The University of Lynchburg’s theatre department will present two events over the next few weeks: a performance by Dance Works and the annual Curtain Up Songwriters Workshop concert. Both events are free and open to the public.
Dance Works, the University’s dance troupe, will perform its Spring Dance Concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, April 26 and 27, in Dillard Fine Arts Center’s Hailey Theatre.
The concert will include 13 dance numbers performed in a wide variety of styles: jazz, modern, ballet, pointe, and ballroom. Curtain Call, Lynchburg’s musical theater ensemble, will sing several songs during the event.
The dance numbers have been choreographed by faculty, students, and guest artist Abby Mann Owen. Owen, a local choreographer and dance teacher, choreographed “Jet Set,” from the musical drama “Catch Me If You Can,” for the concert. The piece will feature 10 of Dance Works’ 16 members.
“This is the second year we’ve been able to bring in a guest choreographer,” said Loretta Wittman, Dance Works’ director and associate professor of theatre. “We think it’s good for students to have an opportunity to work with different choreographers.
“It helps grow their work.”
The Curtain Up Songwriters Workshop concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 3, in Hailey Theatre. The event is the culmination of an annual partnership between Lynchburg’s musical theater students and emerging New York City composers and lyricists.
In the spring, students are paired with professional composers and lyricists, who work with the students — in person or online — to write an original song. The songs are performed at an annual concert.
This year, three students — Josiah Randles ’25, Syd Lawrence ’24, and Madison Bakalov ’24 — worked with songwriters on songs they will perform solo at the concert. Songs for the ensemble were written by James Ballard, the workshop’s artistic director, and his writing partner, Seth Christenfeld.
Randles, a double major in criminology and theatre from Prince George, Virginia, worked with songwriter RJ Christian on a song titled “Monster Fragment.” Randles describes it as a “Stephen Sondheim-type-style” song “with a Jekyll and Hyde feeling.”
They added, “It’s about the experience of living with borderline personality disorder. I’ve taken my experiences, written them all down, and [we] sat down and discussed all of it to create this beautiful song.
“This is the first time I’m doing something like this and I’m very excited to share this story.”
Working with a professional songwriter on an original song was a first-time experience for Bakalov, too. Her song, “Butterfly Girl,” is about her grandmothers.
“I have a butterfly tattoo. I got it for my maternal and paternal grandmothers and it means a lot to me,” the Spotsylvania County, Virginia, resident said. “I grew up with them very involved in my life and I wanted a song to dedicate to them.
“I also have a lot of people call me the ‘butterfly girl’ because of my tattoo and the butterfly earrings I wear.”
Bakalov, a theatre major, added that it was an “amazing” and “surreal” experience and an opportunity most college students don’t have.
“I’ve learned so much about the writing process and have a newfound respect for people who do this all the time,” she said. “It’s just crazy to see the song slowly come together.”
Wittman believes Lynchburg’s songwriters workshop is the only collaboration of its kind between college students and professional New York lyricists and composers. “We’re the only people I’ve heard of in the six or seven years we’ve done this,” she said, adding that the partnership has yielded 16 to 18 new songs over the past several years.
Because the songs are brand new, students have the opportunity to make them their own. “Most of the time, if you’re going to sing ‘Burn’ from ‘Hamilton,’ you can go on YouTube and listen to hundreds of people singing it,” Wittman said.
“This will be the first time. They will have to put their spin on this particular song. It’s wonderful, exciting and a little scary, and out of their comfort zones to be given a piece of music that they have to put their own imprint on. It’s an excellent opportunity.”
For more information about the upcoming concerts, contact Wittman at wittman_l@lynchburg.edu.
