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For more information, please contact Lex Leifheit at 860-685-2806 or lleifheit@wesleyan.edu.

SEE THE WORLD IN THE HEART OF CONNECTICUT!
WESLEYAN’S CFA SPRINGS FORWARD WITH ADDITIONS TO ITS 04—05 SEASON

January 5, 2005, Middletown CT – Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts (CFA), under the direction of Pamela Tatge, announced today the addition of several exhibitions, performances and special events to a spring season already bursting at the seams. In addition, the CFA has a new web design, making the weekly schedule of events more accessible, at www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Tatge commented, “Spring is always an exciting season for us, featuring the much-anticipated DanceMasters Weekend and celebrating the artistic achievements of Wesleyan’s senior and graduate students. I am pleased that this year we can offer numerous free events, including many family-friendly activities.”

The CFA has become a leading presenter of dance performances and workshops through its innovative Breaking Ground Dance Series and DanceMasters Weekend (March 5 & 6), a festival of classes and a showcase by top dancers and choreographers. Breaking Ground continues with Seasons of Migration, (April 15 & 16), classical dance and music from Cambodia featuring 35 dancers and musicians. This year, the DanceMasters showcase performance will include work by The Parsons Dance Company and the Limón Dance Company as well as the Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre. Registration for DanceMasters Weekend masterclasses by top dancers and choreographers begins on Wednesday, January 26, classes are only $17 each for the general public. To receive a DanceMasters Weekend brochure with more information about the companies and special events, call the University Box Office at 860-685-3355.

In addition to the Outside the Box Theater Series events Reno: Rebel Without a Pause (January 28) and Foreign AIDS (February 4), visitors can see Out of my Head: Performing Minds (April 22), a comedic revue by four Wesleyan graduates including Katie Buck ('99), Adam Koppel ('02), Catie Lazarus ('98), and Wendy Spero ('99), whose one-woman show Who's Your Daddy played on NPR and at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater last fall and was excerpted in The New York Times. Professor of Theater Ron Jenkins directs Caliban Remembers: A Balinese "Tempest" (February 25 & 26), featuring Balinese shadow puppets and guest artists I Nyoman Catra, Desak Mapa Suarti Laksmi, Nyoman Saptanyana and Candrawati Saptanyana.

The Crowell Concert Series culminates its 30th anniversary season with performances by two world-class musicians in the intimate Crowell Concert Hall. Bluesman Otis Taylor (February 25)—an accomplished singer as well as guitar, banjo and harmonica player—shares blues folklore and songs from his CDs Truth is Not Fiction and White African. Peter Serkin (April 29), the famed pianist known for his ability to breathe life and character into works spanning four centuries, performs works by Bull, Dowland, Byrd, Takemitsu, Messiaen and Bach.

Additions to this spring’s music performance include two special events–Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng and Band (January 29), and Yosuke Yamashita’s New York Trio (February 26), as well as legendary avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer Bill Dixon and MacArthur “genius” Fellowship recipient Ran Blake (February 12).

The Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery kicks off the spring season schedule with Sol LeWitt and Alvin Lucier: A Collaboration, on view from Saturday, January 22 through Sunday, February 27, 2005. World-renowned originator of conceptual art LeWitt presents a large-scale sculpture that extends the length of Zilkha’s Main Gallery. Lucier, longtime Wesleyan Professor of Music and a pioneering force behind the development and practice of experimental music, composes a new installation exploring the sound of an empty gallery at six points along LeWitt’s wall. The collaboration will be complemented by an additional Lucier exhibition, Empty Vessels, in Zilkha’s North Gallery, as well as a music colloquium (February 2) and a performance of Lucier’s influential work I am sitting in a room (February 5). All events are free and open to the public, reservations for I am sitting in a room may be made by calling the University Box Office on the day of the performance.

The Green Street Arts Center—a collaborative project of Wesleyan University, the North End Action Team (NEAT) and the City of Middletown—officially opened the doors to its new center at 51 Green Street on January 5 and will continue to offer classes for adults and children as well as its popular family workshops.

The CFA continues its free World Arts Family Series in February with Moving to the Beat: Rhythms and Dance of West Africa (February 5), Red Rooster: Welcoming the Lunar New Year (Feb 20) and The Annual Carnival Children’s Concert (February 26).

The Center for the Arts (www.wesleyan.edu/CFA) is an 11-building complex on the Wesleyan campus that houses the departments of art and art history, music, theater and dance. It serves as a cultural center for the region, the state and New England. The CFA includes the 400-seat Theater, the 260-seat Cinema, the World Music Hall (a non-Western performance space), the 414-seat Crowell Concert Hall and the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.

Ticket Information
Ticket prices for CFA events vary, many events are free. The CFA box office is located on the first floor of the Davenport Campus Center (222 Church Street, Middletown). For more information about the 2005 Spring Season, call (860) 685-3355, or visit our web site at www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Box Office Phone: (860) 685-3355
Box Office Fax: (860) 685-3935
E-mail: boxoffice@wesleyan.edu
Address: Wesleyan University Box Office, 222 Church Street, Middletown, CT 06459-0001

*Performers and schedule are subject to change.