Dance Artist Liz Lerman Inaugurates This Year's UH Manoa Distinguished Lecture Series

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Gregg Lizenbery, (808) 956-7677
Department of Theatre & Dance
David Baker, (808) 956-9405
Department of English (Distinguished Lecture Series)
Posted: Oct 4, 2004

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Distinguished Lecture Series opens its 2004-2005 season with a lecture presentation and classroom and community workshops featuring world-renowned performance artist Liz Lerman, Founding Artistic Director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.

Lerman will appear at the lecture series public presentation at 5 p.m., Friday, Oct. 15, at UH Mānoa‘s Earle Ernst Lab Theatre. Her address is entitled "Breaking Rules, Making Rules: Art in a Democratic Society," and will examine the theory and practice of making art that crosses boundaries between concert and community.

The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, described as one of the only multi-generational dance companies in the country, was in residence in Honolulu in 2003 and performed Still Crossing at Windward Community College with members of the Hawaiʻi dance community. Her appearance on campus this year is sponsored by the UH Mānoa Department of Theatre and Dance.

"We are delighted to have someone of Ms. Lerman‘s caliber as a resource for our students and the university community," said Gregg Lizenbery, Director of Dance. "Arrangements have also been made for her to teach workshops in the community," he added, "and she has also created a special tribute for ʻCelebrate the Arts, 2004,‘ the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Arts Education‘s annual production on Oct. 16 at Hawaiʻi Theatre honoring graphic artist Clarence Lee."

Over the last three decades, Lerman has received worldwide recognition for her work with the Dance Exchange and as a solo artist. In 2002, she received a MacArthur "Genius Grant" fellowship for her visionary work. Additional information may be found at www.danceexchange.org/.

The October lecture will be the first of four such presentations at UH Mānoa during the academic year. Other speakers scheduled to appear in the series are:

Witi Ihimaera, University of Auckland playwright, screenwriter, author of Whale Rider, Nights in the Garden of Spain, The Uncle‘s Story, and other works. Ihimaera‘s appearance in November is co-sponsored by the UH Mānoa Departments of English and Geography and Honolulu Weekly.

Jack Horner, Montana State University paleontologist, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, author of Digging Up Tyrannosaurus Rex, A Dinosaur Grows Up, and other books, and technical adviser to Jurassic Park and its sequels. Horner‘s visit in January 2005 is co-sponsored by the UH Mānoa Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

John Searle, philosopher, author of Speech Acts, Intentionality, Consciousness and Language, and Mind, Language and Society. He will speak under the auspices of the UH Mānoa Departments of Philosophy and Educational Foundations.