Choreographer/Dancer Sarah Jabar
Graduating from Gustavus in May didn’t mean that choreographer/dancer Sarah Jabar would be leaving dance behind as she ventured into the “real world.” Quite the opposite, the 2010 graduate and Plymouth native, with majors in psychology and dance, has found her way into Minnesota’s thriving dance and theatre community and the opportunity to continue to build on the skills she developed as part of Gustavus’ very successful dance program. This summer she will be found dancing at the Fringe Festival (August 5-15) and at the Bedlam Theatre (August 19-21).
As part of the annual Metro-wide Fringe Festival running August 5-15, Sarah Jabar will be dancing in a work choreographed by Gustavus Adjunct Instructor in Dance Jeffrey Peterson and a second work by Choreographer Rebecca Katz-Hartwood, as part of a dance concert to be performed at Minneapolis’ historic Southern Theatre (1420 Washington Avenue South). The details of the performance and a more complete schedule for all Fringe Festival events is available at the festival website: www.fringefestival.org.
On August 19, Sarah will be one of ten Metro-area choreographers whose work will be featured as Principles of Pulse: An Evening of Rhythm-based Choreography opens at the Bedlam Theatre (1501 6th Street South, Minneapolis). With ten choreographers boasting different backgrounds and experiences, Principles of Pulse promises to offer a wide range of perspectives on dance inspired by rhythm and other jazz-related concepts such as improvisation, call and response. Jabar’s work, Break Free, is a work for six dancers. It is a piece she choreographed for the Gustavus 2010 Spring Dance Concert, Time To Soar, and includes music by Abby Lappen, Cralas Bruni and Os Mutantos. Listed among the other choreographers in the show are (once again) Adjunct Instructor in Dance Jeffrey Peterson along with former Gustavus Visiting Instructor in Dance Cynthia Gutierrez-Garner.
As planned by the organizers, “with choreographer experiences ranging from students (and graduates) of local and national college dance programs, to teaching jazz in such settings, to performing with world-renowned companies such as JAZZDANCE and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and to choreographing on companies such as Zenon Dance, Principles of Pulse promises to offer a nicely-varied sampling of experience and outlook….diverse, collaborative, musical, and dynamic, rhythm provides us with an ever-versatile way to explore the body’s desire to move.” And jazz is only a beginning which includes hip hop, break dancing, rhythm tap and Afro-Cuban jazz fusions.
Principles of Pulse: An Evening of Rhythm-based Choreography, including Sarah Jabar’s Break Free, opens at the Bedlam Theatre on August 19 and runs through August 21 with performances nightly at 8:00. Tickets can be ordered and additional information obtained at the Bedlam Theatre website at www.bedlamtheatre.org.