Advance ticket price $5 student/senior and $10 adult through 6 PM Wednesday, April 18. Prices go up to $10 student/senior and $15 adult after this time.

The University of Kansas Department of Dance presents the University Dance Company Spring 2018 Concert with guest choreography by Maya Tillman-Rayton and Emily Bain. Performances will be Thursday, April 19 and Friday, April 20 at 7:30pm and Saturday, April 21 at 2:00pm at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St.

Guest artist and KU dance lecturer Maya Tillman-Rayton choreographed a new hip-hop work, titled “How’d We Get Here?” Inspired by the ups and downs of personal relationships, the dance uses various hip-hop vocabularies to explore connection, conflict and emotional intensity.

“The whole concert is wonderfully robust in showcasing the diversity and strength of the dancers as well as the deep range of talent from KU faculty choreographers,” Heffner Hayes said.

The program will highlight choreography by KU Dance senior Emily Bain. Her work “Refraction” is a contemporary ballet in which dancers reflect the music similar to the effect light in a box of mirrors.

James Moreno, associate professor of dance, plans to use auto-ethnographic writing and two original videos in his work set to Beethoven piano sonatas resampled in hip-hop style. Patrick Suzeau, professor of dance, is set to present a sound collage and choreography that focuses on a cross section of players caught in the drama of today’s political scene. Willie Lenior, KU lecturer, will use music by Parov Stelar, one of the pioneers of electro swing music, in his choreography.

A new element this year is the inclusion of classical ballet divertissements, choreographed by KU professor of dance Jerel Hilding. Solos, duets and small ensemble dances from less familiar classical ballets will be inserted between longer works as divertissements. Audiences will have the opportunity to see dances from “La Esmeralda,” “Le Corsaire,” “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” “Carmen” and “The Talisman.”

Tickets are on sale at the Lawrence Arts Center box office: Public $15, KU students $10, Seniors (62 and older) $10, and children (under 18) $5. Purchase tickets before 6pm on Wednesday, April 18 and save $5 off the ticket price, excluding child tickets. Customer service and processing fees may apply. Call 785-843-2787 for more information.

The University Dance Company’s Spring 2018 Concert is supported by Student Senate.

The Department of Dance is one of four departments in the School of the Arts. As part of the KU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of the Arts offers fresh possibilities for collaboration between the arts and the humanities, sciences, social sciences, international and interdisciplinary studies.

For more information on the Department of Dance, visit http://dance.ku.edu.