Garth Fagan

Garth Fagan, Tony award-winning choreographer of “The Lion King” and founder/artistic director of internationally acclaimed Garth Fagan Dance, is at the center of the UWM Dance Department’s 2009-10 season, “Race and Identity.”

Fagan visits Milwaukee in November, January and June to re-create one of his signature works, “From Before,” with UWM dancers, giving UWM students the opportunity to work directly with him.

Fagan speaks on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2:30-4 p.m., in the Peck School of the Arts Center Lecture Hall. The talk is free and open to the public.

Ed Burgess, chair of the Dance Department, describes Fagan as “one of the great iconoclasts” of American contemporary dance and theatre.

“His regularly acclaimed New York seasons and his company’s international reputation, along with his Tony Award for choreographing ‘The Lion King,’ make him one of the most respected and honored guest artists we have had the good fortune to host in our department,” says Burgess.

“As our entire season is devoted to ‘Race and Identity,’ I have no doubt that Mr. Fagan’s presence will prove inspiring to our investigation of this theme and in our exploring the array of realities, beliefs and influences that impact our art-making and our lives,” Burgess continues.

A sneak preview of “From Before” is planned in January. The final work will be part of the Summerdances 2010 concert series.

Also related to the “Race and Identity” theme is a performance by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for Alverno College’s “Alverno Presents” series on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010.

Educational and entertainment programming focused on the theme of “Race and Identity” is also being explored with other community partners.

The reconstruction of Garth Fagan’s “From Before,” supervised by Garth Fagan and Natalie Rogers-Cropper, is made possible by American Masterpieces: Dance, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, which is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts with DanceUSA.