OU presents 'The Elements of SummerDance'

Performances will be at 8 p.m. June 29-30 and at 3 p.m. July 1 in historic Holmberg Hall in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center in the OU Arts District.

Choreography will be by Mary Margaret Holt, director of the OU School of Dance and artistic director of Oklahoma Festival Ballet, Jeremy Lindberg, associate professor of ballet and Austin Hartel, associate professor of modern dance and artistic director of Contemporary Dance Oklahoma, OU’s resident modern dance company.

“Gloriana,” choreographed by Lindberg, will open the program with a fairytale treat of nobles dancing by the river’s edge while a concert is played on royal barges for the monarch.

Lindberg said selections from Handel’s Water Music Suite inspired the ballet to be an antique fantasy on the idea of the Royal Jubilee.

A second ballet by Lindberg, “Before Grief Slumbers,” explores the feelings of loss, grief or joy and the perceived moods in nature.

“Le Mistral,” a new ballet choreographed by Holt, was inspired by the winds that sweep down from the Alps and through France each winter.

“The winds can be monotonous and frightening in their intensity,” Holt said, “They ultimately cleanse the air and finally bring a soothing calm."

Hartel will present two new modern dance works, one choreographed to the Ted Nugent song “Stranglehold,” and a second comedic dance involving the elements of earth, wind and water.