ENTERTAINMENT
The University Daily KANSAN
February 28, 1984 Page 6
KANSAS CITY BALLET
Dance troupe brings the classical, comical
Members of the Kansas City Baller perform the zesty "A La Francia "
cax." choreographed by George Balanchine to music composed
in Hoch Auditorium.
By KEVIN LOLLAR Staff Reporter
Something for everyone — even people who are not afficiados of the ballet — that's what will be in store for those who attend the day performance of the Kansas City Ballet.
"This is a varied program," says Charla Jenkins, public relations director for the Performing Arts Committee. "It ranges from political to literary," heath, to the comic, to contemporary American life.
"IT HAS A LITTLE bit of everything. It's not the stereotypical picture of people in tutus dancing on their toes."
the New York Ballet. Bolender was a choreographer and principal dancer for the New York Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre
The Kansas City Ballet's 8 p.m. performance in Hochstett is the high point of the Umi-
FOR THE THURSDAY performance. the
After serving as ballet director of opera houses in Colne and Frankfurt, Germany, and director of the state opera house in Istanbul, Turkey. Bolender began reconstruction of the Kansas City Ballet in 1980.
'It has a little bit of everything. It's not the stereotypical picture of people in tutus dancing on their toes.'
The 20 dancers and seven company apprentices, selected by Bolender from the most prestigious companies and schools of dance in Europe, received recognition for their energy and exuberance.
versity Arts Festival that will draw to a close Sunday.
Charla Jenkins, Performing Arts Committee
The company performed before a sell-out crowd during the 1982 University Arts Festival.
"One good thing about the Kansas City Ballet," Jenkins says, "is that they are a young and energetic active company. They bring a new spirit to the whole genre of ballet."
Another good, even extraordinary, thing about the Kansas City Ballet is the company's artistic director, Todd Bolender, whose distinguished career spans five decades.
In 1947, George Balanchine, then director of Ballet Russe, asked Bolender to join him in forming the Ballet Society, which was to become
Bolender began his professional career with Ballet Caravan and then formed the American Concert Ballet with William Dollar.
LATER HE DANCED and choreographed for Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
company will present four dances covering a wide range of themes.
The program will open with Balanchine's "Fas De Duex," a series of dances to music by Alexander Glazunov. The ballet is a rehearsal of the show.
grapher's student days in Russia when he danced for the Imperial Ballet
The subject of "The Combat," featuring the choreography of Dollar and music of Raffaelio deBanfield, is the first Crusade. Based on Cantos III and XII of the 18th century, romance was a main theme in the story of the crusader Tancred, who slays his disgusted lover, Clorinda, in single combat.
"A Summer's Day," a comic dance choreographed by Bolender to music by Aaron Copland, is an interplay of jazz and baseball in which "brassy swagger replaces the familiar grace of ballet." Jenkins says.
The final dance, representing the joy and enthusiastic spirit of American life, will be Bolender's "Concerto in F," with music by George Gershwin.
Composer's unique electronic style brings 'ghostly' music to KU recital
Tickets are still available at the Murphy Hall Box Office. All seats are reserved. Public tickets are $10 and $8; tickets for KU students, children and senior citizens are $5 and $4
By PHIL ENGLISH
Staff Reporter
One of the leading West Coast avant-garde musicians will bring his unusual blend of electronic sounds — including "ghost" music — to the University of Kansas.
Morton Subotnick first earned fame in Los Angeles, where he developed a new sound in electronic music by combining taped and electronic sounds with live musical instruments.
"The Music of Morton Subotnick" be performed at 8 tonight in Swarthout Recital Hall. The composer and musician Dorothy Stone will feature four of Subotnick's works and will give a demonstration of his latest achievement, the "ghost" electronic technique.
THE "GHOST" TECHNIQUE involves sounds that are produced by live performers and then electronically manipulated.
Subnotkin began his experimental music career in the late '50s, when there was a great amount of excitement in the new medium of computers and music, he said.
One of Subtrick's original computer compositions was an unusual adaption of William Shakespeare's play "King Lear" in which he took the took the voice of the Lear and ran it through a computer. The finished product was a series of haunting sound effects in which the thunderous sounds were actually different vocal interpretations of Lear's voice.
Subtinck will speak at 2:30 today on "The Composer as a Studio Artist: A Third Person Model" in Swarthout Recital Hall as part of the Symposium of Contemporary Music.
