State of LA Danse 2012

The UL Lafayette School of Music and Performing Arts presented State of LA Danse November 8-10 at 7:30pm and November 11 at 2pm at the Ducrest-Gilfry Auditorium at Angelle Hall on the UL Lafayette campus.

The 2012 production of State of LA Danse featured a reconstruction of the second act of the great Romantic ballet Giselle, which was directed by faculty resident artist Marie Broussard. The ballet tells the story of a peasant girl named Giselle whose ghost, after her premature death from a broken heart, returns from the grave to protect Albrecht, her unfaithful lover. Performing in the principle roles of Giselle and Albrecht were Courtney Anne Dressner and Vlad Marculescu Constantin courtesy of the Montgomery Ballet. UL Lafayette Performing Arts major Brittanie Scroggs performed the role of Myrtha

Chard Gonzales and Matthew Couvillon premiered in the 2012 production of State of LA Danse. Chard Gonzales is currently on the dance faculty at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Artistic Director of Chard Gonzales Dance Theatre was in residence at UL Lafayette to create an original work for State of LA Danse entitled Love Thy Robot Self. Chard, who has performed and choreographed internationally, is the recipient of two Big Easy Classical Arts Awards.

Matthew Couvillon, the 2008 Outstanding Graduate from the UL Lafayette College of the Arts, returned to UL Lafayette earlier this fall to create a new work for the Performing Arts dancers set to a suite of songs by Bob Dylan. Matthew was recently seen in two productions of Cats and has toured Nationally/Internationally on the Broadway musical A Chorus Line.

Coordinator of Dance Kenneth L. Jenkins completed the evening with a whimsical dance created to music written for cartoon features from the 1930’s. Entitled Bug Dance this dance is a music visualization that captures the jaunty musical style of the score.