FALL FOR DANCE - November 7-12 at B. Iden Payne Theatre - UT's award-winning Dance Repertory Theatre

Under the direction of Jeremy Arnold, Erica Gionfriddo and Dorothy O'Shea Overbey, The University of Texas at Austin's award-winning dance company Dance Repertory Theatre returns to the stage in Fall For Dance, November 7-12 at the B. Iden Payne Theatre. An exploration of identity, cultural experience and self-expression through contemporary ballet, Fall For Dance features works by renowned artists, including Charles O. Anderson with Jeremy Arnold, Jennifer Freeman, Ray Eliot Schwartz, Erica Gionfriddo and Dorothy O'Shea Overbey.

"At this moment in history, it becomes ever more important for the arts to serve as a vehicle for communication, connection and action. Think of the works in Fall For Dance as discussions. Some are familiar, some uncomfortable, some long and winding, and some make us laugh," the production's artistic directors share. "Each conversation is vital for us to practice the art of community."

Highlights of Fall For Dance include Erica Gionfriddo's In the Ether, a live experiment investigating how our digital devices alter the formation and expression of our identities. Through her work Gionfriddo asks: "How does curating our image for different audiences on digital platforms affect our perception of self, others and the world? How are we seduced by the response to the fragments we broadcast?" Gionfriddo is co-founder and director of the award-winning multimedia company ARCOS Dance. She has performed and taught internationally and choreographed for INTERDANSA, SITE Santa Fe, Morehead State University, Shenandoah Conservatory, Motion X Dance DC, Currents New Media, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, [254]Dance-Fest, Barnstorm Dance Fest, Texas State University, Colorado College and Breaking String Theater.

Dorothy O'Shea Overbey's Crone, inspired by Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (1913), is a story of transformation, following the journey of a woman who loses everything and must choose between forgiveness and revenge. A cross-media project featuring dance, orchestral music and avant-garge costume design, Chrone is being made into a virtual reality film and is slated for release in 2018. 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.

Fall For Dance also features the third installment of the (Re)current Unrest project with choreography by Charles O. Anderson and Jeremy Arnold. Inspired by the BlackLivesMatters movement, (Re)current Unrest pt. 3: Clapback explores the current state of race relations in the United States, centering on the physicality of taking a knee as a way of "clapping back." Anderson's (Re)current Unrest, the first work in this series, was premiered by Dance Repertory Theatre in the 2016 concert Bodies & Souls.

Anderson is head of the dance program at The University of Texas at Austin and serves as artistic director of the critically acclaimed Charles O. Anderson Dance Projects (formerly dance theatre X), which he founded in 2003. Jeremy Arnold, now in his third year of teaching at the university, was a principal dancer with Tapestry Dance Company from 2014-2017. He tours nationally with Revive Dance Convention and has served on the faculty of Soul 2 Sole Festival, True Sound Rhythm Festival and Dance Masters of America.

Other work presented in Fall For Dance includes Otras Puertas/Otras Rumbos by Ray Eliot Schwartz, When by Jennifer Freeman and Mirror by Francis Rodriguez.

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

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