Renowned choreographer Bebe Miller to give public talk, performance of her latest work, 'A History'
The Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech will host a week-long visit by the Bebe Miller Company, which will include a master class with Radford University dance students and a public lecture led by company founder and choreographer Bebe Miller.
The visit will culminate with a performance of the company’s latest dance work, “A History,” in Squires Student Center’s Haymarket Theatre on Friday, April 26, at 8 p.m.
“A History” is a duet performance directed by Miller that features longtime Bebe Miller Company collaborators Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones and draws upon the history of the group’s creative process, giving audiences a glimpse into how dance-making works. “A History” can be viewed as the evidence and performance of the creative conversation embedded in the last decade of the company's work.
Hauser and Jones appear live and virtually, creating a dynamic theatre-based performance. Their nuanced dancing relationship under Miller's direction, with dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks, video by Lily Skove, and a media installation by Maya Ciarrocchi, represents the thematic journey that has led the company to the present moment.
Miller will lead a public talk, “Bebe Miller: Dancing at the Boundaries of Art and Technology,” where she will discuss her creative practice and the intersection of art and new technologies in terms of both creating and archiving work, on Wed., April 24, at 5:30 p.m. in Theatre 101, room 201.
The talk, which is free and open to the public, is part of the ArtsFusion seminar series and is presented by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology in partnership with the Center for the Arts, with support from the Virginia Tech Office of the Provost’s Women and Minority Artists and Scholars Lecture Series.
The Bebe Miller Company engagement with the Center for the Arts is supported in part by a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project.
One of the country’s most influential choreographers, Miller began making and performing her own work in 1978, forming the Bebe Miller Company in 1985. Known for both virtuosity and humanity, Miller’s work has been produced at major dance centers throughout the United States and abroad.
Currently a professor of dance and Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University, Miller has collaborated with the university’s Department of Dance to produce several digital documented works and a software template for choreographic documentation. She has also worked with the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) to explore the use of motion capture technology for creative and archival purposes. With collaboration being fundamental to her creative process, she has worked with numerous composers, visual artists, writers, filmmakers and directors.
Miller was recently named a Doris Duke Artist, joining 21 of America’s most vital and productive performing artists, and has received four Bessie Awards for choreography and direction, along with fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Ohio Arts Council.
Tickets
Tickets for the performance in Haymarket Theatre are $30 for general public, $24 for seniors and Virginia Tech faculty and staff, and $10 for students and youth 18 years old and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Squires Student Center and Activities Ticket Office, Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m.; or by calling 540-231-5615.
