GETTING VERTICAL AT VEDAUWOO: Don’t miss the annual "Vertical dance" at Vedauwoo Recreation Area off of I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie. You can see performances July 14-16 as part of University of Wyoming's 2006 Snowy Range Summer Theatre and Dance Festival. It starts at 11 a.m. daily. Tickets cost $6 and, due to limited seating, you have to buy a ticket for your dog(s). Shuttle buses for the entire performance will take patrons from the free outer parking area outside of Vedauwoo into the Box Canyon area beginning an hour before the event. Audience members then will have a short ten-minute walk from the shuttle drop-off. Shuttle patrons are advised to arrive no later than 10:30 a.m. Vertical dance is a unique blend of modern dance using ropes and the natural contours of rock to allow free-flowing aerial movement. Margaret Wilson and Neil Humphrey have choreographed the performance and created a UW program in vertical dance. Wilson, assistant professor of theatre and dance, also directs the 2006 Snowy Range Dance Festival and concert series. "The rock faces at Vedauwoo are our stage, and the choreography will emphasize the relationship the dancers have to this surface," says Wilson, who notes that the rock wall face allows dancers to explore movement unrestricted by the confines of gravity. "The dancers explore the natural rock surface, but are also able to take flight from the surfaces and explore movement with multiple revolutions or suspensions that seem physically impossible," she adds. UW music faculty member Kevin Hart has composed original music for the Vedauwoo vertical dance. This year's composition, "Stonewall Sketchbook," consists of free improvisations recorded on location using a frame guitar. New this year to the Vedauwoo show is the addition of a children's theatre performance and live music. Assistant Professor of Theatre and Dance Cecelia Aragon will direct "Alicia in Wonder Tierra," an entertaining adventure loosely based on "Alice in Wonderland" with a touch of "The Wizard of Oz." The play charts the adventures of young Alicia on her mystical journey from a Mexican curio shop to the Aztec Temple as she comes to understand her cultural heritage. Additionally, live music performances by Thomas Pfotenhauer, Rod Garnett and Peter Queal will resonate throughout the natural rock amphitheater. FMI: 307-766-6666. or visit www.uwyo.edu/finearts.
- posted by Michael Shay @ 9:14 PM