UAPresents

This review is going to be based on lady weekend selected performance of Sequence 8. This one time offering of modern satirical dance troupe meets circus acrobatics was phenomenal! It is so hard to put this into words. Each vignette of dance was preceded by the «narrator» who made us laugh with his wit and wisdom of youth. The music was contemporary as the dance. It left you wondering what was going to happen next and how to interpret the dance. I kept smiling and wondering how to interpret the awesomeness! Then they included acrobatics, juggling, and flips! A must see if they come back to town.

Wow! UA Presents has done it yet again– bringing world class performances to Tucson. Tonight’s performance of Sequence8 was absolutely breathtaking. This French Canadian group brilliantly reinvents cirque in a modern dance rendition that dazzles! The eight performers juggle, clown, tightwalk, flip, narrate, dance, contort… the eloquent accompanying music is equally astounding. There are simply no words to describe it. Just go see this show as soon as humanly possible! You will not be disappointed.

Bravo UA Presents! They’re lining up incredible shows for Tucson and promising one stellar season after the next with world class entertainment ranging from classical music to jazz, dance, musicals and even stand up comedy. The variety is fantastic and it’s neat to see them work with the Fox Theatre to accomodate certain shows. Either way we get to see incredible shows at fabulous venues such as Centennial Hall and The Fox Theatre.
For those that are not familiar with Centennial Hall, it’s right on the heart of the University of Arizona. It’s a classic old building and a wonderful venue. It’s clear the crew at UA Presents is devoted to bringing in the best shows possible. I’m looking forward to spending more time getting cultured by the folks at UA Presents.

UAPresents — what a gem! It had been a couple of years since I attended a production at Centennial Hall and Friday night’s Fela! was fantastic! The music was fun and interesting but the dancing… oh, the dancing!!! Afrobeats, uplifting and lively! The kind of dancing that puts a big smile on your face.
The actors of Fela are very talented and held the audience’s attention through every number. I was especially impressed with the woman who played Fela’s mother. Her strong voice was at times haunting but always beautiful. The lead actor who played Fela involved the audience with some dancing, clapping and several «yeah, yeah“s. So much fun! It was fantastic to have Michelle Williams from Destiny’s Child as part of the cast.
A special shout-​out to our Unilocal CM Bella for scoring a few free tickets to this fabulous show. Even without the complimentary tickets, I am looking forward to many more UAPresents productions!

If you haven’t been to a show at UApresents, it’s time! Tonight’s Pilobolus performance simply remarkable! If you aren’t familiar with these dance athletes, take a look at their site or youtube some clips. They performed at the 2007 Academy Awards which brought them more awareness, but the troop has been in existence since the early 70s. They combine powerful and athletic choreography with fluid and emotional melodies and create amazing stories onstage. The last time I saw them was in college at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of UofI, so I was stoked to be sitting in the audience again. I’m so happy that UApresents brings this world class entertainment to Tucson, and if you’ve never seen anything there, you should take a look at their November/​December lineup. Super exciting things ready to take the stage!

BRAVO! Last night’s «Water Is Rising» performance was a series of contrasts. Concerned that climate change will bring an end to their beautiful Islands, a troupe of Tuvala, Tokelua and Kiribati performers entered the darkened theater singing and drumming down the isles to take the audience on a journey. The lights came on revealing women and men dressed in grass skirts, and beautiful colorful costumes .
Once they took the stage, these singer, dancers and musicians strummed at my heartstrings, touched my soul and educated me all at the same time. The performances, accompanying photo slides and written translations of their songs, were beautiful, sad, inspiring, mesmerizing, haunting, and feet stomping, lap slapping awesome to say the least. What a wonderful way to put human faces to such an important issue.
Witnessing their culture through song and dance, and receiving their message about how global warming and climate change, are not only threatening their daily lives and culture, but their very land which is vanishing beneath the waves, was moving. Their pleas to take care of them, stop dumping trash in the ocean, and do all we can to help put an end to man-​caused climate change was sobering.
I took my children 16, 10, and 7 to this performance and they all LOVED it. I appreciate and applaud UAPresents for supporting this important effort and bringing Water Is Rising to Arizona so that my children and I could have such a wonderful and enlightening experience.