THIS THIRD PERSON model Subotnik
speaks of is the composer as a musical network
of instruments.
of three individuals. Subnitnick's music is derived from his unique personal and musical philosophy that parallels the life of a butterfly.
When the butterfly is a caterpillar, the insect views the world while wandering aimlessly. Then when it goes into the cocoon, an adolescent watches in a place that is hidden from those outside cocoon.
When the butterfly emerges, the insect is an angel. This the time when a person begins to understand what his life is all about, he said.
He said the cocoon stage pertains to the mudden because the motives of the artist are emotional.
"A fine arts person is sincere about communicating something to an audience," he said. "As a result, there is minimal feedback from the audience."
"With almost all contemporary music," he said, "it would be to the benefit of the listener to assume that the composer had something to say."
But, although the music is meaningful, it doesn't mean anything, he said. The audience shouldn't try to understand the idea behind the music, but experience it.
BLOOM COUNTY
BY BERKE BREATHED
Greg Matthews, Australian author, candidly discusses his novel, "The Further Adventures of Huck Finn." Matthews, who now lives in Lawrence, said he wrote the sequel because he always enjoyed Twain's original work and because he
Robert B. WaddilIIUKANSAN
thought the novel's other sequels were not very good. He plans to stay in Lawrence until he finishes his next novel, "Heart of the Country," which is about the slaughter of the buffalo in the late 19th century.
Mark Twain's adventure continues
Huck Finn lives on in sequel by Australian
By JAMES HARDER Staff Reporter
Greg Matthews always thought Americans revered Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Fim" a little too much.
but that didn't stop the Australian author from writing a sequel, "The Further Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," to Twain's famous novel.
Although the very thought of a sequel to this literary classic by another author seems horrific and sacrilegious to some, Matthews didn't let the idea bother him.
"THE QUESTION FOR me was never why not, but why not," said the Lawyer's resident.
"I was always a lousy student anyway, and,
as an Australian, I was never subjected to
some old teacher telling me the Mississippi
was telling me the symbol of something or
another.
Matthews said "Huckleberry Finn" had always been one of his favorite books, but a good sequel had never been written — in fact, he wrote "Twain. So, he decided to give one for him."
Matthews said he also needed money quickly. Therefore, he completed the book in three weeks.
AFTER THE BOOK'S RELEASE in September of last year, "The Further Adventures" rose on several best-selling lists, including Times and the Chicago Tribute lists.
Fortunately for Matthews, the sequel has
Matthews said reviewers who disliked his book were applauded by the idea of a sequel to Twain's monumental adventure and not by the writing itself.
been well-received. The Los Angeles Times called "The Further Adventures" a tribute to Twain's work. The Christian Science Monitor found the new book occasionally more enjoyable than the original.
The plot of "The Further Adventures" begins around 1848, when Twain concluded the first novel. Huck has been unjustly accused of murder and decides to escape the conviction by taking off to California to capitalize on the gold rush.
in *Twinna*'s book, *Matthews' sequel* is fast-paced and attentive to important themes of racism, including the legacy of slavery.
"I wanted to say black is as good as white," he said.
In the book, Matthews attempted to remain "true to the tone" of Twain's writing by keeping the dialects similar but more readable
MATTHEWS SAID HE took painstaking steps to develop Jim, Huck's sidekick, from a bumbling ex-slave to an independent, free man.
At one point in the novel, Huck and Jim come across a traveling church with seven choir sisters who act as prostitutes in the evening hours.
The author also used the story as a vehicle to satirize religion.
Matthews originally moved to Lawrence in May of 1983 to write his second novel on Quantrill's Raid. However, after studying the life of William Quantrell, a pro-slavery rebel, Matthews decided he could not write a book about Quantrill. He said he he had no sympathy for him.
HE IS NO WRITING “Heart of the Country,” novel on the slaughter of the buffalo in the late 19th century. However, this novel is better known as “The Further Adventures,” Matthews said.
The 34-year-old author said he enjoyed living in Lawrence because the city had few
"Lawrence is a nice town. I only go out for movies and beer," he said. "Of course, I have friends here, but they only go out for movies and beer, too."
Matthews said he would probably not stay in Lawrence after completing "Heart of the Country." He said he wanted to avoid the rut being tagged a "western writer."
But he does plan on staying in America to write a modern American drama.