Dance on a big scale: Humanities dedication set Oct. 20-21

Dance on a big scale: Humanities dedication set Oct. 20-21

BY DAVID KAPLAN
Rice News Staff

When choreographer
Stephan Koplowitz says he enjoys working on a large stage,
he means very large.

His dancers
have performed inside Grand Central Station, the British
Library in London and the Kokerie Factory, an immense coal-processing
plant in Essen, Germany.

Known around
the world for his site-specific dance performances, Koplowitz
will bring his breathtaking artistry to Houston for the
opening of Rice University’s new humanities building
Oct. 20 and 21 at 8 p.m.

It will be Koplowitz’s
first production in the American Southwest.

Titled “Open
Book/Open House,” the production will feature about
50 dancers performing continuously in different locations
inside and outside the building. It will include seven professional
dancers as well as dancers from Rice and the University
of Houston.

The Chicago
Tribune described one of Koplowitz’s site-specific
performances as “a stirring, one-of-a-kind triumph.”
The New York Times has noted Koplowitz’s “extraordinary
sensitivity to environment.” The Washington Post declared
Koplowitz’s production at Union Station to be “spectacular,”
“amazing” and “something no one who saw it
is ever likely to forget.”

In September,
Koplowitz received a Bessie award, which in the dance world
is the equivalent of a Tony or an Emmy. The Bessie is presented
annually to outstanding performers and choreographers by
Dance Theater Workshop in New York. He received his award
in the creator/choreographer category for “sustained
achievement.”

Koplowitz, a
New York City resident, says the aim of his site-specific
dances is to “transform a building—give people
a chance to experience it in a completely different way.”

His Houston
performance, he says, will celebrate the new humanities
building as well as its purpose, which is to house the departments
of history, philosophy, religious studies and several interdisciplinary
centers and programs, such as the Center for the Study of
Cultures and the Study of Women and Gender.

Along with its
exploration of the building’s specific design and function,
Koplowitz says the event will contain “a certain amount
of whimsy.”

The audience
will be invited to walk inside and outside the building
to experience different performances. Some performances
will be continuous, much like installations, and others
will be programmatic and will be repeated during the first
45 to 60 minutes of the event.

The performance
will feature lighting by Kevin Rigdon, the resident designer
for Steppenwolf Theatre since its inception in 1974. Rigdon
has designed numerous productions on Broadway, in London
and at the Alley Theatre and has received two Tony Award
nominations.

The costume
design is by Trish Rigdon, associate director of Rice Players.
The dance will be choreographed to an original score by
Anthony Barilla, who has written music for Infernal Bridegroom
Productions, Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theater, Stages Repertory
Theatre and National Public Radio.

Koplowitz’s
assistant director is his longtime collaborator, Karen Stokes
of Houston.

The humanities
building, designed by architect Allan Greenberg of Washington,
D.C., expands upon the Mediterranean style of the Rice campus
and features courtyards, covered passageways and an elegant
main lobby. It is located near the heart of the Rice campus,
just south of Fondren Library.

Gale Stokes,
interim dean of the School of Humanities, says that a building
dedication featuring choreography by Koplowitz is not an
event that people typically associate with Rice. “A
unique and thrilling performance of this kind,” Stokes
says, “underscores the richness and excitement of humanistic
study at Rice.”

The humanities
building dedication performance is open to the public. Prices
are $10 for the public and $5 for members of the Rice community
and UH students. There will be a free preview performance
for Rice students Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. To purchase tickets
in advance, call (713) 348-7529.