Spring Dance Concert SPARK to Open at Wayne State in Detroit, 3/8

The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance at Wayne State University celebrates its 84^th year of providing high-quality professional dance training, education, and performance opportunities. The department has announced its 2013 Spring Concert entitled Spark. There will be two performances, Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9, both at 7:30pm at the Bonstelle Theatre in downtown Detroit.

General admission is $12 for advance purchase. Tickets are available online at www.wsushows.com at the Box Office, located in the Hillberry Theatre, 4743 Cass Avenue at Hancock Street. Tickets will be available at the door for $15. The box office is open Tuesday through Saturday, 2:00-6:00pm and opens 30 minutes prior to performances. The Bonstelle Theatre is located at 3424 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201.

Spark features a dynamic and diverse program of dance works by nationally renowned guest artists Papa Hanne, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Nycole Ray, and Ron Todorowski, WSU faculty members Jeff Rebudal, Meg Paul and Liz Schmidt, and select WSU student choreographers. Kamuyu, the 2012-13 Maggie Allesee Artist in Residence and dance captain of the Broadway show Fela!, offers when paradise shatters at its seams then what? - a powerful work that showcases dynamic movement and emotional connection. WSU's To Sangana African Company delights with Hanne's Senagalese-driven dance, and Dance Company One performs Nycole Ray's touching and fluid Dreams.Todorowski's captivating work Different Trains, selected to represent WSU at the American College Dance Festival and set to Steve Reich music, is a captivating layering reminiscent of a fast-paced city life, with dancers combining and diverging in striking solos and groups.

Faculty works include Jeff Rebudal's Spero Meliora, inspired by Detroit's culture and evolving landscape, Meg Paul's high octane contemporary ballet FLUxX, and the driving and impassioned Doublespeak, choreographed by Liz Schmidt, recently chosen to receive the 2013 Wayne State University Arts Achievement Award for Career Achievement in the field of Dance presented by The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance. Strong student works complete the program, including, sophomore, Adam McGaw's Siente and two pieces that highlight the dance program's Digital Dance Curriculum. Senior, Michelle Brock's An Inquiry of the Concrete pairs a live dancer with projected video. Brock was also chosen to represent her piece at the American College Dance Festival Association. Seniors, David Sherban and Ta'Rajee Omar screen Vista Love, an evocative dance for the camera that places dancers in a gritty, urban setting.

Wayne State University, located in the heart of Detroit's cultural center, is a premier institution of higher education, offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students. The recently merged Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance is a vital division of Wayne State's College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts and carries on a tradition of leadership in dance education.

The Bonstelle Theatre is a Broadway-style House with a 1,143-seat auditorium featuring a balcony. Here, future stars of theatre, film, and television follow in the footsteps of such successful alumni as Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning S. Epatha Merkerson (NBC's Law and Order, Lackawanna Blues), Lily Tomlin (9 to 5, ABC's Desperate Housewives) and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, NBC's Heroes). For box office hours and information on performances, tickets, group discounts and corporate packages, call the box office at (313) 577-2960 or visit the theatre's website at www.bonstelle.com.