UT's Dance Repertory Theatre Presents FALL FOR DANCE

Under the direction of Charles O. Anderson, Dorothy O'Shea Overbey and Gesel Mason, The University of Texas at Austin's award-winning dance company Dance Repertory Theatre returns to the stage in Fall For Dance, November 6-11 at the B. Iden Payne Theatre. An examination of embodiment and innovation through contemporary ballet, Fall For Dance features works by renowned guest artists, including Gregory Dolbashian and Sidra Bell.

"While the works that comprise this year's Fall for Dance are wide ranging in their thematic inspirations and aesthetic approaches, there is a unifying thread - introductions," artistic director Charles O. Anderson shares. "These works introduce us to the values that inform the dance program - diversity, leadership, community and social justice. As a dance program, our focus is always on embodiment, exploring dance as an embodied way of being in the world."

Highlights of Fall For Dance include Dorothy O'Shea Overbey's Invention in Three Parts, a collaborative work that is part film, part performance filmed in the Motion Capture Studio at the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin. "The Motion Capture studio uses the same equipment used to create characters in films such as The Avengers and The Lord of the Rings," explains Overbey. "We are excited by the aesthetic potential of blending this high level of technology with the rigor of concert dance." Invention in Three Parts is presented first as a live performance, followed by two films created from the dancers' movements through motion capture technology. "It is my intention to plant a flag for the performing arts in the emerging technologies of virtual and augmented reality. I hope to serve the community by making this artwork available to those who might not experience it otherwise."

Currently on faculty at the university's Department of Theatre and Dance, Overbey has danced with Colorado Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, California Ballet, Dances Patrelle and Ballet NY. She is the founder of Red Nightfall Productions, which produced her short film, Prelude, in 2015.

New to the dance faculty, Gesel Mason's work, Student Bodies, was created in collaboration with the dancers and celebrates the courage and activism of the next generation of performers. "I am inspired by the ways that young people are adding their voices to civic dialogue often in the face of tragedy and opposition," shares Mason. "The dance program at The University of Texas at Austin values artists as activists and artists as citizens and I believe this work is a reflection of that."

Mason is the artistic director for Gesel Mason Performance Projects and was a member of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Ralph Lemon/Cross Performance Projects. Mason's solo project, No Boundaries: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers, has featured the work of Kyle Abraham, Robert Battle, Rennie Harris, Dianne McIntyre, Donald McKayle, Bebe Miller, David Rousséve, Reggie Wilson, Andrea E. Woods Valdéz and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Recently featured on NPR, Mason is turning No Boundaries into a digital archive to illuminate the unique legacies and aesthetics of these choreographers. The project uses dance as an entry point to understanding the artistic, historic and social forces impacting these artists and their influence on the greater American socio-political landscape.

Other work presented in Fall For Dance includes shoulders by Jeremy Arnold and Millie Heckler, which represents the first cohort of the reimagined M.F.A. in Dance program, as well as Proving Ground by acclaimed guest artist Gregory Dolbashian, a graduate of the Alvin Ailey School and SUNY Purchase Dance Conservatory; and The History of 6 Points by world-renowned choreographer Sidra Bell (Sidra Bell Dance New York), currently a master lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and whose work was previously seen in Dance Repertory Theatre's MOVE! (2015). Fall For Dance also features the work of emerging voices of student choreographers Andie Duong, Abby Loper and Addison Norman.

For more information on Fall For Dance please visit JoinTheDrama.org

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