Bill Evans Dance Company Re-established for November 30 Performance at the Hochstein School of Music & Dance

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Photo Bill Evans

BROCKPORT, NY (11/10/2008)(readMedia)-- In 2004, when founder, choreographer, director Bill Evans became a visiting professor/guest artist in the Department of Dance at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, he put his professional company on hiatus. Now, after four years as a resident of Western New York, Evans has decided to re-establish his professional company for a performance on Sunday, November 30, 3:30 pm., at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance, 50 North Plymouth Avenue, Rochester, NY.

The company will perform the work of Evans and assistant director Don Halquist exclusively. These choreographer/dancers developed a spacious, lyrical, exuberant and full-bodied style of movement in the wide open spaces of the Western United States, and they hope that it will contrast and complement the wonderful variety of dance styles that Rochester audiences are already able to enjoy. A unique aspect of the Evans Dance Company is the fact that it offers both classical modern dance and rhythm tap dance, often fusing the two forms.

The great dance critic Walter Terry wrote frequently of Evans early in his career in the Saturday Review, once calling him "one of the best choreographic forces to touch the whole American dance scene."

Pulitzer Prize-winning dance critic Alan Kriegsman wrote in the Washington Post that "This amazing dancer-choreographer seems to have more disguises than Sherlock Holmes, all wondrously credible and diverting.... There is no question about the abundance of his talent." Later, he said "The full house at Kennedy Center took the Bill Evans Dance Company very much to its heart."

Just last month, dance critic Scott Iwasaki wrote in the Salt Lake City Deseret News that "Evans' style simultaneously brought smiles and tears to the audience as he danced for the joy of dance. And between pieces, the intimate performance got cozier as he addressed the audience and gave little anecdotes of the works and his life as a dancer. His brilliant efforts were rewarded with a standing ovation at the end of the evening."

Works and artists featured in the November 30 performance will be:

  • § Hard Times, 1973, a tragicomedy to music played and recorded by the Deseret String Band, performed by guest artist and leading Rochester contemporary dancer artist Anne Harris Wilcox and Evans Dance Company members Don Halquist and Jenny Showalter.
  • § Alternating Current, 1982, which was recently selected for performance in the American Dance Guild Festival at Dance New Amsterdam in New York City on September 11. This mesmerizing duet has music by David Sannella and Simon Jeffes and will be danced by Don Halquist and Heather Roffe.
  • § Colony, 2001, to music inspired by the sounds of Australia, and inspired by Evans' collaboration with the Kahurangi Dance Trust in New Zealand.
  • § Remembering, 2002, to an aria from Bach's Saint Matthew Passion, dedicated to the victims of the cataclysmic events of September 11, 2001. Like Colony, it will be performed by guest artists from the Department of Dance at The College of Brockport.
  • § Three Preludes for Lila, 2007, a fusion of rhythm tap and modern dance dedicated to the choreographer's 95-year old mother, will be performed by Bill Evans and Courtney World, to music by George Gershwin.

Ticket prices are $20 (patron), $15 (general) and $10 (student/child). Tickets will be available at the door at 2:30 pm on Sunday, November 30 at the Hochstein Performance Hall. All seats are unreserved, but requests to hold tickets may be made in advance by e-mailing billevansdance@hotmail.com or calling (585) 964-9196. Pre-ordered tickets not picked up and paid for by 3:15 pm will be released for general sale.

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