3/21/01
NOTE TO MEDIA EDITOR: Orchesis rehearsals will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, and throughout the evening Wednesday and Thursday, in Studio 185-187, just inside the west entry of the Wellness and Recreation Center. A dress rehearsal is scheduled for Friday evening in the GBPAC Great Hall, with the Northern Iowa Young People's Dance Theater rehearsing at 6 p.m., and the rest of the company at 7:15. Media representatives are welcome at any of these rehearsals.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Ranae Keane-Bamsey, dance instructor and Orchesis adviser, (319) 273-3560
Lindsay Ehlers, President, Orchesis Dance company, (319) 266-6966
Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
UNI Dance Company celebrates 75th anniversary with dance gala
CEDAR FALLS -- Orchesis, one of the oldest, continuously active student organizations on the University of Northern Iowa campus will celebrate its 75th anniversary Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25, with a dance gala in the Great Hall of the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.
The 90-minute show begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. It will include dances in a range of styles -- jazz, ballet, tap, pointe and modern dance - - a shift from its early years, when the focus was on "modern dance," according to Orchesis adviser Ranae Keane-Bamsey, UNI instructor in dance.
Featured will be performances by faculty, the Northern Iowa Young People's Dance Theater, directed by Cynthia Herndon, UNI associate professor of dance; and the International Dance Theater, directed by Kathleen Kerr, professor of dance. Dance faculty will profile early 20th century modern female dancers Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller and Ruth St. Dennis. In addition, the dance team from the UNI athletic department will perform in the GBPAC lobby prior to the show. During the second act, faculty from a cross-section of academic disciplines will present dance trends from the last six decades.
"We wanted to indicate the wide variety of dance programs available on the UNI campus, and the differences between the dance forms," said Keane-Bamsey.
Following the show, the UNI Capoeira Club will perform a combination Brazilian martial arts/dance form, in the GBPAC lobby. Keane-Bamsey explained that centuries ago, enslaved Africans in Brazil hid their martial arts form in dance.
There are 30 to 35 dancers in the Orchesis dance company today, presenting two shows annually. One is in conjunction with the International Dance Theatre during Family Fest Weekend, and the other one is the spring show.
"The shows are primarily student-choreographed. That is unusual for universities, where they are often choreographed by faculty," said Keane-Bamsey.
Orchesis is funded, in part, by Northern Iowa Student Government, with additional funding from UNI's School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services. This year's anniversary performance is also receiving funding from the UNI Foundation, and assistance from the UNI Alumni Association in contacting some 450 dance alumni, including members of the original dance company.
A post-show reception for alumni, current dancers and their families will follow the Saturday evening performance.
Special guests will include former Orchesis advisers Mary Alice Butterworth-Engstrom, Cynthia Ensign Herndon, and Barbara Darling, who is traveling from Arizona to attend; retired faculty member Barbara Yeager; and current faculty members Kathleen Kerr and Georgia Sandvik.
Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students, and are available by calling (319) 273-SHOW or visiting the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center box office.
For more information contact Ranae Keane-Bamsey at (319) 273-3560, or Orchesis President Lindsay Ehlers, (319) 266-6966.
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3/21/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Rheta DeVries, director, Regents' Center for Early Childhood Development, (319) 273-2101
Gwenne Culpepper, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Ready to kick off its inaugural year in fall 2001, the Freeburg Early Childhood Program will host two final town-hall meetings in Waterloo, to explain program benefits and offer applications to parents of potential students. The Freeburg program, operated by the Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa, will be housed in a new building on the Allen College campus.
Eligible for the program are those children whose parents live or work within a half-mile radius of the program site. Tuition waivers are available for those who meet specified income guidelines.
Town-hall meetings will be at 6 p.m., Sunday, March 25, in McBride Auditorium of Gerard Hall on the Allen College Campus; and Tuesday, March 27 at the same site.
The program will serve 66 children, ages 3 through first grade, providing developmentally appropriate education in a model facility. It also will offer family development programs for the children and their families.
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3/21/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Martha Reineke, Hearst Lecture Series Committee Chair, (319) 273-6233 or martha.reineke@uni.edu
Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- "African-American Religion and Culture in the 21st Century" will be presented in the next Hearst Lecture Series program at the University of Northern Iowa, Tuesday, March 27.
Michael Eric Dyson, Ida B. Wells-Barnett University Professor at DePaul University and Baptist minister, will present the lecture at 7:30 p.m. in the Maucker Union Expansion. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
Dyson is the best-selling author of "Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture," among other works. Martha Reineke, Hearst Lecture Series committee chair, said "Dr. Dyson is what we call a public intellectual, which means his scholarship is widely known in the public sphere, not just among academic scholars."
Dyson holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Carson-Newman College and master's and doctorate degrees in religion from Princeton University.
Following the lecture, Dyson will take questions from the audience and sign books.
The Department of Philosophy and Religion is the host for this year's series which is funded by the Meryl Norton Hearst Chair in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. According to its mission statement, the series strives to bring together a body of speakers who "demonstrate in compelling ways that as we move into a new century, the humanities continue to make significant contributions to our efforts to understand each other and our communities, as we learn from the past, explore the present and shape the future."
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Education and the Joint Committee on Diversity Programming.
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3/21/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Scott Cawelti, professor, Department of English, (319) 273-3810
Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Rekha Basu, former "Des Moines Register," columnist will be the keynote speaker for UNI's Critical Writing Conference, Friday, March 30, in the Schindler Education Center. Basu's address, "Writing from the Margins for the Mainstream," begins at 3 p.m. and is open to the public at no charge.
Basu now writes for the "Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel."
The Critical Writing Conference is open to those who entered an essay contest earlier in the year. Contest winners will be announced at the end of the conference, when more than $20,000 in cash prizes and tuition waivers will be distributed.
Conference presenters include Scott Cawelti, professor and "Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier" columnist; James HiDuke (Dr. Grammar), assistant professor; Grant Tracey, assistant professor; Richard Fehlman, associate professor, all in the UNI Department of English Language and Literature; Chris Pirillo, WHO Radio talk show host and CEO and chief writer for "Lockergnome," a Web site for computer-holics; and several UNI students.
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3/21/01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Libby Vanderwall, events coordinator, the Career Center, (319) 273-2062
Vicki Grimes, University Marketing and Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The National Educator Expo, which helps school districts recruit new teachers and administrators, will be at the University of Northern Iowa, beginning at 8 a.m., Saturday, March 31, in Maucker Union. More than 100 school districts from across the United States will recruit educators from UNI and 25 co-sponsoring Iowa colleges and universities. This year's expo will feature a record 36 school districts from Iowa.
Libby Vanderwall, events coordinator for UNI's Career Center, said the school district registration is full, and there are about 70 school districts on a waiting list. Educators may register in Sabin Hall on the day of the event. The walk-in registration fee is $25 for all candidates.
A registration form, a list of participating school districts and other information can be found on the Career Center's Web site: www.uni.edu/careercenter/consortium/nee.html.
For more information, contact Libby Vanderwall at (319) 273-2062.
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