Graduate and undergraduate students perform in Qudus Onikeku’s FLASH: A New Choreography, which, like all of his works, derives from the violent energy that he experienced growing up in Lagos, Nigeria.

FLASH is set to open Thursday (March 7, and continue through Sunday, March 17 Watch video preview.

Onikeku, winter quarter Granada artist in residence in the Department of Theatre and Dance, selected the performers during a weeklong master class. “Their talents and sensitivities helped him to flesh out his vision,” a news release states. “They are given creative freedom so that no two performances are ever exactly the same. Onikeku connects to their energy and their souls in a collaboration that he shapes.”

FLASH is an attempt to speak about painful memories — the light that lingers after it flickers, the choreographer said.

He asks how can we live with love in our hearts, with laughter and joy, when there have been and continue to be inhuman cruelties and murders committed every second of every day? How do we make love in times of war? FLASH dramatizes that which is most disturbing in our current world and human condition by illuminating new perspectives.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: FLASH: A New Choreography, by Granada Artist-in-Residence Qudus Onikeku

WHEN

• Thursday-Saturday, March 7-9 and 14-16 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, March 10 and 17 — 2 p.m.

QUESTION-AND-ANSWER SESSION with Onikeku after the opening night performance.

WHERE: Main Theatre, Wright Hall

TICKETS are available through the Mondavi Center box office, in person; by phone, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787; and online.

MORE INFORMATION (including group ticket rates)

READ the complete news release.

VIDEO PREVIEW