NOVEMBER ANNUAL CONCERT W o r l D a n c e
Nov. 8, 2002, 7 p.m.
U of U Kingsbury Hall
Featured at the 18th annual WorlDance concert were the U of U Character Dance Ensemble, BYU Folkdancers, Dionysius Greek Dancers, Eastern Arts International Dance Theatre, Persian dancer Banafshe Sayyad from Los Angeles, Persian traditional musicians nei and kamancheh expert Mohammad Nejad and zarb player Shirzad Sharif from San Francisco, santur player Dr. Lloyd Miller and choreographies by the 2002-2003 Tatiana Popova awardees: Melanie Hawkes - Persian miniature, Megan Mathes - Georgian and Leslie Palza - Tajik.
U of U Character Dance Ensemble in Persian piece "Vahishta"
U of U Character Dance Ensemble cast at Worldance 2002
U of U Character Dance Ensemble performing Georgian suite
Persian Musician Mohammad Nezhad & Popova awardee Megan Mathes
Multi-instrumentalist Dr. Lloyd Miller played at the concert which was offered through support from ASUU; Utah Arts Council; Salt Lake City Arts Council; National Endowment for the Arts and WESTAF; Salt Lake County Zoo Arts and Parks program and Utah Humanities Council.
Included in the project was a Noon Concert on November 7 at 12:00 noon in the U of U Olpin Union, then a lecture demonstration on November 7 at 5:30 in the BYU Kennedy Center followed by a concert at the BYU Museum of Art on Thursday at 7:30 PM. Latif also offered a lecture demonstration at the U of U Marriot Library auditorium on November 8, 2001 at noon.
These outstanding programs represent some of the finest in traditional ethnic arts that Utah has to offer. For more information about the WorldDance concert and events phone 485-5824.
EASTERN ARTS & CDE IN BRANSON, 2001 & 2002
Eastern Arts and U of U CDE Performed at Opening of World-Fest
Eastern Arts works with the University of Utah Character Dance Ensemble (CDE) and Eastern Arts director Katherine St.John has set 6 dances from the Persian world sphere on the CDE dancers. CDE member Heather Falten co-choreographed the Persian miniature dance "Vahishta" and Melanie Hawkes helped choreograph the Armenian dance. For the opening week of World-Fest at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, the 12 dancers from CDE along with two native Persians, one native Mongolian dancer, an native Uzbek percussionist and two American instrumentalists performed 5 programs a day for three days. The group was well received and represented countries and cultures whose endangered dance forms are rarely seen in America.
Eastern Arts & CDE in parade at World-Fest in Branson, Mo.
Qashqai: Eastern Arts & CDE in Branson, Mo.
Persian miniature: Eastern Arts & CDE in Branson, Mo.
Kurdish: Eastern Arts & CDE in Branson, Mo.
Afghan: Eastern Arts & CDE in Branson, Mo.
Turkish: Eastern Arts & CDE in Branson, Mo.
Armenian: Eastern Arts & CDE in Branson, Mo.
For the 1999-2000 school year, Eastern Arts was awarded a sizeable NEA Artsreach Grant to take music, dance and crafts to the far flung reaches of Utah.
Since 1999, Katherine St.John has been very successful on the Utah Arts Council Artists in Residence roster and is available for educational, fun and exciting dance projects in Utah schools.
Folkdance Fever/WorlDance Coalition:
An exciting coalition of three local groups, the Character Dance Ensemble, Narodna, and IDT, Folkdance Fever has represent traditional dances on the Utah Performing Arts Tour.
