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Dancer to perform, tell backstage stories |
| By
Deanna Lytle |
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Mar 15, 2005 |
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Dr. Leslie Friedman, noted dancer, scholar and artistic director of the Lively Foundation, is scheduled to visit The University of Toledo to perform and lecture about her dancing experiences.
“Heroic Beloved,” a one-woman dance celebrating women, will take place on Wednesday, March 16, at 6:30 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts Studio Theatre. A reception will follow the performance.
“I noticed I had a number of dances in my repertory that I choreograph and perform that are about historical women like Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and pianist/composer Clara Schumann,” she said. “I decided to gather these together in a program that would be a kind of living gallery celebrating these women.”
Friedman also will visit classes on Thursday, March 17, before speaking about “Backstage Stories: Life Behind the Velvet Curtain” at 1 p.m. in the Center for Performing Arts Studio Theatre.
She has traveled around the world teaching and dancing. Friedman was a Fulbright Scholar in India from 1983 to 1984. She was the first U.S. dancer-choreographer to perform for Russian audiences in Moscow and Leningrad after a 14-year break in cultural relations. She also was the first to dance at Cairo's El Ghoumeria Opera House, teach at China's ballet schools, and dance and choreograph for Romania's national dance company.
“Looking back, I’m amazed that I was part of such historic changes of culture,” she said. “The significance of it all is how what I did is a way to learn more about those particular places, about how a culture undergoes a big transformation, and about how individuals can reach into each others’ lives across borders.”
Friedman has taught at Case Western Reserve University, Stanford University and Vassar College. She received her doctorate in modern British history from Stanford University.
The Lively Foundation, based in San Francisco, was founded in 1983 and is devoted to the production of educational and artistic programs in dance, music and related arts. Its performers present works by artists of African, Arabic, Asian, and Eastern and Western European heritage. The Hedgehog, a quarterly arts review publication, is put out by the company. Friedman serves as its co-editor, overseeing the many interviews, profiles, reviews and opinion pieces that are published every three months.
The events are part of the department of women and gender studies’ 2004-05 Feminism and Global Movements Symposium. Her visit also is supported by the department of theatre and film.
For more information on the two free, public events, contact the UT department of women and gender studies at 419.530.2233.
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