Leandro Soto to present ritual dance performance

The event, focusing on CUBA, is "E-MOTIONS," a ritual performance in dance conceived, directed and performed by Soto. Based on the conceptual notion of the dancing dead, it will be presented at 8 p.m. Nov. 22 and 23 in the Black Box Theatre, Center for the Arts. Soto will perform with special guest artists who are faculty members in the UB Department of Theatre and Dance: assistant professor Maria S. Horn and associate professor William E. Thomas. Kurt Kornacki, invited mask designer and artisan, also will participate in the program. Kornacki is curator of the UB Art Department Gallery.

The performance is sponsored by the UB Department of Theatre and Dance and co-sponsored by the Faculty of Arts and Letters, the Melodia Jones Chair (Raymond Federman), The James McNulty Chair (Dennis Tedlock), the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, and Inter-American Art Theatre, Inc.

Soto, stage designer in the UB Department of Theatre and Dance, recently received the 1996 award for "best design of the year," for his design of the play, "Matecumbe," a production of Avante Theater, conferred by the Association of Art Critics and Reviewers (ACCA) in Miami, Fla. He won the same award in the category of "best ballet of the year" with his design of "Fusion," a presentation of the Hispanic Ballet Company in Miami in 1995.