Ashamu Studio to showcase Canadian modern dance troupe Feb. 19

The Canadian-based Danny Grossman Dance Company will perform contemporary works at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, in the Ashamu Dance Studio at Brown University. Formed more than 20 years ago, the ensemble has garnered critical acclaim throughout North America and Canada for its highly energetic performances.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Danny Grossman Dance Company, a Canadian-based ensemble, will present a concert of highly energetic and acrobatic contemporary dance on Friday, Feb. 19, at 8 p.m. in the Ashamu Dance Studio at Brown University.

High-voltage physicality has characterized the company for more than 20 years and has garnered the ensemble critical acclaim throughout the United States and Canada. Tours have taken the company to more than 17 countries, and the troupe has appeared at major dance festivals in North America, Germany, Italy and Israel.

The concert will showcase Grossman's signature work "Higher," a duet for man and woman that features a six-foot step ladder and is danced to the music of Ray Charles. "`Higher' launched the Danny Grossman Dance Company in the 1970s and remains a tour de force piece for the company," said Julie Strandberg, artist-in-residence and director of dance in the Department of Theatre, Speech and Dance. "The work celebrates control, sex, humor and athleticism." The performance will also feature the Brown Dance Extension, popularly known as RepCo, dancing "Endangered Species, " a haunting work that exposes the terrors of war.

The performance will cap a four-day residency at the University that will include lectures, workshops and master classes, Strandberg said. "The Grossman Company will be working with Brown dancers and drama students as well as with community dancers."

Company members will teach excerpts of a Grossman work and teach techniques developed by Martha Graham and Paul Taylor. The class will meet from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, Feb. 15-18, in the Ashamu Dance Studio.

The studio is located in the Catherine Bryan Dill Center for the Performing Arts, at 77 Waterman St. Concert tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for students. For more information, call 863-7596.