The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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November 6, 2009

Dance company to perform

By Courtney D. Clark

The only professional touring dance company in the history of West Virginia will take to the stage in its own state Sunday.

In its 32nd season, the West Virginia Dance Company will perform its annual fall concert at the Woodrow Wilson High School auditorium.

At 3 p.m., the modern company will execute entertaining pieces to communicate ideas.

“With modern dance, it’s a thought-provoking work,” WVDC touring director and dancer Donald Laney said.

“We ask for active members of the audience and we want to entertain,” Laney continued, “but we also strive to provoke thought.”

The director compares watching the performance to looking at a visual art piece.

“There is a pretty picture, but also a deeper meaning. It’s not just ‘look at how high I can kick my leg,’” he said, laughing.

Toneta Akers-Toler, founder and co-director of the company, says the group has practiced six days a week for six weeks in preparation for the concert and the hour-long educational show it performed each day this week in Raleigh County schools.

“We’re hoping to bring different elements together to create a good atmosphere of the arts in our area,” she said.

The company has also invited Shady Spring High School’s jazz ensemble to play in the lobby before the show and during intermission, in addition to exhibiting art work from local high school students.

Laney said Sunday’s concert will be performed by six full-time and two former WVDC dancers.

“There will be a premier performance tomorrow of a piece by Gerri Houlihan,” Moore said.

“The famous modern piece is titled ‘4x4,’” he explained. “We have the chance to perform it through an American Masterpiece grant through the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.”

According to Moore, the show is an exhibition of Houlihan’s work, along with a new piece created by Akers-Toler.

The performance serves as a fundraiser for the West Virginia Dance Company.

“We are a nonprofit organization, so everything is tax-deductible,” Moore said. “But we think of it more as a chance for our community and hometown to see what we’ve been working on and celebrate the new season by performing here in Beckley.”

Tickets can be purchased at Sitting Pretty on Johnstown Road.

The cost is $10 for adults, $8 for students and $5 for children 12 and under.

For additional information, call Akers-Toler at 304-252-0030 or visit the company’s Web site at www.wvdanceco. com.

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