Mississippi: The Dance Company presents Breaking Boundaries, inspired by Ole Miss Theatre’s Beyond Boundaries season, Breaking Boundaries is a series of eight different dance pieces connected by a common thread of breaking either social or dance boundaries. Performances are Wednesday, November 20 through Friday, November 22 at 7:30 pm in Meek Auditorium on the Ole Miss campus.
Ole Miss Theatre Arts faculty member Jennifer Mizenko is the Artistic Director of the concert. One piece, “The Crosby Arboretum Project,” is a collaboration between Mizenko and Allen Arrivée, Assistant Professor of Cinema at Ole Miss. The pair travelled to Picayune to visit The Crosby Arboretum and specifically the Pinecote Pavilion designed by E. Fay Jones, renowned architect and designer to film dance pieces.
“For Crosby we were working in a genre called dance on camera, which is creating a film that is the dance piece. In dance on camera, the editor of the film is as much the choreographer as the actual dance choreographer. What sets “The Crosby Arboretum Project” apart is the live dance performance live in front of the film,” said Professor Mizenko. The dancers for the piece are Mizenko, Brad Howard, and Roxie Thomas. Howard and Thomas are both former students of Professor Mizenko.
Another piece entitled “The Unforgiving Minute” is based on the New York Times Bestseller of the same name by Craig M. Mullaney and is choreographed by Mizenko.” “The Unforgiving Minute” is a big narrative and felt like the piece needed a more centralized theme so I narrowed it down to leadership and what it is like to be a leader,” says Mizenko. “I had a chance to interview Mullaney when he was on campus back in early August. We discussed leadership and I had a chance to hear his really physical description of what leadership truly entails.” She continued, “The piece encompasses many aspects of the book from combat to Mullaney’s courtship of his girlfriend while trying to become a Rhodes Scholar. The dances are comprised of three men and three women. The women are dressed in combat clothes but all on point shoes to signify the strength and delicacy to takes to be a leader.”
One guest piece, by Daryl Foster from Atlanta, Georgia, was sent last Spring on Ole Miss Student Dance and will be revived for this concert. There are pieces individually choreographed by Brad Howard and Roxie Thomas. Jade Genga and Bailey Baker, both talented Seniors in the Ole Miss Theatre program, also choreographed pieces.
“Breaking Boundaries features a wide variety of dance styles. The music in the pieces range from opera to Simon & Garfunkel to Bollywood to modern pop music,” said Mizenko. “There is definitely something for everybody.”
The concert is approximately ninety minutes with no intermission. It is family friendly and parents are encouraged to bring their children. Individual Tickets are $12.50 for adults, $9 for Ole Miss students, and $8 for Seniors and Children.
For ticket information, please contact the UM Box Office, (662) 915-7411.
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