October 16 and 17, 2009
8 p.m.
UMBC Fine Arts Studio 317

Contact: B. Rose Huber
410-455-8117
brhuber@umbc.edu
or
Tom Moore
410-455-3370
tmoore@umbc.edu

Note: You may view or download this release as a pdf file.

UMBC presents the acclaimed ClancyWorks Dance Company in concert with artists Sandra Lacy and Mary Williford-Shade (Lacy & Shade), on October 16 and 17, 2009 at 8 p.m. in UMBC Fine Arts Building Studio 317.

The ClancyWorks Dance Company is a collective of performing artists directed by Adrienne Clancy. The group has more than 17 years experience in dance and choreographic experience and have held major choreographic, performance and administrative positions in numerous recognized companies, festivals and universities. Clancy's company approach is partnering work that is simultaneously dynamic and sensitive. Now in their eighth season as a Maryland-based dance company, ClancyWorks is the Company in Residence for the D.A.R.E. Dance Program in Baltimore and conducts arts education programs with the Maryland State Arts Council, the Baltimore Public School System, the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County and Fairfax County Public School System.

Sandra Lacy is an instructor of dance at UMBC and holds a degree in psychology and title of associate from the Royal Academy of Dancing in London. She has performed with numerous companies including the Maryland Ballet, Impetus, Path Dance and Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane and Company, and has commission works by choreographers such as Irene Hultman, Lisa Race and Mark Taylor.

Mary Williford-Shade is a professor at Texas Woman's University where she teaches bodywork, modern technique, repertory, pedagogy and artistic process. She holds an MFA from The Ohio State University and a certificate as a Laban movement analyst. An nationally and international recognized master teacher, she has teaching credits that include The Klutz Pedagogic Tanz Schule, Mukagowa University, the University of Quebec, Connecticut College, George Washington University and others. Described as "extraordinary" by The New York Times, she was a principal dancer with Mark Taylor, Mark Dendy, Pittsburgh Dance Alloy and Maryland Dance Theater, and is the recipient of numerous awards.

On the program:

-- An ensemble performance by ClancyWorks: On Taking Steps to Climbing Mountains (2007, pictured above) is a recent work that demonstrates Adrienne Clancy's passion for inventive partnering and her capacity to work creatively with unusual spatial and topographical features. The work is composed for 5 dancers working with 5 ladders of graduated sizes. Interdependence versus relational dependency clearly emerges as a theme. As ladders partner the dancers and provide support for horizontal, elevated, and off-balance movement, On Taking Steps to Climbing Mountains's metaphorical content comments on the process and abilities of individuals to shift the center of their own challenges, be they personal relationships, institutional partnerships or ideological obstacles. Placed sky-ward or repositioned on their sides, the ladders create windows, doors, and pathways through which the dancers navigate alternative ways of seeing, relating to, knowing and creating a world.

-- An ensemble performance by ClancyWorks: Light Armor (2004) is a journey that plays with the powers of light in order to find the balance between the potential self and the actualized self. Inspired by the scrutiny of chaos theories and an investigation into illusion and perception, this piece calls upon us to gird oneself with a shower of light, and asks us to question the truth of what we allow people to see and how we protect ourselves from seeing our own truths. Light Armor transforms the theater into a world that hails references to a mythic past yet at the same time propels the audience into sci-fi dance theatre.

-- The presentation of a new duet choreographed and danced by Adrienne Clancy and Sandra Lacy.

-- The second installment of a work in progress by Lorraine Chapman and Sandra Lacy. Boston choreographer Lorraine Chapman was a member of the Eliot Feld Ballet and was hailed in 2008 as one of Dance Magazine's 25 Choreographers to Watch. Danced to Elvis and Tom Waits, the piece investigates the surreal world of the performer.

-- Mary Williford-Shade and Sandra Lacy will dance I, The Girl with the Red Hands, a duet choreographed by Melissa Briggs that was inspired by two characters in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

-- Drawing from the personal experiences of American performer Mary Williford-Shade and Hong Kong choreographer Sau Mui Cheung comes a solo that is both tense and mesmerizing. Eternity is a series of imagistic explorations with an oversized costume where the performer illustrates the "comings and goings" of her life as a performer. Beginning as a moving sculpture the performer enacts the concepts of manipulation, transformation and voyeurism that occurs when performing for an audience and in the end, a terse realization of time passing.

Presented by the InterArts Series with the Department of Dance.

Admission
General admission: $20.00. Students and seniors: $10.00.
Tickets are available through MissionTix at www.missiontix.com or by calling MissionTix at 410-752-8950.
Tickets will also be available at the door (cash or check only) immediately prior to the concert.

General Public Information
UMBC Arts Website: http://www.umbc.edu/arts

Directions
-- From I-95 take exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Fine Arts Building.
-- 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 Fine Arts Building.
-- Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/

Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
or by email or postal mail.