"Elements of Style" Spotlights Dance Talent at SF College Fine Arts Hall Jan. 12-13, 2017
December 13, 2016
Dance Theatre of Santa Fe's annual "Elements of Style" program will spotlight the college's talented instructors, choreographers and students at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday, Jan. 12-13, with a 2 p.m. matinee Friday, Jan. 13, 2017, in the Fine Arts Hall at the Santa Fe College Northwest Campus, 3000 NW 83 Street, Gainesville.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $9 for seniors, children and University of Florida students; and free for Santa Fe College faculty, staff and students with college identification cards.
For ticket information, call the Box Office at 352-395-4181 or visit the Fine Arts
ticket website at:
https://www.sfcollege.edu/finearts
"This year's 'Elements of Style' is an intense program with some personal perspectives from some very strong women, really rich in movement and expression," explained Dance Professor Tari Kendall, the executive director and co-founder of Dance Theatre of Santa Fe (DTSF).
Dance styles include ballet, upbeat jazz, modern and musical theatre. The choreographers are faculty members Melissa Brenner, Sarah Harkness-Sebastian and Alora Haynes; one of the dance department's students, Emma Wedemeyer, who will also be performing; and Brian Brooks of Earl Mosley's Diversity of Dance, a guest choreographer in fall term.
Kendall describes "Bound," Brenner's modern dance, as "metamorphic, with dancers grouped together like a single-celled organism and really amazing to watch."
Haynes, who chairs the college's Fine Arts Department in addition to teaching, choreographed the ballet "Closer" that features partnered dancers performing to the musical theme "A Thousand Years" from the motion picture "Breaking Dawn." "Elizabeth Reynolds, our lighting designer, is really looking forward to lighting this piece with its deep navy blue costumes," Kendall said.
"The Act of Waiting Transformed Her" is Harkness-Sebastian's modern dance that features five women performing with black theatre cubes. "It's a very personal piece, very feminine and quite beautiful," said Kendall.
Harkness-Sebastian also choreographed "Broadway Medley," a musical theatre piece that includes elements from "A Chorus Line," "Sweet Charity," and "Hand Jive" from "Grease." "Emma Wedemeyer really shines in musical theatre pieces and here she is like the ringmaster-she really ties all the elements of this piece together," Kendall said.
Wedemeyer also choreographed "The Most," which Kendall describes as "an upbeat jazz piece."
"The Worry Hour," set to music by Bjork, is the piece that Brian Brooks choreographed for DTSF when he visited the college in fall term. Kendall is re-staging the piece for "Elements of Style."
The SF College dance department is a nationally recognized incubator of talent. Over the years, graduates have successfully pursued advanced degrees and moved into professional teaching and performing careers.
"Elements of Style" is sponsored in part by SF College and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and Visit Gainesville, a Tourist Development Tax Grant from the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners in conjunction with the Alachua County Tourist Development Council.
For more information about "Elements of Style," call Tari Kendall at 352-395-5916.
For more information about the SF College Fine Arts Department or Fine Arts Hall, call Alora Haynes at 352-395-5296.