UAPresents kicked off their 2011 — 2012 «A World of Artists» season on 23 September at Centennial Hall. If you haven’t been there, it’s a great place to watch a performance. This historical building is nicely arranged. The floor declines towards the stage and the seats are staggered so that you don’t have look directly at the back of someone’s head. It was comfortable and relaxing. Anyway, Centennial Hall is bringing world-​class entertainment to Tucson. It promises to be an exciting season!
Last night I saw the return of a favorite to the stage – Yamato, The Drummers of Japan. Yamato’s performance at UAPresents was phenomenal. The performance was inspired and entertaining. Yamato overcame language barriers with their drumming and on-​stage humor. We convulsed with laughter as Yamato interacted with each other and the audience. For a brief moment I felt that Yamato, the audience and I were connected in some way as part of the performance. In the beginning I thought two hours of drumming might be too much, but in the end, the audience– including myself –were unwilling to leave and gave Yamato a three-​minute standing ovation. Yamato literally rocked the house!!! Their encore performance was the highlight of the show, as they proceeded to give us their best performance of the night.
If you like world-​class performances such as this, it’s important to get a hold of the schedule at
. Each performing artist may only appear for one performance… With the likes of KD Lang, Miles Davis, Mannheim Steamroller, Branford Marsalis, and YoYo Ma coming this season; it’s good to get those tickets in advance! Hope to see you all there!

UApresents indubitably knows how to throw a good show. First Patti LaBelle, now Yamato, The Drummers of Japan. What next?! Last night’s performance was totes cool. The Drummers of Japan were intense, funny, and… muscular, which makes sense after seeing how much body effort and physical energy is required in taiko drumming.
The young men and women of Yamato kept us amused with their skillful beats and contagious up-​to-​something smiles. My favorite moment: when the curtains were drawn closed behind a gal and two guys, who comically played these small hand cymbals (three stooges style). They kept us laughing as the two guys pretended to catch and throw a make-​believe object, and the girl did an I’m-so-cute-and-I-don’t-care-what-you-think dance. Laugh-​out-​loud funny.
The lighting had a spiritual feel to it. The cool lights would shine down on a drummer, making it seem like a sort of worship in the middle of nowhere. One drum would occasionally resemble the moon… it would glow a bluish hue, while the rest of the stage would be relatively dark, making it seem like the drummers were dancing beneath the moon.
To conclude the performance, the drummers got the audience to mimic their rhythmic clapping, pulsed arm raising, and abundant «huh!» grunts. One of the drummers mocked our weak clapping. He then exaggeratedly demonstrated how much force we should use in our claps, by pulling his straight arms behind his back, slamming them together, then giving us a look as if to say «See?» Hilarious.
Thanks UApresents and Unilocal,for providing us with good seats, bottled water vouchers, and some fine shows.

UA Presents manages to put on a stellar show while maintaining the casual easy-​going feel that makes Tucson, Tucson. For instance, you could show up dressed in your finest or a golf shirt and a pair of tennies and you would be comfortable here. We saw Patti LaBelle and it was possibly the craziest show ever. Patti may not be in her finest form, yet she was passionate, genuine and her back-​up band kept the show moving along. It was disappointing to not hear the whole version of Lady Marmalade, but I am pretty sure that the zaniness of the whole performance and the camaraderie in the audience made up for it. UA Presents had our tickets well organized and ready to go with a voucher for a bottle of water. It was extremely professional. All of our seats had excellent views, so it may be true «there is not a bad seat in the house». The schedule for this year looks awesome. I can’t wait to try out another performance.