C.W. Post Dance Faculty to Host Benefit Performance on September 12

Great music, great performances, great friends and a great cause will be on the program when C.W. Post dance faculty, friends and alumni come together on stage Friday, September 12, 2008 for a benefit concert to raise money for the Post Concert Dance Company, the resident dance company of the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance. The benefit will be held at 8 p.m. in Tilles Center for the Performing Arts on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

Members of the acclaimed dance faculty at C.W. Post (Cara Gargano, Cheryl Halliburton, Davyd Suber and Nancy Brier) and department accompanists (John Ward and Sewaa Folee) will perform. The dance faculty will be joined by the Department of Music faculty members Stephanie Watt (in a tango performance) and Talib Kibwe, known in the world of jazz music as TK Blue, (in a musical performance). Other guest artists will include Karen Arceneaux, founder and artistic director of Genesis Dance Company as well as choreographers Carl Paris and David Guggino. In addition, Immersion Dance Company, a company created by C.W. Post Dance Program alumni (Kati-Ashworth, Jillian Denis, Michelle Durante, Michelle Gilligan and Carla Reitano) will return to C.W. Post following their successful European tour to join the faculty in performance.

The funds raised from the concert will supplement the dance program budget used for students, including costumes and trips. The troupe will travel to the American College Dance Festival later this year and will be visited by Pilobolus for a residency arranged by Elliott Sroka of Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. The money raised will help supplement the costs associated with these endeavors.

“It’s heartening to see the support of the dance program’s extended family,” said Cheryl Halliburton-Beatty, a professor of dance and the coordinator of the benefit. “This is our third benefit and people are once again volunteering to help us. We’re all so touched that so many people are returning and others are offering to help by donating their time, energy and artistry.”

Tilles Center is located on the C.W. Post Campus at 720 Northern Boulevard (Route 25A) in Brookville, New York. Tickets are $25 for general admission; $10 for students with valid LIU I.D., and $10 for senior citizens. Tickets can be ordered by phone at (516) 299-3100 or (212) 307-7171; online at www.tillescenter.org or www.ticketmaster.com. (There is a per-ticket fee assessed for all tickets ordered by Internet or phone.) Tickets are also available at Tilles Center’s Box Office, Monday through Friday from 1 to 6 p.m. (Saturday hours, also from 1 to 6 p.m., begin September 1.) No refunds or exchanges.

Posted: August 4, 2008