The Koresh Dance Company will perform Tuesday night at Lee Hall Auditorium officially opening the 2007-08 Lyceum Series at MSU.The company, from Philadelphia, Penn., will bring eight to 10 dancers who will blend ballet, modern and jazz dance. They will perform in the Lee Hall Auditorium.
Israeli-born Ronen Koresh choreographs the show. He founded the Koresh Dance Company in 1991.
“The best part of me is that I love what I do. I live it. I sleep with it. It is what I am,” Koresh says in a biography on www.koreshdance.org.
The dancers of the company include the assistant artistic director Melissa Rector, Eric Bean Jr., Fang-Ju Chou Gant, Jessica Daley, Micah Geyer, Alexandra Gherchman, Jae Hoon Lim, Michael Velez and Alexis Viator.
“It might go two hours,” said Jana Price, a student worker at the office of the Humphrey Coliseum manager. “They have two acts. We’re not really sure how long each of them will last.”
The mission of the Koresh Dance Company is to provide performances around the U.S., to instruct new dance performers and choreographers, and to provide community outreach opportunities, according to the dance company’s biography.
“We expect a real good crowd pleaser, something that Starkville rarely sees. We chose Koresh because of that,” Russell Huntly, a graduate student at the Humphrey Coliseum, said.
Huntly said that the group is a dance company and they offer a place to learn for new students of dance.
Koresh also founded the Koresh School of Dance in 1993 in Philadelphia.
The school teaches belly dancing, Pilates, tap, afro-modern, ballet, jazz, modern and hip-hop classes to adults.
It also provides hip-hop, ballet, jazz, tap, tumbling, Mommy and Me, Enchanted dance and pre-school classes to children ages two to 16.
The school offers 68 dance classes per week on average.
About 800 dance students, from toddlers to seniors, attend the school each week.
In years past the series brought Ailey II and Hubbard Street 2 to perform dance pieces, Price said.
“We always try to have a dance company to bring to our program,” Price said.
The Lyceum Series will also bring Gypsy this fall and three other performances in the spring.
A committee of students, faculty and staff who review information that agencies send selects events chosen for the Lyceum Series.
“We’ve sold a lot of tickets, a lot of season tickets. I think for the whole program we’re going to have a good turn-out this year,” Price said.
Tickets for the Koresh Dance Company performance are free for MSU students with a valid school ID Tickets for adults will be $15, $10 for senior citizens and $8 for children ages 3 to 12.
Season tickets can be purchased for $50 for all the events in the Lyceum Series and the MSU Faculty Chamber Series.