April 14, 1998 Department of Dance Contact Ruth Heller (541) 346-3387 or John R. Crosiar 346-3135 EUGENE--The University of Oregon Department of Dance will present a concert, "Dance and the Dynamic Duo," to celebrate the first day of National Dance Week at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 26. The free concert will be held at the Dougherty Dance Theatre in Gerlinger Annex, 1484 University St. on the UO campus. Duo pianists Candace Syman-Degler and Werner Meyn and choreographers Janet Descutner and Jennifer Knight Dills have combined their talents to produce this concert of music and dance. Two suites are featured: Porgy and Bess Fantasy for Two Pianos composed by George Gershwin and arranged by Percy Grainger; and Sonata for Two Pianos, by Claude Bolling. Bassist Richard Meyn and percussionist Dennis Caffey will perform the Bolling work with Syman-Degler and Meyn. The rhythm tap choreography for the Bolling sonata is by Descutner, a UO dance professor, performing with Erin Kment, Tara Papandrew and India Syman-Degler. Descutner also will perform, in improvisatory style, Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm." In addition, Descutner has organized a group of tappers to perform the "national tap dance," the shim-sham, to a duo piano rendition of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine." Other music performed will include works by Johann Strauss, Cole Porter, Percy Grainger and the Scaramouche Suite by Darius Milhaud. The "Modere" section of the Milhaud suite features a modern dance quintet choreographed by Knight Dills, a graduate teaching fellow in the Department of Dance. UO dancers Cari Cunningham, Sharon Raffony, Laura Raucher, Shanan Martin and Marianne Herb will perform the quintet. Knight Dills also will perform improvisations on selected themes in the Porgy and Bess Suite. The Dougherty Dance Theatre is wheelchair accessible. For further information, call (541) 346-3386. To confirm performance times, call GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 2533, for a 24-hour taped message about dance and other School of Music events. -30- #P-2179/A&E