Dance department
to perform annual
spring concert
DANCE from page 12
Zero,” another piece by Kane. Set to
music by Sweet Honey In the Rock, this
postmodern piece plays with partnering
and the use of weight.
“It’s about support and helping each
other out,” said Brandy Miller, who
stars in the act
Kane choreographed the dancers
running and falling in order to create a
more pedestrian-looking dance.
“I wanted it to look as if I’m just a
real person, and I’m dancing. I fall, and
I get up,” Kane said
Finally, the concert includes
“Femme Zeppelin,” choreographed by
Steinweis and featuring three other
Ideal dancers. Steinweis said the piece
celebrates the many facets of feminini
ty and how women can be strong, sensi
tive, serious, silly and sexy at the same
time.
Though the pieces vary in style, an
overriding theme exists between many
of them. A number of the pieces explore
the quest for expression in a world that
tends to suppress women’s voices. The
pieces also celebrate the power and sup
port women give each other.
ror these reasons, Kane and
Holcombe said, die concert reflects the
atmosphere in die dance program.
“We’ve seen the group come
together,” Holcombe said. “You walk
into the studio, and they’re cheering
each other on, and morale is high.”
The dancers’ optimism can be seen
in the triumphant ending of “Ladies
Speak.”
“By the end of the piece,” Miller
said, “we’re just throwing our feelings
in your face.”
Danes
What: Spring Dance Concert
Where: Johnny Carson Theatre,
11th and R Streets
When: Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday
at 7 p.m.
Coat: $6 for students, $8 for UNL faculty, $10
for general admission
The Skinny: Concert features UNL dancers at
their strongest and most diverse
1999
SUE TIDBALL
AWARD FOR
CREATIVE HUMANITY
ytyfqjp
HONORS:
Marion Ellis
Christy Hargesheimer
Ardis Holland
Jean Klasna
Dustin Manhart
John Matthews
Patrick McCoy
Suzette Meyers
Claudia Price-Decker
Harry James Tilley
Jocelyn Walsh
Judy Wendorff
AWARD CELEBRATION &
RECEPTION
SUNDAY, MARCH 7
7:00 PM
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
1309 R Street
Celebrative Music &
Entertainment
PUBLIC INVITED
•
-■ -- -.3 -s
>——^————11— ii ..
\
‘Happiness
Black comedy asks audiences to
find humor in everyday misery
By Jeff Randall
Senior staff writer
When Andy Kaufman used to
stand up on a stage and antagonize his
I audience to the point of imminent vio
lence, people not only raised their fists
and threw their glasses of water, they
also laughed - although sometimes
they didn’t know it
And now that Kaufman is long
gone from the face of the earth, anoth
er unlikely comic hero has taken his
place. That hero’s name is Todd
Solondz.
A writer and director whose pen
chant for oddball characters is second
only to his love for visually antagoniz
ing audiences, it seemed unlikely that
Solondz would ever become a hit with
audiences - critics were a different
story.
Solondz’s first feature film did just
that “Welcome to the Dollhouse” was
a thoroughly unsettling and subver
sively funny film about a young girl’s
dealings with the three things that tor
mented her most: her family, her class
mates and puberty.
Audiences either loved or hated it;
Critics mostly did the former. And
nearly everybody wondered what
Solondz would do next.
Fortunately, he did “Happiness.”
“Happiness” shocks and appalls
even more than its predecessor, and it
also raises laughter from dark places
that one might not even know existed.
As a result, the production company
that had helped make “Happiness”
dropped the film soon after seeing die
completed product. And after being
released independently, it deservedly
made dozens upon dozens of Top Ten
lists for 1998.
More of an ensemble work than
“Welcome to the Dollhouse,”
“Happiness” is centered on the lives ol
three sisters (played by Jane Adams,
Lara Flynn Boyle and Camryn
Manheim) whose love lives are in dif
ferent stages of shambles.
Joy (Adams) has just broken up
with one in a series of loser boyfriends
(the latest being Jon Lovitz). Helen
(Boyle) is so desperate for love she
starts looking for sincere romance
with an obscene phone caller (Phillip
Seymour Hoffman). And Trish
(Manheim) is happily married to a
psychiatrist (Dylan Baker) who car
ries on a secret obsession for intimate
relations with young boys.
Comedy doesn’t seem like il
would really fit into this cast of char
acters. And for most directors, it
wouldn’t But Solondz isn’t like mosl
directors.
Whether it’s with demeanor,
naivete or wry dialogue, Solondz’s
characters lighten the mood just
enough to bring out laughter, but never
enough to make you forget just how
dark and disturbed they really are.
Not that Solondz’s unflinching
approach to the characters’ lives
would allow anyone in the audience to
\
11999 Summer Sessions
Need a course to graduate?
Want to get ahead?
LEAP INTO SUMMER CLASSES!
Pre-Session May 17-June A
8-Week Session May 17-July 9
First 5-Week Session June 7-July 9
Second 5-Week Session July 12-August 12
Summer Sessions Bulletins available at
107 Canfield Administration Building
Class schedule and daily updates online at:
http: //www. uni. edu/summer
REGISTRATION BEGINS MARCH 8, 1999
Go ahead, make the leapil
Lincoln’s First Class
ftn»er
• 30 Brunswick Pool Tables
• Electronic Games
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_
Film Review Ml
The Facts
Tllto: "Happiness"
Start: Lara Flynn Boyle, Jon Lovitz, Jane
Adams, Phlp Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker,
Camryn Manheim
Director: Todd SoJondz
Rating: NR
Grade: A ^
Five Words: Comedy that makes you squirm
■ forget *
He stays with moments that other
directors would have the decency to
cut away from, and that’s what makes
his films more realistic and disturbing
than your typically depraved USA
late-night movie. He tempers the tell
all approach of Jerry Springer with the
brazen artistry of David Lynch and the
humanity of Frank Capra.
“Happiness” is not a film for the
squeamish or the easily offended. It’s
not a film to which you want to take a
first date. And it’s not a film that’s
going to have audiences around the
country standing up in their seats and
cneenng.
But that’s exactly why it is a great
film.
“Happiness” opens today at the
Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater and
runs through Sunday, and March 11
14.
Taize Prayer Service
Meditative worship with
music from the ecumenical
community of Taizd.
' Friday Mar. 5, 7:30 pm
7:00 music rehearsal
Westminster Presbyterian Church
2110 Sheridan Bh/d.
475-6702 ext 101
■*-- - .■■■
Courtesy Photo
BILLED AS THE ultimate black come
dy, “Happiness” by filmmaker Todd
Solondz opens today at the Ross.
DANCING
EVERY THURSDAY
In March
Lesssons by
Amy Castro of
Dance Sport USA
Lessons begin
at 8:30 p.m.
Swing Till 4
Midnight
The PLAMOR
Can 475-4030
for more info.
\- lilil
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Comedy is back...
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