The Ohio Northern University Department of Theatre presents the ONU Spring Dance Concert, “Choreographers’ Showcase,” on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 1, at 2 p.m. in the Freed Center for the Performing Arts.
Approximately 40 ONU dancers will participate in the performance, which features the work of student and guest choreographers and works by guest artists, Thom Cobb, current president of The National Dance Education Organization and Bobby Wesner, Artistic Director of Neos Dance Theatre. This is the third time that the Spring Dance Concert has featured the choreography of ONU students.
Cobb, current president of The National Dance Education Organization, retired from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in May 2014 after teaching there for 36 years. Additionally, he taught for four years at Illinois Wesleyan University. Well-versed in several dance forms, including traditional forms, character dance and American rhythm dances (swing, jazz, vernacular dance), Cobb continues to conduct workshops and master classes throughout the United States for several schools, universities and organizations, including Dance Masters of America and the Dance Teacher Magazine Summit. Of the several awards for his teaching, he is most honored to have received the 2007 NDEO Dance Educator of the Year Award and the 2013 SRU President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Additional guest choreographers will include Elizabeth Cozad and Brenda Hoyt-Backman. ONU student choreographers are Rachel Paul, a junior directing/choreographer major from Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Joelle Farano, a fourth-year pharmacy major from Charleston, S.C.; and Kaitlin Jempson, a freshman musical theatre and French double major from Melbourne, Australia and Joshua Heard, a sophomore musical theatre major with a double minor in Dance and Arts Administration from Fremont, Ohio.
Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors. Tickets are $10 for ONU faculty and staff and $5 for ONU students. The Freed Center box office is open Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Phone orders are accepted with American Express, MasterCard, VISA or Discover by calling 419-772-1900. Tickets also are available online at www.freedcenter.com
