Spring Dance Concert Conservatory Dance Company

Performance Dates

April 19 - 23, 2023

Location

PNC Theatre

In the Pittsburgh Playhouse
350 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Click here for Google Maps

Performance Times
Wednesday - Saturday 7:30pm, Saturday - Sunday 2:00pm

Ticket Price Range
$23 - $55

The performance on Saturday, April 22nd at 7:30PM will be audio described

The Conservatory Dance Company presents a concert featuring works by Camille A. Brown, Bob Fosse, Susan Stowe, and Twyla Tharp. 

Camille A. Brown

Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black female choreographer, who is reclaiming the cultural narratives of African American identity. Her bold work taps into both ancestral stories and contemporary culture to capture a range of deeply personal experiences. Ms. Brown has received numerous honors including a Guggenheim Award, Bessie Award, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, a Doris Duke Artist Award, a Dance Magazine award, a United States Artists Award, 2 Audelco Awards, 5 Princess Grace Awards, and a New York City Center Award. She has received 3 Tony nominations, 3 Drama Desk nominations, 2 Outer Critics Circle nominations, a Drama League nomination, a Chita Rivera nomination, and 3 Lortel nominations for her work in Theater. She is an Emerson Collective fellow, a TED fellow and the recipient of a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, among others.  She is the 2021 Distinguished Artist, presented by The International Society for the Performing Arts. Other honors include the 2020 Dance Magazine Award recipient and 2020 Obie Award Winner for Sustained Excellence in Choreography. Learn more on her website.

Bob Fosse

Bob Fosse (born June 23, 1927, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.—died September 23, 1987, Washington, D.C.) is an American dancer, choreographer, and director who revolutionized musicals with his distinct style of dance—including his frequent use of props, signature moves, and provocative steps—and was well known for eschewing light comedic story lines for darker and more-introspective plots. He began on the stage, where he worked on such notable productions as Sweet Charity (1966–67; 1986–87) and Chicago (1975–77), and later had a successful, though brief, film career, which was highlighted by Cabaret (1972).

Susan Stowe

Susan Stowe: ​​Known for her vibrant performance quality, clean balletic lines, and ability to step into a role on a moment’s notice, Ms. Stowe’s 15-year professional career began with the Milwaukee Ballet Company under the direction of former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, Ted Kivitt.  Ms. Stowe’s performance career also included Burklyn Ballet Theatre, BalletMet, Ballet Austin, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.  Under the artistic direction of former New York City Ballet leading ballerina, Patricia Wilde, Ms. Stowe performed many of George Balanchine’s masterworks, including: Allegro Brillante, Ballet Imperial, Concerto Barocco, La Sonnambula, Raymonda Variations, Serenade, Square Dance, Theme and Variations, Western Symphony, and Who Cares?  Among her most notable performances in other ballets were leading roles in Choo San Goh’s Unknown Territory, The Nutcracker, Paquita, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs, and Sir Kenneth Macmillan’s Elite Syncopations. In August of 1995, Ms. Stowe joined the dance faculty of Point Park College (now University).  She served as a master teacher for the West Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts from 1995-1998 and was subsequently appointed artistic director of Point Park’s International Summer Dance program in 1998.  Ms. Stowe served as chair of the Department of Dance and associate artistic director of the Conservatory Dance Company from 2004-2014, leading the planning and construction of Point Park’s renowned George Rowland White Performance Center and accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Dance.  In September of 2012, Ms. Stowe was promoted to the rank of professor in the Department of Dance where she continues to teach ballet technique, pointe and variations, dance composition, and ballet repertoire, in addition to staging and rehearsing repertoire for the Conservatory Dance Company.  Ms. Stowe returned to the chair position in the fall of 2022.

Twyla Tharp

Since graduating from Barnard College in 1963, Ms. Tharp has choreographed more than one hundred sixty works: one hundred twenty-nine dances, twelve television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows and two figure skating routines.  She received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, nineteen honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President's Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor.  Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship.  She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

In 1965, Ms. Tharp founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance.  Her dances are known for creativity, wit and technical precision coupled with a streetwise nonchalance.  By combining different forms of movement – such as jazz, ballet, boxing and inventions of her own making – Ms. Tharp’s work expands the boundaries of ballet and modern dance.  

In addition to choreographing for her own company, she has created dances for The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Boston Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet.  Today, ballet and dance companies around the world continue to perform Ms. Tharp’s works.

In 1992, Ms. Tharp published her autobiography PUSH COMES TO SHOVE. She went on to write THE CREATIVE HABIT: Learn it and Use it for Life, followed by THE COLLABORATIVE HABIT: Life Lessons for Working Together. In 2019, her fourth book was published, Keep It Moving: Lessons for the Rest of Your Life.

Today, Ms. Tharp continues to create.

Learn more about her career on her website