The University of South Carolina Dance Company, in collaboration with the USC Arts Institute, Carolina Ballet, CMFA and the Center for Dance Education, presents Carnival of the Animals, Oct. 3rd and 4th at the Koger Center for the Arts.

Performance times are 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3 and 3 p.m. Oct. 4. Tickets are $16 for the public; $14 for military, faculty and staff; and $10 for students and are available at the Koger Center Box Office, 803-777-5112. To charge by phone, call 803-251-2222.

The Oct. 3 evening performance and Oct. 4 afternoon performance will feature the USC Dance Company in two additional works: The Gams Jam, by Susan Anderson, artistic director of the USC Dance Company, and Oh, Boy, by guest choreographer Peter Powlus of Dance Augusta.

At the center of Carnival of the Animals is the famous 1886 musical score of the same title (“Le Carnavale des Animaux”) by French composer Camille Saint-Saens (1835 - 1921). The piece will be performed by students of the university’s School of Music and directed by graduate student Jorge Luis Uzcategui. 

Each movement depicts either one animal or a group of animals. Emerging poets will introduce the 14 movements with original poetry. Visual interpretations created by university art majors will be displayed during each movement. Also incorporated into each movement is poetry by humorist Ogden Nash, who wrote material specifically for the production in 1954. Victor Holtcamp, theater history instructor and dramaturg for the Department of Theatre and Dance, will recite Nash’s poetry.

“The foremost purpose of this ‘Le Carnavale des Animaux’ performance is to build upon the first extremely successful performance by way of introducing a dance component and to introduce its power to a wider and larger audience,” said Anderson.

Anderson, along with university dance instructors Anna Dragoni-Logan, Marissa Freeman and freshman Keith Mearns, and Mimi Worrell of Columbia’s Carolina Ballet, will choreograph the performance. Each piece is inspired by the choreography of longtime Columbia teacher Ann Brodie.

Carnival of the Animals is being produced by Anderson and the USC Dance Company with coordination and funding by the USC Arts Institute, and is presented in collaboration with The Carolina Ballet, the Columbia Music Festival Association, The Center for Dance Education and the university’s School of Music, English department and department of art.

For more information, call our main office at
777-7264.