Bryn Mawr's 2007-08 Performing Arts Series
Features Artists Bridging Cultures and Genres

Thaddeus Phillips

The Bryn Mawr College 2007-08 Performing Arts Series, themed "Bridging Worlds — Crossing Boundaries" presents artists whose work stretches across conventional genres by bringing together diverse styles, media and cultures to create one-of-a-kind performances.

"We wanted to highlight world-class artists who mix old with new, or traditional with contemporary, and who show how people from different cultures are linked by universal urges," said Lisa Kraus, coordinator of the Performing Arts Series. "For instance, stamping and tapping rhythms we see in all cultures. India Jazz Suites in our series shows this, juxtaposing Indian Kathak and American tap dance. Or there's the universal theme of leaving traditional village life for a big blazing city as told by the brilliant theater artist Thaddeus Phillips in ¡El Conquistador!”

The five events in this unique 2007-08 roster include a scintillating gypsy jazz quintet, The Hot Club of San Francisco, in Silent Surrealism, with the ensemble accompanying rarely seen 1920s surrealist films. Chinese-American choreographer Yin Mei will present Nomad: The River, a multimedia dance theater performance plumbing her experiences as a child during China 's Cultural Revolution and her subsequent path as an intercultural artist in America.  Thaddeus Phillips does a star turn in his comedic solo ¡El Conquistador! about a peasant who flees his war-ravaged village to become a soap opera star but instead finds a job as the doorman of a big-city hotel.  East meets West in India Jazz Suites as Emmy-winning American tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith joins Chitresh Das, a master of the North Indian classical dance form kathak. And Il Fondamento, the 17-member early music ensemble, will fill Thomas Great Hall with the sonorities of period instruments in a program highlighting musical finds from all across Europe.

Chitresh Das

The Hot Club of San Francisco —
Silent Surrealism
Saturday, Sept. 15, 8 p.m., in Goodhart Hall

Yin Mei's  Nomad: the River
Friday, Sept. 28, 8 p.m.,  in Goodhart Hall

Thaddeus Phillips —
¡El Conquistador!
Friday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7 and 9:30 p.m., in Goodhart Hall

India Jazz Suites
Friday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m., in Goodhart Hall

Il Fondamento
Friday, March 28, 8 p.m., in Thomas Great Hall

Tickets to individual events in the Performing Arts Series are $18 for the general public, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, $5 for children 12 and under, and free for Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore College students, faculty and staff. Subscription packages offer discounts, mix-and-match ticket flexibility and priority seating.  For tickets and further information, call the Office for the Arts at 610-526-5210 or visit the Web site at www.brynmawr.edu/artsoffice.

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