Texas Tech University

On Pointe

Charlotte Boye-Christensen

January 22, 2019

Charlotte Boye-Christensen

The Dance Program has a couple of exciting events coming up in February.

Nicholas Palmquist who teaches at Steps and at Broadway Dance Center in New York City will be doing a residency with the school during the week of February 11th. His background is jazz and musical theatre. Nicholas will be teaching a variety of classes for us in dance while he is here, as well as a Principles of Acting class.

It is critical that our students experience aesthetic diversity in their training and I know that this will help to stimulate their choreographic thinking through introducing new ways of generating and structuring material and allowing them to interpret, render and execute the artistic perspectives of different choreographers. This last year alone, they have worked with Parijat Desai (Contemporary Bharatanatyam), Duane Lee Holland (Hip Hop), Keith Johnson (Contemporary), Eddie Martinez (Dance-Theatre) and now Nicholas Palmquist (Musical Theatre).

We choose guest artistswho have the potential to bridge our two fields (theatre and dance) in clear and impactful ways, not only to share resources but also to solidify the School of Theatre and Dance not as two independent schools but as one with two different and complimentary concentrations.

DanceTech is another focus this coming month. We will premiere six works by faculty as well as an invited guest artist at and around CASP - 5&J Gallery in downtown Lubbock. This production will be site-specific in that choreographers will focus on the influence of a space in shaping their choreographic work. Audiences will be led through a collage of spatial as well as choreographic/theatrical experiences lit by trucks and cars. The final result will be rich and layered, hopefully leaving the audiences wanting more.

Our respondent for the production will be Director of Land Arts of the American West, TTU Associate Professor in the School of Architecture – Chris Taylor.

DanceTech takes place February 28th through March 2nd at 7:30 p.m. at CASP - 5&J Gallery, 602 Avenue J, Lubbock