Innovative choreography will interface with text, video and creative costuming on Friday and Saturday, when graduate dance student Corrie Cowart presents her master’s of fine arts concert, “Connections.” Both performances will take place at 8 p.m. in the M. Frances Dougherty Dance Theatre at Gerlinger Annex.
The student dancers have been rehearsing since fall, and Cowart said the concert consists of six pieces, some of which were years in the making. The selections include “Thimbleberry Sketches,” a dance video Cowart directed in the Columbia River Gorge. The footage includes performers exploring movement in waterfalls, on cliff edges and in fields.
“It’s filmed in the place where I grew up, so it’s kind of nostalgic to me,” Cowart said.

Cowart will also perform in two duets with husband and fellow graduate student Tim Cowart, including “Embrace,” a work created by Seattle choreographer Wade Madsen.
“What She Said,” “Wardrobe Wars” and a solo created for Tim Cowart are also part of the program — each displaying Corrie Cowart’s original choreography.
In addition to Corrie Cowart’s and Madsen’s works, dancers in Eugene choreographer Alito Alessi’s humorous “Hoop Dance” will cavort and fly across the stage.
“I’m a pretty playful person,” Corrie Cowart said. “So, overall, there’s a pretty playful sense about the concert.”
Tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens, and are available at the door 30 minutes prior to the performance.

— Jacquelyn Lewis