WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The New York-based Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Company will celebrate works by contemporary dance visionaries and showcase a wide-ranging spectrum of both American and international repertory Nov. 13 in Purdue Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse.

The 8 p.m. event is presented by Purdue Convocations and includes a pre-show discussion by a member of the Cedar Lake artistic staff, who will talk about the company’s history and the evening’s repertoire. The discussion will take place at 7 p.m. in the Stewart Center Gallery.

Since its founding in 2003, the New York-based Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Company has distinguished itself through both its talented corps of 16 athletic dancers and its emphasis on acquiring and commissioning new works by the world’s most sought-after emerging choreographers.

Under the artistic direction of Benoit-Swan Pouffer, a celebrated dancer, choreographer and installation artist, Cedar Lake will take audiences on a bold and diverse choreographic journey in a program. The event features works by several distinct and important choreographers, including Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, and Didy Veldman.

Born and raised in Paris, Pouffer joined Cedar Lake as artistic director in 2005. His career began with study at the prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse, where he performed works by such renowned French choreographers as Claude Brumachon, Daniel Larrieu and Angelin Preljocaj. Pouffer’s distinguished career as a professional dancer includes a seven-year tenure with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, seasons with Philadanco, Donald Byrd/The Group and Complexions. He also has offered outreach programs in South Africa and master classes throughout Europe.

Tickets are $26 for adults and $19 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through Ticketmaster outlets. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more can be ordered at 765-496-1977.

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30 to 40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children’s theater, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — What does the chick flick “When Harry Met Sally” have in common with the animated feature “The Incredibles?” Both films use jazz to tell their stories.

West Side Story's 'Somewhere' didn't start out as a jazz tune, but the Roger Holmes arrangement takes it there.

For movie lovers, the first concert of the jazz season for Purdue’s American Music Repertory Ensemble, Lab Jazz Band and Jazz Choir, “Jazz from the Movies,” is filled with musical nuggets from these and other classic films. It is set for 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, in Loeb Playhouse of the Purdue Stewart Center. Admission is free.

“Usually jazz is used to create the feeling of an urban setting or a shady, back alley atmosphere,” says director M.T. “Mo” Trout. “But this concert focuses on jazz used in positive ways and, in some cases, unique ways.”

The range of movie titles being tackled by the bands runs the gamut from Johnny Mandel’s Academy Award-winning “The Shadow of Your Smile” to Disney’s “Mickey Mouse March,” and from West Side Story’s “Somewhere” to The Polar Express’ “Hot Chocolate.”

Clint Eastwood, a jazz musician himself, experiments widely with jazz in his movies, and the concert recognizes his efforts with “Play Misty for Me” from the film by that name. Woody Allen, who plays clarinet in a Dixieland Band, also uses jazz to underscore his offbeat characters. The American Music Repertory Ensemble performs “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me” from Allen’s “Anything Else.”

“Jazz has made use of music from lots of Broadway musicals,” Trout says.

West Side Story’s “Somewhere” didn’t start out as a jazz tune, but the Roger Holmes arrangement takes it there. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz “has been taken over by jazz musicians and is now considered a jazz standard,” he adds.

“Henry Mancini has written many great sound tracks, and they’re all jazz influenced,” Trout adds. “The Pink Panther” might be Mancini’s best known music, but Trout opts to present Mancini’s first foray into jazz with the theme from the TV series ‘Peter Gunn.’ After that jazz became forever associated with private eyes and James Bond characters.”

Jazz also surfaces in biographical movies, and that’s explored in “Straight No Chaser” from Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser and “Beyond the Sea” from the film about singer Bobby Darrin.

Probably the most unique use of jazz in a film comes in Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles,” where a desert caravan comes across the Count Basie Band playing big band jazz in the middle of nowhere. In honor of that classic screen moment, the concert comes to a close with the American Music Repertory Ensemble playing Vernon Duke and E.Y. Harburg’s 1932 classic “April in Paris.”

“Music from the Movies” is presented by Purdue Bands & Orchestras. For more information on upcoming events visit www.purdue.edu/bands

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A quirky, imaginative tale about creative thought and the power of language, Andrew Clements’s “Frindle,” presented by the Griffin Theatre Company, comes to life on the Loeb Playhouse stage of Purdue University’s Stewart Center at 7:00p on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009.

