NewsRelease

(Posted 3-3-04)
Contact: Tiffany Aumann, 336-334-5371

Choreographer Explores Heritage in “Finding Freedom” March 26-27

GREENSBORO - The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Dance Department will present Finding Freedom, an MFA thesis concert choreographed and directed by Nicole C. Laliberté, at the UNCG Dance Theater Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27, at 8 p.m.

Tickets are available at the UNCG box office or by calling (336) 334-4849; they will also be available at the door. Admission is $10 for the general public, $7 for students, seniors, and children, and $5 for UNCG students. Free event parking is available at the parking lot at the corner of Walker Avenue and South Aycock Street.

Laliberté, whose name translates to “freedom,” received her BFA in Dance from The Boston Conservatory in 1992. Originally from Rhode Island, Laliberté has lived, danced, and taught in Boston, New York, Hawaii, and Russia. Most recently, she has presented works at UNCG and at the American College Dance Festival at North Carolina State University. In 2003 she choreographed the North Carolina Jr. Miss Program at the War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro. Previously, her work has been presented in Honolulu, Boston, New York, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

 Finding Freedom features a multi-generational cast of 19 dancers including members of the Greensboro Ballet, Jan Van Dyke Dance Group, John Gamble Dance Theater, and Rumba Latina Company as well as Dr. Gay Cheney, professor emeritus of UNCG. The concert reflects the many places that the choreographer has called home, the various cultures that have adopted her, and the universal quest for freedom:

• Fleeting Glimpses (2002) - A reflective contemporary dance for six women, set to the Opus 100 andante by Franz Schubert, which will be played live by local musicians Robert Docker, Ulric Schweizer, and Frank Vulpi. At the American College Dance Festival at North Carolina State University, James Sutton, international ballet teacher and former dancer, said of this work, “I feel Schubert would have been pleased to see his music represented in this way.”

• Panes (2003) - A powerful duet in vignette style features the music of Vladimir Vysotsky, the poetry of Anna Ahkmatova and audio clips from Russian films. This piece was inspired by the choreographer’s time in St. Petersburg, Russia, and later enhanced by her research into the struggle for personal, artistic and political freedom following the Bolshevik Revolution. Laliberté composed the sound score.

• Noctivagation (Premiere) - A sharp, biting composition for strings composed by local artist Kerrie Thomas drives the neo-classical choreography which showcases Laliberté’s penchant for structure and design, performed by eight dancers en pointe.

• Last Thoughts (Premiere) - A solo set to the only known recording of Bob Dylan speaking his own poetry. The work, which explores personal and social constraints, will be performed by Rhian Jaques, a member of the Jan Van Dyke Dance Group.

• La Survivance (Premiere) - The germination for this work began in 1993 when Laliberté’s paternal grandmother left this world, and when her rocking chair, to which she had been relegated for the last decades of her life, passed on to Laliberté.  It has since developed into a biographical documentary, furthered by a deep exploration into the French-Canadian experience of immigration to the United States. This immigration was solicited by the Industrial Revolution, and the promise of a better life working for meager wages in the textile mills of New England. The audio and video score, which has been designed and constructed by Laliberté, incorporates film footage from the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, RI, still shots from the Laliberté family’s archives, recorded text of interviews with the choreographer's parents, traditional and contemporary French Canadian music, and video and radio interviews of Laliberté’s father, Roger, who has been airing French-Canadian radio broadcasts in Rhode Island for over 45 years. The work borrows its title, La Survivance, from a current movement in northern Rhode Island: “it is often defined as ‘survival,’ but its meaning is in fact closer to ‘persistence and preservation.’...it is the story of a deep commitment to preserve self-respect and the memory of one’s origins and heritage.” It is Laliberté’s tribute to the rich legacy that she has been given, and to the sacrifices that made it possible.

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