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M MU NITY
REOGRAPHY
For the past eight years,
Amy Lamphere, director of
the Wagon Train Project, has
watched and waited for the right
time to bring in a company whose
talents have delighted audiences all over
the world.
“The company is one we have known
about for eight years, but we hadn’t
brought them here because modem dance
is not really well-known or well-loved here
in the country,” Lamphere said. “Plus, we had
n’t found a place for them to work here in Lincoln
___ yet.”
l nat is, until now.
On January 13 and 14, the Liz Lerman
I Dance Exchange will present a perfor
mance from its “Hallelujah!” project,
titled “In Praise of Home.”
The idea for the project came after
Lamphere saw a brochure for the
Dance Exchange’s “Hallelujah!” pro
ject.
“I knew they would work,” she
I said. “The project goes along with
I the basis of the Wagon Train’s sea
| son: the idea of home.”
“In Praise of Home” is a correla
tion between the Wagon Train Project,
Liz Lerman Dance and a winter term
class at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
The class, which met every day for
three weeks during winter break, was called
rnysicai ineater and was geared mainly
toward theater majors. The students learned
different techniques and worked to develop
their own dance performance.
“The piece is all original work, and it is a beau
tiful, touching story,” Lampehere said.
Lamphere said the group then held auditions for the
<9^ performance and chose 16 people for the piece. The 16
&dancers have been practicing every night for about
m f three hours for the performance.
i Members of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange helped to
teach the class, Lamphere said, but that is not where the
work ended.
The dancers held a critical response seminar at the
University Art Gallery on the Wesleyan campus. They per
formed for a group of about 21 students and then taught
them how to talk about the performance in a nonjudgmental
way.
Lamphere said this type of interaction within the com
mumty isn t unusual for Liz Lerman Dance.
“The company is full of wonderful
dancers, artists and teachers,” she said. “They
are a multifaceted company.”
The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange began in
1975 and includes dancers ranging in age from
18 to 75 years old.
For the “In Praise of Home” performance,
the dancers range in age from 24 to 67 years
old.
The company first began as a school for
dancers of all ages.
By 1979, the Dance Exchange had a group
of 12 people who toured and performed. By
1985, the Dance Exchange made its European
debut in Sweden.
_iz Lerman Dance
Exchange
WHERE: McDonald
Theatre, Wesleyan
Campus, 51st &
Huntington Streets
WHEN: Jan. 13 & 14
(thurs. & fri), 7:30pm
COST: suggested
contribution of $10 for
adults, $5 for students.
lne Liz Lerman Dance bxchange is now based in
Takoma Park, Md., and
launched its $
“Hallelujah!” project in ' #
1999. The project will
continue through the year 2002, ' ^
taking the company to several cities
to work on different “In Praise of...”
performances.
Though this is the
first project the Dance *
Exchange and the
Wagon Train have worked on
together, it will definitely not
be the last.
i ne company win oe
returning to Lincoln in May
to help with the Wagon Train
Project’s “Homeland” project,
which will take place at Seacrest
field. The company will also return three
more times next season.
Lamphere said she is happy to be able
to present the company to the city, as well as
excited to be given the chance to work with
them.
“It’s not every day you get the chance to
work with a company over time and develop a
type of community with them,” she said. “It’s a
treat for all of us.”
■ Story by Danell McCoy
■ Photos courtesy of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange
T; shows to Lincoln
■ The mayor forms a
group to increase number
ofconcertsintown.
By Jason Hardy
Staff writer
At any given time on any given
day, one can turn on MTV, VH1, CMT
or even the radio and hear music by
some of the world’s most successful
entertainers. ,
Entertainers who will probably
never come to Lincoln.
It is an unfortunate reality that
many touring bands and shows simply
view Nebraska as that state they pass
over or drive through on the way to
either the East or West Coast. This is
something that Mayor Don Wesely
and his concert/entertainment task
force hopes to change.
On Wednesday, the task force held
its first meeting. In attendance were a
number of Lincoln residents who have
at least some stake in Lincoln’s dilapi
dated entertainment climate, includ
ing Doug Kuhnel, executive director
of the Pershing Municipal
Auditorium, whose opening com
ments set the tone for the entire meet
ing.
“The name of the game anymore
is money,” Kuhnel said. “Today’s
shows, even the small shows, have
five buses and sometimes five to 10
semi-trucks.”
He said shows today are more
extravagant and expensive, and he
passed around a sheet to illustrate his
point. On it was a list of some of
America’s top touring concert acts
and the guaranteed amount those acts
must get to perform in Lincoln.
“With the cost of doing these
shows, the cost of the talent and the
cost of production, it puts the price of
the ticket, to just break even, at an
unrealistic level,” Kuhnel said.
At the top of his list was the
Backstreet Boys, who ask for
$750,000, meaning that if Pershing
were to do the show, providing it
would sell out, they’d still have to
charge $ 123.07 per ticket just to break
even.
While Korn and Britney Spears
both charge considerably less,
$250,000 each, die ticket price would
still have to be $46.15, a price most _
Lincoln residents would not pay.
Kuhnel went on to list a page and a
half of other obstacles Lincoln faces if
it wants to bring in big-name talent,
most of which dealt with the cost of
shows.
However, he said, even when a
show is affordable, Lincoln still has
virtually no chance at getting it simply
because of Omaha.
It seems Lincoln’s big venues,
such as Pershing and the Bob
Devaney Center, are too small for the
big shows and too big for the medium
sized shows. Either that or the
Devaney Center is just booked with
sports events.
So, big-name bands go to
Omaha’s Civic Auditorium, and bands
that draw medium-sized crowds go to
Sokol Hall or the Orpheum Theater.
There was also a limited amount
of discussion on the no-alcohol policy
of Pioneers Park and the future of the
new Lancaster Event Center.
Ultimately, much of the issue was left
untouched and will have to wait until
future meetings.
By the end of Wednesday’s meet
ing, it was clear that Wesely’s task
force had only scratched the surface
on what is sure to be an uphill battle.
The Mayor said he hoped the task
force could develop some significant
solutions within two to three months,
and Jim Ritzman, chairman of the task
force, said he hoped everyone would
bring new ideas for the problems and
possible solutions to the task force’s
next meeting in two weeks.
“These issues aren’t going away,”
Ritzman said. “But hopefully this is
the group that can find some solu
tions.”
*