Dance Program presents alumni and world dance concert

A concert of cultural fusion showcasing dance from around the world will be presented by the UW Dance Program on Friday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. in the Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Ave.

This first-ever Alumni and World Dance Concert features national and international guest artists, including Clyde Morgan, renowned Afro-Brazilian expert; Parul Shah, dancer and teacher from Gujarat, India; Tania Isaac, dance alumnus and native of St. Lucia West Indies; Jessica Gaspar, UW–Madison doctoral candidate and professional Puerto Rican actress and dancer; and Jin-Wen Yu, Tai Chi teacher and Dance Program dancer/choreographer.

Claudia Melrose, dance professor who conceived and coordinated the concert, says it “offers a broad, beautiful range of world dance, movement and music all in one venue.”

Melrose’s own interest in West African music and dance was inspired years ago when Pearl Primus visited campus as a guest artist. In the 1980s, her collaboration and dance partnership with Morgan motivated her to study at the University of Ghana in Legon in the summer of 1993 and return there as a Fulbright Fellow in 1994. Since then, her research has included the study of the migration of West Africans to the Caribbean and the various hybrid forms of music and dance that have evolved since then. As a result of her research and studies, Melrose now teaches a new class offered to UW students, Cross Cultural Forms: West African Music/Dance in the Americas.

“Much of our research concerns topics that know no national boundaries,” says Charles Read, dean of the School of Education, where the Dance Program is housed. “Our programs in art and dance must, of course, be in touch with creative ideas around the world. World dance exemplifies one way we learn from and contribute to a truly global conversation about education, the arts and human development.”

Tickets for the concert are $5 and may be purchased at the door from 7-8 p.m. the night of the concert. For more information, call 262-1691.