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Modern and classical dance coming to Eisenhower

A tribute to military veterans among the ‘fresh’ performances

Courtesy photo / The Jessica Lang Dance troupe performs “Tesseracts of Time,” which explores time and space using architectural design.

Classical ballet and modern dance, as well as visual arts, are all a part of the Jessica Lang Dance production coming to the Eisenhower Auditorium stage at Penn State University on Wednesday.

“We try to bring something fresh and new to the campus and the community each season, and Jessica Lang Dance certainly fits the bill for fresh and new,” said Laura Sullivan, marketing director for PSU’s Center for the Performing Arts.

The company has become “wildly successful” in the six years since it was founded in New York City by choreographer Lang, Sullivan said.

“Their performances have been named among the best dance events of the year in nearly every major city where they have performed,” she said. “A company with that kind of reputation and a choreographer as exciting and creative as Jessica Lang absolutely put this dance company on our radar.”

One performance, called “Thousand Yard Stare,” premiered in 2016 and is based on the name given to a traumatized soldier’s unfocused gaze, according to Sullivan. It aims to embody pride, honor and loss felt by military veterans and will be performed to Beethoven’s “String Quartet No. 15.”

Another piece, “Tesseracts of Time,” explores time and space using architectural design by Steven Holl. And “The Calling” is an excerpt from Lang’s “Splendid Isolation II” and features a solo dancer using mostly upper-body movements.

The CPA routinely schedules three or four dance programs each season, including traditional story ballets, contemporary and modern dance programs, as well as ethnic and world dance options.

While Lang is making her choreographic debut in University Park, she is no stranger to the region. Growing up near Philadelphia, her Central Bucks High School was “really good at football” when the state championship games were held in Altoona.

Many of her high school friends went to Penn State, so she went to football games there, as well.

Lang, though, attended the Juilliard School in New York City after growing up studying dance. Afterward, she landed a coveted position with the Twylla Tharp touring ensemble, Tharp!

“You go to Juilliard, get that training and, if you’re successful, you get a job like that,” Lang told the Mirror. “But I got that job and realized I didn’t want a job like that.”

She was bailed out when the company folded two years later.

“That allowed me to … decide what I wanted to do with my life, and I had missed being creative in the studio,” Lang said. “People stay frustrated because they got a degree in this field or they have a good job and are afraid to take a chance on their passion. Because the company folded, it allowed me to find out what else is out there, to follow what is in my heart.”

She successfully applied for several commissions, which helped her to found her own dance company in 2011 and it debuted at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival the following year.

Since then, the company has presented at festivals and venues worldwide, including Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Chicago’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance.

Lang said her touring troupe is limited to nine members and she invokes more than just ballet and modern dance.

“There also is visual art and other types of collaborative processes,” she said. “There is a connection to the composers … and costume design, and the environment on the stage is really important to me. It’s not just about making dance in a typical stage space. We make each piece more like an individual show.”

An informal moderated discussion featuring one of the visiting artists will be held one hour prior to the performance in the Eisenhower, and a post-production discussion with the audience is scheduled, as well.

Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks is at 949-7030.

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If you go

What: Jessica Lang Dance

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Eisenhower Auditorium, Penn State University, University Park

Admission: $15-$38

Tickets/more info: www.CPA.PSU.edu, (814) 863-0255

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