New works on display in UW-Stevens Point’s “Danstage 2024”

Featuring new dance works by faculty and guest artists, "Danstage 2024" will conclude the spring University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Department of Theatre and Dance season with performances May 3-5.

"Danstage 2024" will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 3-4, and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5, in the Studio Theater. This year's concerts feature new choreography by Assistant Professor Sarah Olson, Professor Jeannie Hill and Professor Michael Estanich as well as guest artist Monique Haley.

Tickets are $27 for adults, $24 for seniors and UW-Stevens Point faculty and staff, and $16 for youth. Tickets will be available for purchase at tickets.uwsp.edu, by calling 715-346-4100 or by visiting the Information and Tickets Office in the Dreyfus University Center in Stevens Point.

Haley will premiere "The Light," an Africanist informed jazz piece for 10 student dancers. "The Light" reflects how one's inner light can empower and change a space, like an energy shapeshifter.

Haley was in residence in the UW-Stevens Point Dance Program in February to create this new work. She is the acting director for the Institute for the Intercultural and Anthropological Studies and an associate professor of dance and African and American studies at Western Michigan University. A celebrated dancer and choreographer, Haley is also a published author of jazz dance studies, has won multiple awards in dance and is the creator of a teaching practice centering on African cultural values in jazz dance education.

Hill's new work, "Out With a Bang!" explores sonic communication, companionship and community through dynamic and energizing tap dance. The work includes eleven dancers and musicians with a stage landscape designed by UWSP drama student Grace Boley.

Olson's "Against the Wall" debuts her newest ensemble piece, featuring fifteen dancers and set to a contemporary score by Ori Litchik, David Lang, Paul Tinsley and CoH. The work captures the concept of radical hope and its potency in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Estanich will premiere "In C, a vigorous study of time," an abstract examination of time inspired by American minimalist composer Terry Riley's iconic composition, "In C." The work features an ensemble of nine dancers with uniquely designed solo and partner sequences that invite the audience to recognize the power of the moving body.

Estanich will also share a restaging of "Inhabitants of Tall Grass," a trio capturing the simplicity and beauty of nature while moving through an installation of reed grasses created by design and technology major Elliot Cross.