WEDNESDAY,JULY9,2003
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN -13
DANCE
Bowery Dancers not seeking illustrious Broadway stages
By Jennifer Wellington
jwellington@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Zach Straus/Kansan
Unlike most dancers, Ellie Goudie-Averill has no plans to accomplish her dreams on the stages of New York.
Instead, the Topeka senior and six other University of Kansas dancers formed the Lawrence-based Bowery Dancers, a dance troupe that combines various dances such as the minuet, ballet and Irish step dances and performs throughout Kansas.
Kathleen O'Connor, Topeka senior, and Brandy Green, Lee's Summit graduate, engage mock celebration as part of a humor piece about football during their Bowyer Dancers concert in South Park, 12th and Massachusetts streets. The concert, held Saturday evening, showcased original dances and was free to the public.
Together, the members, who met through the University Dance Company wanted to create an interest in dance throughout the Midwest, Goudie-Averill said.
The members, two University graduates and five KU students, formed their
troupe to increase dance opportunities in Lawrence. Goudie-Averill said the group planned to forgo New York and other major cities to stay in the Midwest.
"All of us are from Kansas," she said. "We all have family we'd like to stay close to."
A dancer since she was five, Goudie-Averill said she wanted to inspire other children through the troupe. Her passion for dancing was something she wanted to rub off on children, she said.
Joan Stone, University dance instructor, said the Midwest needed the Bowery Dancers.
"When they realize that there's something out there to participate in, that dance is a combination of body, of mind, of creativity, that's when I know I've done something," she said.
Stone said the reason dancing wasn't as popular in the Midwest as it is on the East and West Coasts was because people lived farther apart.
"In New York, you have people in a concentrated area that are interested in dancing and the arts," she said. "In the Midwest, there are fewer people who live farther apart."
Stone, who saw the Bowyer Dancers
perform in Salina last month, said she thought the students had a good chance at being successful with their troupe.
"I think it's a wonderful idea," she said. "They're following the history of past traveling dance troupes."
History is alive throughout the newly established dance troupe.
The name "Bowery" originated from the canopy of tree branches, or boughs, built to protect dancers performing outdoors one hundred years ago.
Last Saturday, the dancers performed the first of four performances in South Park, 1141 Massachusetts St. Future South Park performances will be July 12 and 19, and Aug.2.
In addition, the dancers combine new and old styles of dance, modernizing the minuet and traditional ballet styles.
Other members of the Bowery Dancers include Brandy Green, Lee's Summit, Mo., graduate; Beau Hancock, Hugoton senior; Michael Ingle, Topeka senior; Kathleen O'Connor, Topeka senior; Jeffrey Potter, Great Bend senior; and Christine Scott, Topeka graduate.
Edited by Amy Kelly
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