Nazareth College Arts Center opens season October 2 with acclaimed U-Theatre Taiwan: "Sound of the Ocean"

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Nazareth College Arts Center opens its 2014-2015 season with U-Theatre Taiwan on Thursday, October 2, 2014

ROCHESTER, NY (09/02/2014)(readMedia)-- Nazareth College Arts Center is pleased to present the U-Theatre Taiwan: Sound of the Ocean, on Thursday, October 2, 2014, at 7 p.m. in the Callahan Theater. Under the direction of founder/artistic director Ruo-Yu Liu and drumming master/music director Chih-Chun Huang, the company will perform a customized version of Sound of the Ocean, its monumental work that represents the "water of life, which nourishes our souls."

Ticket holders may attend a pre-performance lecture at 6 p.m. in the Peace Theater (room A14), located in the lower level of the Arts Center. Rochester percussionist and Nazareth College Department of Music faculty Kristen Shiner-McGuire will lead this informal overview of drumming history and culture.

Visit http://artscenter.naz.edu/newsroom/media-resources for photos.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

"A great and complex beauty to the drumming, sounds and silence..."-The New York Times

"A synthesis of theatre, percussion, martial arts and meditation..."-The Times, London

"A prolonged percussive tone poem..."-Financial Times, London

Founded in 1988 with a focus on Zen in the art of drumming, U-Theatre Taiwan combines martial arts, drumming, and dance in an intense physical and emotional performance that is a stunning blend of both ancient and modern cultures.

Based on Laochuan Mountain an hour outside of Taipei, the company took its name from the Chinese pronunciation of the letter "U," which is similar to the word meaning "excellence" (and which also meant "performers" in ancient China). Members of the 20-person company maintain a strict daily regimen of gymnastics, martial arts, and percussion training-interspersed with meditation-following the teachings of ancient Zen masters who advised that a true artist must combine "tao" (self improvement) with "skill" (the learning and maturity of one's art) as the goal of their life and artistic creations. As the company has matured it has focused its training and performances on exploring two primary themes in its work: the search for the meaning of existence and the integration of art into life.

At the Arts Center, U-Theatre will perform a customized version of its monumental piece, Sound of the Ocean, representing the "water of life, which nourishes our souls." Created by U-Theatre founder/artistic director Ruo-Yu Liu and drumming master/music director Chih-Chun Huang, Sound of the Ocean traces the journey of water from a single drop to a stream to the ocean in five distinct sections, each of which evokes a unique sensation or sound of water beat out on temple bells, gongs, and skinned drums, and accompanied by daring feats of speed and acrobatics. The work earned the troupe the Best Performance Award at the 1998 Festival d'Avignon (France), where it premiered; it has since been performed more than 120 times around the world including the Venice Biennale, Lyon Biennale, Spain's Millenia Festival, the Sao Paulo Arts Festival, Singapore Arts Festival, Bergen International Festival, BITE: 02 at London's Barbican International Theatre Festival, the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Moscow's Chekhov International Theatre Festival.

ABOUT RUO-YU LIU

A leading theatrical performer in the early 1980s and a native of Taiwan, Ruo-Yu Liu (founder and artistic director) earned her M.A. in theatre arts from New York University, and was selected for a year-long master class under Polish director Jerzy Grotowski. Her year with Grotowski changed her outlook and approach to life, and clarified her understanding that a piece of theater work was the expression of "an individual's attitude toward life." It became her fundamental approach to performance art.

In 1988 Liu founded U-Theatre and introduced (with Mr. Huang since 1993) novel facets of drumming, meditation, and martial arts to create a series of original works integrated with a wide range of elements drawn from music, literature, drama, dance, and ritual. These aesthetic syntheses have not only added another dimension to the Taiwanese expression in modern art, they have also earned U-Theatre much acclaim and many invitations to perform internationally.

In 2008 Liu was awarded the 12th Annual Taiwan National Award for Arts: Best Art Performer.

ABOUT CHIH-CHUN HUANG

Born in Malaysia, Chih-Chun Huang (drumming master/music director) has been a drumming and martial arts practitioner for over 30 years, and is known for his mastery in synthesizing these two disciplines into a new form of performing arts.

After a number of spiritual journeys to India and Tibet-where he discovered an inner sanctuary through meditation and realized the wisdom of living in the present-he started to direct his strengths inward. His keen observations of everyday sounds and ability to transform them have enriched each performance with musical articulation that is both multi-dimensional and imbued with the energy of life.

Mr. Huang joined U-Theatre in 1993 as Drumming Master. His unconventional training regime of "meditation before drumming" has both elevated the disposition of the troupe and laid down a solid foundation for a contemporary artistic expression uniquely characteristic of U-Theatre. Prior to joining U-Theatre, Mr. Huang performed with Taipei Folk Dance Theater and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre.

TICKETS

Tickets to U-Theatre Taiwan: Sound of the Ocean are $40-$70. For tickets, call – or visit – the Box Office: 585-389-2170; or order tickets online: artscenter.naz.edu.

Subscriptions to the Nazareth College Arts Center's 2014-2015 Season are still available through the Box Office; subscribers receive a 20% discount off single ticket prices and additional benefits when purchasing tickets to five or more different shows.

The Nazareth College Arts Center Box Office is located on campus, at 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, New York, 14618. Regular box office hours are Monday- Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and 11 a.m. until curtain time on performance days.

SPONSOR INFORMATION

The Nazareth College Arts Center's 2014-2015 subscription series is sponsored by M&T Bank; Wendy's Restaurants of Rochester; and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. U-Theatre's tour is presented with support from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China.

ABOUT THE NAZARETH COLLEGE ARTS CENTER

Since 1967, the Nazareth College Arts Center has served as a venue and educational resource for students, educators, artists, and audiences of all ages to create, study, and experience the visual and performing arts. These cultural programs support the College's curriculum in music, art, and theatre arts, and provide area residents with opportunities to experience exceptional dance, international entertainment, family programming, music, musical theatre, and special events.

The Nazareth College Arts Center

• is a nonprofit institution.
• is the premier presenter of world-class dance, children's theatre, and international entertainment in Rochester.
• attracts approximately 70,000 adults and children annually.
• houses the Nazareth College departments of art, music, and theatre arts, which present exceptional theatre productions, musicals, recitals, and art exhibitions each year (events are open to the public), while preparing students for successful careers in fields such as art, music, and drama education; visual communication design; studio art; film; creative arts therapy; acting; musical theatre; dance; technical theatre and design; music performance; and music business.
• serves as a venue for auditions, art classes, music lessons, recitals, fundraisers, lectures, community theater productions, camps, workshops, and graduations.
• offers a School Performance Series, which serves thousands of area K-12 students/teachers each year.
• is the performance home of Rochester City Ballet and world-renowned Garth Fagan Dance, as well as the home of the Bach Children's Chorus.
• is the only area performing Arts Center located on a College campus.

For more information, visit artscenter.naz.edu.

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