WMU - Bullock Performance Institute

Dalton Series

Young Concert Artists Series | Faculty Artist Series

The Dalton Special Artist Series supports performances of unique and select individuals, ensembles, and collaborations with the many other arts organizations in the community. This series presents formal recitals, world music concerts, alumni, and special artists chosen by faculty members to perform for and be guests of the School of Music. Often these guests will present residencies of varying length to further deepen their ties with our students, faculty, and the community at large. Past events have featured the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Meridian Arts Ensemble, Orchid Ensemble, eighth blackbird with Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers, Cantus, dancer Maureen Fleming, WMU alumnae soprano Susan B. Anthony, and Apollo's Fire .

Department of Dance Collaboration
Doug Varone, Modern Dance Innovator – Free informance by Eddie Taketa
Thursday September 13, 2007 - 7:30 p.m.
Dalton Series

Join us for this intriguing modern dance informance presentation by Eddie Taketa. This veteran dancer with Doug Varone and Dancers, will discuss modern dance choreographer Doug Varone’s groundbreaking and universally popular dances and our own Western Michigan University dance students will perform excerpts from Varone’s dance entitled “Strict Love.” DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS performs a body of work heralded by critics as "among the most compelling in the contemporary repertory.” The Company celebrates its 20th Anniversary season with its creative momentum in high gear. From its first performances at PS 122 in 1986, Doug Varone and Dancers has earned worldwide praise performing at major venues and festivals at home and abroad including: The Kennedy Center; Lincoln Center; London's Queen Elizabeth Hall; Moscow's Stanislavsky Theater; The Venice Biennale; and the Tokyo, Jacob's Pillow, and American Dance Festivals.

Doug Varone's unique artistic output has earned the company numerous honors including 8 New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies), the American Dance Festival's Doris Duke Award for New Work, and three National Dance Project Awards. The company's dances have been commissioned by such leading institutions as Jacob's Pillow, The Joyce Theater, Whitebird (Portland, OR), the Carlsen Center (Overland, KS), the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts (College Park, MD), Summerdance, Santa Barbara and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. In recent years the Company has partnered with opera companies and presenters to bring a new dynamism to the staging of opera, theater and song-cycles. Internationally renowned for its superb teaching abilities, the company has taught extensively in the United States and abroad, serving frequently on the faculties of the major U.S. dance festivals. Its annual summer workshop is among the most popular and highly-respected in the field. The Company’s eighth annual three-week workshop will take place in June 2007, at the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance in Purchase, New York.

Dancer EDDIE TAKETA holds a BFA in Dance Theater from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is the recipient of a 1998 New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement in Dancing. Dancing professionally since 1982, Taketa has performed with such companies as the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Murray Louis Dance Company, and Nikolais Dance Theatre. He has also performed in the Jacob's Pillow's Men Dancers: The Ted Shawn Legacy. As a teacher, he has taught at numerous universities, festivals and studios throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. Since 1995, he has been teaching and choreographing as Guest Artist in Dance at Connecticut College. He has been a member of Doug Varone and Dancers since 1994.

Dorothy U. Dalton Center
Dance Studio B
Thursday, September 13, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Seating is limited to 90

Sylvia Smith Percussion Duo
Wednesday September 26, 2007 - 8:15 p.m.
Dalton Series

Join us for the exciting season opening Dalton Series concert by the innovative Sylvia Smith Percussion Duo. Formed in 1998 featuring name-sake Sylvia Smith and Ayano Kataoka, the ensemble is a women’s percussion duo centered around music that integrates percussion, spoken language and theater. Sylvia Smith is the founder, owner and editor of Smith Publications/Sonic Art Editions, publishers of serious American art music. She is extremely rigorous in her selection of music and therefore her publishing house is looked to as a leading source of new American music. The recipient of six Paul Revere Awards for graphic excellence, her publications are thought of as particularly handsome editions. Her scholarship includes publishing several articles on music notation, and curating many concerts of John Cage’s music. As a percussionist, Sylvia Smith has performed at Merkin Hall in New York, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She tours North America with the Sylvia Smith Percussion Duo. Her performances are recorded on oodiscs and Eleven West Records. The recipient of numerous honors, Dr. Smith was awarded the American Music Center Letter of Distinction in 1988.

Dorothy U. Dalton Center
Recital Hall
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
8:15 p.m

< Go Back