Kelly CopeVariable Velocity, a San Luis Obispo-area performance group, will be whirling audiences off their feet tomorrow through the weekend at 8 p.m. in the Spanos Theatre on campus with their performance entitled “From the Mundane to the Sublime.”
Directed by Diana Stanton, a Cal Poly dance professor and Jude Clark Warnisher, the group strives for stirring performances within the alternative contemporary dance genre.
According to the group’s Web site, Variable Velocity presents a “powerful performance that bursts at the seams with raw athleticism, emotional immediacy, and kinetic wit. The choreography challenges the intellect, expands the aesthetic norms of dance, and enlivens the stage with unique movement invention.”
Stanton categorizes the show as “a modern dance performance,” with “eight pieces unified in theme, bringing the everyday world to a very artistic performance,” she said.
Incorporated into the night’s pieces will be film, live music, slides, guest artists from Southern California and live vocals from Inga Swearingen, a 2002 music graduate from Cal Poly.
Stanton also added that a humor element will also be apparent.
“There will be lots of surprises, for sure,” she said.
The group officially got its start in January 2001, but Stanton and Warnisher had already been choreographing dances for shows outside the San Luis Obispo area. Seeking to escape the “commercial” dance popular in the county, they formed Variable Velocity.
Originally, the company started with a small group, but has now grown to about 14 members, with about 20 to 25 people involved in the final production of the show. The group also includes some current Cal Poly students and alumni.
Tickets for the performance are $20 for adults and $14 for students, on sale now at the PAC ticket office.