Dance Concert Features April 30 Remembrance and Tributes to Freddie Mercury and Frida Kahlo
The Department of Dance will present its Fall Concert November 14-17, featuring four works choreographed by faculty and performed by students. Among the pieces on the program is a reflection, through contemporary dance, on the shooting that occurred at UNC Charlotte on April 30, 2019.
The concert will begin and end with tributes to two iconic artistic figures: Freddie Mercury of the rock band Queen and the artist Frida Kahlo. Queen City Rhapsody, choreographed by Associate Professor E.E. Balcos for six dancers, opens the program. Frida’s Faces, which closes the program, is an evocation of Kahlo’s fascinating life and work through a choreographic exploration of eight of her self portraits. Created by Associate Professor Delia Neil, the work features five different “Fridas” and one “Diego Rivera,” Kahlo’s husband and fellow artist, who will bring the art and story to life as they dance before spectacular projections of Kahlo’s paintings (design by David Fillmore, associate professor of lighting design).
Between these two tributes, students will perform Vendaval, an Afro-Brazilian dance piece created by Assistant Professor Tamara Williams with Brazilian guest artist Flavia Nascimento, and Luck of the Young, created by Adjunct Professor and UNC Charlotte alumna Audrey Baran. Developed through a collaborative process with the student dancers, Luck of the Young reflects on the April 30th shooting on our campus, drawing from the dancers’ personal feelings and experiences and the responses of the wider campus and Charlotte community following the event.
Performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. on November 14-16 and at 2 p.m. on November 17 in the Anne R. Belk Theater in Robinson Hall. The Department will present a special education concert for middle and high school students on Friday, November 15, at 11:00 am. Tickets are $18 for general audiences; $12 for UNC Charlotte faculty, staff, and alumni; $10 for seniors and veterans/military; and $8 for all students.
Photo by Jeff Cravotta; Rahquelah Conyers in choreography by Tamara Williams.