UMBC presents the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in concert on Friday, February 4, 2005 at 8 p.m. in the UMBC Theatre.

Tickets are $17 general admission and $7 for students and seniors, available through MissionTix at www.missiontix.com or 410-752-8950.

The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's performance at UMBC will feature an evening of joyous and provocative dance—plus an opportunity to see sections of a new work being developed by Martha Wittman. The program will include:

• Imprints on a Landscape: a multi-media work including movement, text and visual imagery, Imprints involves the full professional company of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. Through extensive research, and drawing on her family’s background in the coal mining culture of northeastern Pennsylvania, veteran choreographer and Dance Exchange favorite Martha Wittman creates and directs Imprints, which includes the oral histories of elders or still-living family members who recall the mining-industry days. The New York Times described Wittman as “one of those rare and daring performers who seems simply to embody truth.”

• Dances at a Cocktail Party: in a spirit more impressionistic than biographical, Dances at a Cocktail Party is Liz Lerman’s work based on the music and spirit of Leonard Bernstein: his connection to composing and teaching, his insistence on the coexistence of both “high” and “low” art and, in his personal life, the zeal to live on a large spectrum.

• In Praise of Animals and Their People: a work that celebrates the bond between humans and animals, Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times described Animals as “a wonder.”

Founded in 1976, the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange presents a unique brand of dance/theater, breaking boundaries between stage and audience, theater and community, movement and language, tradition and the unexplored. Through explosive dancing, personal stories and intelligent humor, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange stretches the expressive range of contemporary dance.

Liz Lerman (Founding Artistic Director) has choreographed works that have been seen throughout the United States and abroad. Combining dance with realistic imagery, her works are defined by the spoken word, drawing from literature, personal experience, philosophy, and political and social commentary. Over the past 26 years she has received recognition for her work with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and as a solo artist. In 2002, she received a MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellowship for her visionary work. She has received an American Choreographer Award, the American Jewish Congress “Golda” award, the first annual Pola Nirenska Award, the Mayor's Art Award, and was named Washingtonian Magazine's Washingtonian of the Year in 1988.

Liz Lerman's work has been commissioned by Lincoln Center, American Dance Festival, Dancing in the Street, BalletMet, and The Kennedy Center. Her choreographic work has received support from AT&T, Meet The Composer, American Festival Project, National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network Creation Fund, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

An open rehearsal will be held at 2:30 pm on Thursday, February 3rd in the Theatre. Admission to the open rehearsal is free.

Admission
General admission: $17.00
Students and seniors: $7.00
Box Office: http://www.missiontix.com or 410-752-8950

Telephone
UMBC Artsline (24-hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
Media inquiries only: 410-455-3370

Web
UMBC Arts website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
UMBC News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/oci/index.phtml?r=Art
Liz Lerman Dance Exchange: http://www.danceexchange.org/

Images for Media
High resolution images (those shown here and others) are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
or by email or postal mail.

Directions
From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Theatre.
From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Theatre.
From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Theatre.
Theatre Parking is available in The Commons Garage.

Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/