'Connect to Life' is theme for UApresents' upcoming season

Photo courtesy UApresents For more than 25 years the imaginative acrobatic dance troupe Philobolus has used athletes-turned-dancers to constantly explore the possibilities of bodies in space and time. UApresents' 1997-98 season will include a visit in February by these artists of muscle and bone as part of their America in Motion: Connecting to Imagination performance series.

"Our theme for the new season is 'connect to life,'" said Kenneth Foster, director of UApresents. "This year we're focusing on the connections between us-between artists and audiences, between our lives and our work, between our bodies and our spirits."

Next year's season includes more than 30 events in 10 different performance series, which focus on a specific area of performance. These include jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter and the hit Broadway shows "Damn Yankees" and "Grease."

In addition, the season will hold holiday programs that include Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and a return performance of Fiesta Navidad.

Performances by vocalist Cleo Laine, pianist Andre Watts, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Peking Opera company and dance companies Pilobolus and the Houston Ballet display the wide variety of shows offered next season.

Foster said one of the season's key themes is diversity, which is evident by the number of internationally renowned artists scheduled to perform.

"The most obvious example of that theme is in the broad range of artists we'll be bringing here from all over the world this season," Foster said.

The Ondekoza drummers of Japan, the Chilean folkloric group Inti-Illimani and the Afro-Cuban band Los Munequitos de Matanzas are groups that exemplify this cultural diversity, he said.

UApresents will continue its performance series entitled the Millennium Project with a new theme of "Body and Spirit." The project is a five-year exploration of important issues relevant before the turn of the 21st century. The two previous themes of the project were "The Earth and the Environment" and "The Many Meanings of Family."

Gay performance artist Tim Miller's new work, Shirts and Skin, will examine the ways in which our bodies are maps of our personal and cultural history.

Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater will offer a performance titled "Out of this World: The Life After Life Project," a work that is based on the experiences of local caregivers.

The Millennium Project will conclude in April with "We Set Out Early . Visibility Was Poor," a new piece by choreographer Bill T. Jones, which explores man's journey through the past century.

During Tim Miller's two week residency, UApresents will also offer a week-long symposium on "The Male Body in Popular Culture," featuring speakers, films and workshops designed to explore the subject, Foster said.

Next season, UApresents will offer performances at several locations outside Centennial Hall in order to create stronger ties to the community and audiences.

Intimate venue performances include the acclaimed monologist Spalding Gray at the Gallagher Theatre in the UA Memorial Student Union, a performance by Anonymous 4 at St. Phillip's Church, and a performance in February by the Coyote Consort at the UA's Cro wder Hall.

The premiere performance of the UA School of Music and Dance's Coyote Consort is one of the several collaborations UApresents is featuring with local Southern Arizona performing arts groups. Others include a performance in November of a new work choreogra phed by Michael Uthoff for Ballet Arizona and a production of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" at Centennial Hall in May by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Ballet.

"We're delighted to be partners with these superb local arts organizations in offering such exceptional performances in our community," Foster said.

The new season will also try to connect to the community with an increased emphasis on education and outreach through UApresents new Arts Encounters program, said Benita Selvyn, UApresents education director.

"Our connection with the community doesn't stop at the edge of the stage," she said. "We bring artists to Tucson to do more than perform. While they are here they will work directly with members of our many diverse communities to learn from them as well a s teach - and even make them part of the creative process itself."

Selvyn said there will be pre-performance programs before every performance next year and audience members will be able to meet and talk to many of the artists.

UApresents is also implementing some changes in its ticket pricing.

Tickets for college students and children under 18 will be half price for every show of the season, but "student rush" tickets will no longer be offered 30 minutes before the show, Foster said.

The 50 percent discount is also applicable for student subscription purchases, he said.

In addition, UA faculty and staff can purchase subscriptions and Wild Cards at a 20 percent discount.

Subscribers will receive a 15 percent discount on their season tickets, an increase of 5 percent.

Wild Card holders will also get the 15 percent discount when they purchase tickets to five or more shows of their choice. Usually subscribers purchase season tickets from only one series, but the card allows the holder to select each performance individua lly.

Subscriptions for the season are already on sale and tickets to individual events will be available on Aug. 18.