Purdue Convocations will present an imaginative tale about creative thought and the power of language on stage on Oct. 1. Frindle is based on a book about a 10-year-old who decides to loosen things up in a classroom led by a no-nonsense teacher. (Photo courtesy of Brad Simon Organization)

The performance, part of Purdue Convocations’ family series, is recommended for children ages 8 to 12.

Based on the book by author Andrew Clements, the play follows 10-year-old Nick Allen, a creative kid with a lot of ideas; teachers know him as “trouble.” But it looks like his fifth-grade language arts teacher might put an end to his troublemaking days. Everyone knows that Mrs. Granger has X-ray vision, and nobody gets away with anything in her classroom.

When Nick decides to liven things up in Mrs. Granger’s class, he comes up with his greatest plan ever. He invents a new word for a pen: frindle. It doesn’t take long for frindle to take root, and soon the excitement spreads beyond the school and town and unleashes a series of events that rapidly spins out of control. His parents and Mrs. Granger would like Nick to put an end to all this nonsense. But frindle doesn’t belong to Nick anymore. All he can do now is sit back and watch what happens.

“‘Frindle’ is-about discovering the true nature of words, language, thought, community, learning,” says Clements. “It’s also about great teaching and great teachers, and about the life that surges through corridors and classrooms every school day.”

Tickets are $14 for adults and $10 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster outlets. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more can be ordered at (765) 496-1977.

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30 to 40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children’s theater, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Bringing their unique mix of Mongolian folk and alternative country music, the Beijing-based band Hanggai, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, in Purdue Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse.

Hanggai, a folk band comprised of ethnic Mongolians, is captivating the Beijing music scene with its innovative blend of traditional Mongolian music with a contemporary feel.

The event is presented by Purdue Convocations in partnership with the Confucius Institute at Purdue University.

While China’s capital may seem an unlikely place for a Mongolian folk revival, Hanggai (pronounced HAHNG-guy), a folk band comprised of ethnic Mongolians, is captivating Beijing’s music scene with its innovative blend of traditional Mongolian music with a contemporary feel. Led by a singer Ilchi, the former lead singer for the punk band T9, the band members dress like men of the Mongolian steppes and perform on traditional instruments, such as the morin khuur, a horse-head fiddle, and the tobshuur, a two-stringed lute. Their music also features hoomei, an age-old traditional Mongolian throat-singing technique.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Elliott Hall and Stewart Center box offices at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Tickets also are available through Ticketmaster outlets. Discounted tickets for groups of 10 or more can be ordered at 765-496-1977.

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30 to 40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children’s theater, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue’s Black Cultural Center’s Jahari Dance Troupe will perform its spring revue Saturday (April 25) at Loeb Playhouse.

The performance, choreographed by Kevin Iega Jeff, will begin at 7 p.m. and is open to the public. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for students and can be purchased at the Loeb Box Office in Stewart Center. The Kenyetta Dance Co. of Indianapolis will be special guest performers.

The Spring Revue begins at 7p and is open to the public. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for students and can be purchased at the Loeb Box Office in Stewart Center.

The revue, titled “The Haunting … Reflections from Hurricane Katrina,” is a collection of dances reflecting the struggles of hurricane survivors who were affected by the storm. The show, through various styles of dance and music, will share New Orleans history and the experience of the storm, as well as the rejoicing that followed surviving it, organizers said.

“The exciting thing is to see the students take ownership of the process and contribute choreography of their own,” said Bill Caise, assistant director of the cultural center. “The audience will have the opportunity to see the works of Patrice Patton and Kendra Rodgers, both Purdue students and members of Jahari with majors in Spanish and computer technology respectively. The quality of these students’ pieces speaks to the passion they have for the topic and the leadership of Kevin Iega Jeff that helps them find their voice.”

Established at Purdue in 1969, the Black Cultural Center is nationally recognized and acknowledged by the Association of Black Cultural Centers as one of the best centers of its kind. The center helps the community gain a greater understanding of African-American heritage and supports and enhances cultural diversity on the campus and community.