Orchesis Dance Company to Present ‘Release’ Jan. 23-24 and 29-31

The Theatre & Dance Department will present the Orchesis Dance Company’s 45th annual concert, “Release,” Friday and Saturday, Jan. 23-24, and Thursday through Saturday, Jan. 29-31, in the Spanos Theatre on campus. Performances will be held at 8 p.m. on all days, with a matinee scheduled at 2 p.m. Jan. 24. 

The concert will feature 30 students in 11 pieces spanning the genres of modern, jazz, ballet and contemporary dance.

The show will feature the choreography of guest artists Mike Esperanza, Nancy Cranbourne and Mark A. Haines. Esperanza’s contemporary finale will be performed to a compilation of three Mumford & Sons songs. He resides in New York City, where he directs his own company, BARE.

Cranbourne, of Boulder, Colo., created the rousing finale to last year’s Orchesis Dance Company concert. Haines, new to Orchesis, is a professor at Riverside City College. Cranbourne and Haines used their diverse jazz backgrounds to choreograph group works full of rhythm, style and finesse, according to Christy McNeil, Cal Poly assistant professor of dance.

McNeil will make her Orchesis directorial debut, Faculty members Diana Stanton and Michelle Walter will serve as assistant directors.  

A San Luis Obispo favorite, faculty member Lisa Deyo will present a new ballet titled “After the Bombs Have Stopped” to Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D, Op 35. Clint Bryson, a staff member in the Theatre & Dance Department, will serve as technical director and lighting designer. 

Four student choreographers, Taylor Santero (recreation, parks and tourism administration), Tiffany Davids (business administration), Alana Manzer (liberal studies) and Larissa Clawson (mathematics) will present new works. Santero’s piece is a loose narrative based on the feelings of harmony, manipulation and betrayal.

Davids dance uses climbing ropes and carabineers to explore human connection. Manzer focuses her piece, “Holding To,” on expectations versus reality.

Clawson’s dance will be performed to a cover of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love.” The work deals with personal growth attained through an abusive relationship.

Tickets for “Release” are $20 for the public and $12 for students, senior citizens and children. Tickets are sold at the Performing Arts Center Ticket Office between noon and 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. To order by phone, call 805-SLO-4TIX (805-756-4849).

 The performance is sponsored by Cal Poly’s Theatre & Dance Department, the College of Liberal Arts, and the Instructionally Related Activities program.