(Posted January 20, 2010)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Creating funny and high-flying entertainment from the worlds of contemporary dance, circus sideshows, burlesque and vaudeville, Keigwin Kabaret will give Juniata College a glimpse behind the culture of performance art at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 23 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts on the Juniata campus.

The performance is not suitable and not recommended for all ages.

"What differentiates (Kabaret) events from my concert work is that it's a variety show."

Larry Keigwin, artisitc director, Keigwin Kabaret

For tickets and information about the Juniata College Presents series, please call (814) 641-JTIX (5849). General admission tickets for single performances are $20, except where otherwise noted. Single-show tickets for seniors over age 65 and children age 18 and under are $12. Juniata College students are admitted free with a student ID.

Keigwin Kabaret is an offshoot of Keigwin and Company, a contemporary dance troupe founded in 2003 by Larry Keigwin, a New York City-based dancer and choreographer noted for creating urban-inspired dances to classical and contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Maurice Ravel.

Like the movie and stage musical "Cabaret," the Keigwin Kabaret is presented by an "MC" who offers commentary, introductions and jokes -- some raunchy, some innocent -- but always funny.

At the heart of most of the Kabaret's performance is modern dance, but the professional and fantastically controlled dancers are given freedom to wring laughs and a little bit of pathos out of their performances.

The dance sequences are set to a wide variety of music, such as Naughty By Nature's "O.P.P.," Soulja Boy's "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" and Unk's "Walk It Out." Other dances have been created to the music of Devo and the Fifth Dimension.

Joining the Keigwin dancer company onstage will be an array of drag and burlesque performers who intersperse their own individual acts between the set piece dances. Present for the Juniata concert will be Murray Hill, a famous New York drag performer, Bradford Scobie, a comic character actor known for such characters as Dr. Donut, a mutant super-villain, and Dirty Martini, a burlesque performer renowned for her Sally Rand-style fan dance.

Keigwin, who received his start in show business as one of Downtown Julie Brown's backup dancers on "Club MTV," was quoted recently saying that he created Keigwin Kabaret, "because I want to introduce people who go see contemporary modern dance to these characters. What differentiates (Kabaret) events from my concert work is that it's a variety show."

Keigwin characterizes the troupe's entertainment experience as a fast-faced dance experience intended to resemble a collage or a CD music mix.

Members of the Keigwin dance ensemble are: Nicole Wolcott, Matthew Baker, Ashley Brown, Aaron Carr and Liz Riga.

Larry Keigwin remains a sought-after choreographer and dancer in addition to the demands of his professional dance company. He has created dances for The New York City Ballet, the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Julliard Dance Ensemble. He also is an associate choreographer for the Radio City Rockettes. As a performer, he has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in "Le Sacre Du Printemps" and "The Magic Flute." He also appeared in the Oscar-nominated film, "Across the Universe," directed by Julie Taymor.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.