The UCM Theatre and Dance Department is bringing live music and dance to Powell Gardens with “My Oh My: A Rock-n-Roll Dance Concert.”
The show, set for Friday and Saturday, is the work of Ashley Miller- Scully, her team of choreographers, and a live band based in Kansas City.
The band, also called “My Oh My,” is a rock ‘n’ roll band from Kansas City. Miller-Scully connected with the lead singer of the band, Adam Merker, through her husband, Aaron Scully, a fellow UCM professor, who is Merker’s brother-in-law.
Miller-Scully said she and her husband are big supporters of the band and have enjoyed seeing them live over the years.
“I really want to take the dancers to go to see one of their shows. I think it would be fun to go support them that way too,” Miller-Scully said.
This support paid off for her because Merker was willing to return the support for “My Oh My: A Rock-n-Roll Dance Concert.”
“When Ashley pitched the initial idea for the My Oh My dance concert to me, I was immediately intrigued,” Merker said. “I’ve always been interested in combining performance art to create something new.”
The show features original choreography from Miller-Scully, Amy Gilchrist, an adjunct ballet professor, and three student choreographers.
Taking 12 songs from “My Oh My,” the choreographers created 11 original dances that eventually combine to create the show’s finale. The show is meant to be interactive with the audience and it’s encouraged that they dance as well.
“The songs, having been choreographed, changes our role as a band in ways that I find interesting,” Merker said. “As I see it, our job isn’t so much to keep the audience engaged as it is when we play venues, but to support the dancers whose job it is to engage the audience.”
“My Oh My: A Rock-n-Roll Dance Concert” is also the first show the dance department has ever done off campus. The show takes place 20 miles west of UCM at Powell Gardens in Kingsville, where the department will be building their own pop-up stage for the performance.
Miller-Scully said the show is meant to be a social event so people will be able to enjoy the gardens and refreshments during their visit. After the dance concert, there will be a brief intermission and then the band will continue playing.
Tickets are $7 for students, $12 for UCM faculty/staff, and $15 for the general public.
They can be purchased online at ucmo.edu/theatretickets, by calling 660-543-8811, or at the Box Office at the Highlander Theatre between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. beginning Wednesday or before the show at the venue.
Showtimes are scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, and 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday. Doors open 30 minutes before the show.