FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Joyce Luhrs-Luhrs & Associates, Publicist, 201-592-9126, luhrsassocpress@verizon.net
Carlos Fittante, Artistic Director, 646-361-9183

The Freshman Year Initiative at Lehman College Presents
--Free Performance Open to the Public of BALAM Dance Theatre’s--

Defining Diversity
--Celebrates BALAM Dance Theatre’s 30th Anniversary &
Founding Director Islene Pinder’s 80th Birthday--
at Lehman College's Lovinger Theatre, March 30, 2009, 11-12:40 a.m.

(New York, New York—March 10, 2009)--BALAM Dance Theatre (BALAM) announces its 30th anniversary performance, Defining Diversity, and founding director Islene Pinder’s 80th birthday celebration performance at Lehman College’s Lovinger Theatre, March 30, 2009. The New York City-based company promotes a new vision of contemporary dance fusing ballet and modern with Balinese theatre and diverse cultural dance styles. The specially designed program was created for the occasion to highlight a variety of traditional dance styles, guest artists and companies, and BALAM’s cutting-edge fusion repertoire.
Nani Devi, the company’s resident Balinese guest dancer, will appear in an excerpt from the scintillating Oleg Tambulilingan. Other featured guest artists include Barbara Romero, co-director of Danzas Españolas, in the Spanish dance solo Caracoles Antiguos; Baroque violinist Leah Nelson in the comedic duet, Fandango Fantasy; and Marcea Daiter’s Afro-Caribbean work Haitian Myth and Village performed by Kaleidoscope of Kultures Dance Theatre and the Harlem based teen group, Wadleigh Dance Ensemble, from the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Prominent works include Hip-Hop Hanuman (world premiere), Tigerlily and the Dragonfly, Primordial Embers, and BALAM’s signature work Ramayana-Abduction of Sita, featuring Shelley Lynne Cummins resuming her role, as the original Golden Deer.
This free performance is open to the public and presented by the Freshman Year Initiative at Leman College with Phyllis Cash, Coordinator for Special Programs.