 S. Seventh St., third floor. The first
show, on Saturday, starts at 7:30 p.m. and the sec
ond, on Sunday, starts at 2 p.m.
Her costumes will be on exhibit at the Robert
Hillestad Textiles Gallery in the home economics
building, 35th and Holdrege streets, through
Nov. 6.
For more information, call Wendy Weiss at
472-6370.