The Washington Post: Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company perform 'Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love'

DANCE REVIEW

Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company perform 'Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love'

By Sarah Kaufman

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 25, 2010

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/24/AR2010102402665.html

Contemporary Chilean Dance

Contemporary Chilean Dance 4595.11

This course is an international choreographic exchange program with the University of Chile's Dance Program. GWU students and University of Chile Students work in tandem to create dances which are then shown via video conferences and ultimately are performed live in DC and Santiago. This variable 1-3 credit course culminates with a trip and performance in Santiago in May 2011. Students are responsible for their plane ticket and are housed and hosted by Chilean dancers in Santiago. A chance to understand and communicate with South American artists through the medium of contemporary dance. This one time program is limited to 12 students.

GW Department of Theatre & Dance presents William Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST directed by guest director, Clay Hopper

GW’s department of theatre and dance presents William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, directed by this year’s guest director, Clay Hopper. Associate artistic director at Olney Theatre Center (OTC), Mr. Hopper has directed for National Players, the classical theatre touring component of OTC as well as their Summer Shakespeare Festival since 2003. Credits include Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Amadeus.

The Tempest tells the story of the magician Prospera and her daughter Miranda who must take refuge on an enchanted island. Prospera, who has magical powers, releases the spirit Ariel from a spell and meets the savage Caliban. Prospera then uses her powers to create a tempest that shipwrecks those who caused her exile.

Performances run October 28, 29, 30 at 7:30 pm and October 31 at 2:00 p.m.

Purchase tickets and season subscriptions online at: http://theatredance.gwu.edu
or for information call the TRDA promotions office at 202-994-0995.

TRDA dance faculty Irina Wunder at the 20th annual conference of the International Association of Dance Science and Medicine

Irina Wunder will present her study at the 20^th annual conference of the International Association of Dance Science and Medicine (IADMS) in Birmingham, UK. The study was undertaken to examine neuromuscular activity of the abdominal and spinal muscles during a complex ballet movement, arabesque. Arabesque is an ultimate test of the dancer’s classical line. While dance students can find ample advice on the performance technique of arabesque in ballet class and/or ballet literature, the actual muscular behaviour during the movement has not been previously investigated. Electromyography (EMG) was used to record signals produced by the active abdominal and spinal muscles during arabesque. The findings of the study indicated that in contrast to traditional models instructing that dancers “pull up” in the lower back, it were the abdominal muscles that first responded with a “burst” like activity. The spinal muscles reacted with a slight delay, after which the pattern of activity between the abdominal and spinal groups became steady, continuous and coordinated in nature. Such phenomenon may indeed be explained by the anatomically functional role of the core muscles in maintaining balance as well as their agonistic/antagonistic action in arabesque. Consequently, the abdominal/spinal strategy would be preferable to the isolated “pull up” action in the lower back. The study suggests that measurements of EMG output can provide objective evidence in support or refutation of the conceptual theories that have been passed down as a legacy inherent to dance instruction. The findings may be of practical interest to dance educators and dancers themselves.

DanceTeacher Magazine: Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Face to Face: Dana Tai Soon Burgess

By Nancy Wozny

Dances the Asian diaspora

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Choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess places the intersection of art and culture front and center in his dancemaking. “It’s important for us to use our history as a lens for viewing contemporary life,” says the son of a Korean-American mother and a Scottish-Irish-American Asian history scholar father. read the full article