UMS Concert Program, July 2 And 3, 1984: Ann Arbor Summer Festival -- Waves

Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Waves
SHIMON BRAUN Director and Choreographer
Edward Effron, Light Designer Marilyn Dampf, Stage Manager
Walter Kahn and Ted Greenberg, Sound and Music Design
Myra Bazell and Frank Chaves, Dance Captains
Dancers
Una Antonini Myra Bazell Lis Braun Frank Chaves Meghan Doyle Kerstin Elo Ramon Flowers Richard Giorla
Rachel Goodman JeanAnne Hughes Master Jay Jennifer Jenkins Roni Koresh Jenny Kries Shoshi Langasam Jose Luciano
Donald Lunsford Susannah Maxwell Earl McLean Margaret Molz Orlando Rodriguez Valerie Rushmere Myles Thoroughgood Lisa Washington
"appears courtesy of Pennsylvania Ballet
Margery Chachkin, Administrative Director Lis Braun, General Manager
Extra choreographic assistance: In Orbit: Kerstin Elo; Streetwise: Richard Giorla, Orlando Rodriguez, Jose Luciano; Oliuhoh: Valerie Rushmere for Middle Eastern; Electric Kingdom: Ramon Flowers for martial arts; Right By Your Side: Lis Braun, Master Jay.
Monday and Tuesday Evening, July 2 and 3, 1984, at 8:00
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
These performances are made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
PROGRAM
Music by:
Going Through the Motion Art of Noise,
The Company Nona Hendrix, John Rocca
Connections
Myra Bazell, Lina Antonini, Margaret Molz
Shoshi Langasam, JeanAnne Hughes, Frank Chaves
Earl McLean, Myles Thoroughgood, Ramon Flowers, Roni Koresh
In Orbit Shadowfax
Kerstin Elo, Jennifer Jenkins, Master Jay
Streetwise P.M. Jimmy Castor
Richard Giorla, Orlando Rodriguez, Jose Luciano or Jay Morales
Sextet Alan Parsons Project
Lina Antonini, Meghan Doyle, Kerstin Elo Jennifer Jenkins, Shoshi Langasam, Susannah Maxwell
Can't Turn You Loose Aretha Franklin
Margaret Molz, Myra Bazell, Meghan Doyle Frank Chaves, Earl McLean, Myles Thoroughgood
You Name It Pipedream
Ramon Flowers, Richard Giorla, Roni Koresh
Rockit Herbie Hancock
The Company
Unsquare Dance (1979) Dave Brubeck
JeanAnne Hughes, Jenny Kries, Margaret Molz, Lisa Washington
Inagaddadavida (1969) Iron Butterfly
Myles Thoroughgood, Susannah Maxwell, Earl McLean
Frank Chaves, Myra Bazell, JeanAnne Hughes
Lina Antonini, Meghan Doyle
INTERMISSION
Magnetic Fields Jean Michel Jarre
The Company
The Fun Club
Oliuhoh Joe Cocker
Valerie Rushmere, Richard Giorla
The Club Warp 9
The Company
Electric Kingdom Twilight 22
Myra Bazell, Meghan Doyle, Kerstin Elo, Ramon Flowers
Richard Giorla, Rachel Goodman, Roni Koresh, Shoshi Langasam
Susannah Maxwell, Myles Thoroughgood, Lisa Washington, Jenny Kries
Right By Your Side Eurythmics
Lisa Braun, Master Jay
Streetwise A.M. Planet Patrol
Richard Giorla, Orlando Rodriguez, Jose Luciano or Jay Morales
Later That Same Evening -The Club Warp 9
The Company
Brown Rice Shadowfax
The Company
Finale Rhythm Trax
The Company
"The Fun Club" is supported by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
About the Company
"Waves" derives its name from the sinuous "wave" dance technique developed by Shimon Braun, the company's director and choreographer. In it, according to Braun, are three elements: art, entertainment, and "soul," combining elements of jazz dance, modern dance, ballet, martial arts, gymnastics, and break dancing. The universal human element is woven throughout the show in the form of jazz composition, which incorporates a variety of styles and motifs. The personalities of the dancers are allimportant, as riffs by individual artists are picked up by others in solos and chorus. Nearly all company members are accomplished pro?fessionals who live in the Philadelphia area, where "Waves" was started in 1981 by Braun and his wife Lis Braun.
Born in Russia, the worldwandering Shimon Braun was Israel's gymnastic champion at age 17 and a member of the original Bat'sheva Dance Company, then headed by Martha Graham. A scholarship with Martha Graham brought him to New York City where he discovered jazz dance with Jack Cole and Luigi. Returning to Israel, he founded the renowned Jazz Plus dance company and choreographed for Israeli TV and film, which included an awardwinning entry in the Venice Film Festival in 1970. Back in the United States in 1980, Shimon and Lis established the Jazz Dance Centers which led to the creation of "Waves" -a fulfillment of their idea of a paid troupe of dancers who share the pleasure of jazz and its con?tribution to the dance language.
Lis Braun, a native of Lafayette, Indiana, has appeared with the Detroit Ballet Theatre, Dayton Civic Ballet, Anna Sokolow Dance Company, on Broadway, on the Sinai Front, and in all of Shimon's productions. She has taught students from Israel to Santa Fe to Philadelphia with her unique blend of humor and technique. Her administrative talent has been a stabiliz?ing force behind the "Waves" productions.
In a recent interview with Daniel Webster of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Shimon Braun speaks of his life and goals:
"I began to dance in Israel because I was a gymnast. My coach sent me to study ballet because it would make my movements more graceful. When I started, I knew right away I wanted to dance. When I was 18, I had to leave gymnastics and go into the Israeli army, and when I came out, it was to dance with Bat'sheva. I was lucky enough to have met Ruth Harris, a teacher who made me feel the beauty of dance. In the four years I spent with the company, I worked under Martha Graham, Glen Tetley, and a lot of others, mainly Americans. I was especially influenced, though, by the dancing I saw in American movies. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire -they impressed me tremendously. In his films, Gene Kelly showed how to be a dancer but to look like just another person. He danced in street clothes -he was a man.
"I toured with Bat'sheva and danced in Philadelphia, and then when I had left the com?pany I came to New York. I studied with Luigi and with the other great jazz teachers, and went to auditions for Broadway shows. I won the audition and could not dance, because I was here on a student visa. Anyway, I went back to Israel with Lis and eventually came back here to start 'Waves.'
"Why here7 I had always lived where there were wars. I was born in Russia the year before World War II started. My family had fled Poland. Then we were back in Poland and eventually Israel. When Lis and I finally moved to this country, it was to go live in the moun?tains in Colorado to raise vegetables. But we ran out of money and we actually started this dance idea in Santa Fe. We did four productions there, but came to Philadelphia on the invita?tion of the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts.
"The idea of waves has been important to me. After all, waves connect everything in life, it is the motion of light, of water. It is continuous. Waves connect people."
For further information regarding the "Waves" Dance Company, please contact Van Joyce (Joyce Agency, NYC, 2129883371) or Margery Chachkin (Jazz Dance, Inc., Philadelphia, 2155631545).