Solo Dance Artist Margie Gillis to Perform at UB as Part of KeyBank Dance Series

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The UB Center for the Arts will continue the 2000-01 KeyBank Dance Series with a performance by solo dance artist Margie Gillis at 8 p.m. on Feb. 23 in the Mainstage Theatre of the Center for the Arts on the North Campus.

An internationally acclaimed artist, Gillis has performed her solo dance concerts throughout the world for two decades. As choreographer and performer of more than 80 solo dance works, she has earned rave reviews for her personal, emotional and dramatic portrayals of human hopes, fears, joys and anguish.

A native of Montreal and the eldest daughter of two Olympic skiers, in 1979 Gillis introduced modern dance to China as the first performer, teacher and lecturer in the art since the Revolution. Her extensive touring has taken her throughout India, Europe, the Middle East, and South and North America.

She has been named Cultural Ambassador for both Canada and Québec, and in January 1988 she became the first modern dancer appointed to the Order of Canada for her "outstanding abilities as a solo performer and choreographer."

Gillis has appeared with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens as "Miss Lucy" in James Kudelka's "Dracula." She performed with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Christopher Gillis' "Andalusian Green" and "Icarus at Night." She was in the original cast in Martha Clarke's "The Garden of Earthly Delights" and the currently touring "Vers la Flamme." She also has been a guest performer with the National Ballet of Canada, Momix, Bruce Wood Dance Company, Faustworks Mask Theater, Stephanie Ballard & Dancers and the Dons des Étoiles and several other ballet galas from Texas to Hungary to Athens, as well as with the Québec Symphony and the Montreal Symphony. She currently is part of the Jessye Norman tour Sacred Ellington.

Of her approach to her work, Gillis says, "I dance from the inside out, then I work on the technical methods of body alignment and form. I try to strike a universal chord with my characterizations and I try, most of all, to dance with integrity, and to use dance as a kind of catharsis to express joy, sorrow, uncertainty. The body has a knowledge all of its own, and I try to use that knowledge in an intelligent manner, combining physicality and spirituality."

Tickets for Margie Gillis are $18, $15, and $9 for the general public and $7 for UB students. Discount coupons are available at all area KeyBank locations. Tickets are available from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all TicketMaster locations, including Kaufmann's and Movies Plus. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada 416-870-8000. For more information call 645-ARTS. For Group Sales, call 645-6771.