Dancers, lecturer featured at Museum Night at Harn

February 22, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The UF MOD Project dancers will perform at the Harn Museum of Art at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The contemporary dance repertory ensemble from the University of Florida’s School of Theatre and Dance fuses dance, physical theater, art and technology.

Prior to the performance, visitors can enjoy a lecture at 6 p.m. by Patricia J. Darish, an independent scholar and former assistant professor in the Department of Art History and the Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Kansas. The lecture, entitled “Breaking Borders: Tradition and Innovation in Kuba Textile Design,” will consider the reciprocal roles of men and women in the production of textiles as they relate to working methods, aesthetic preferences and family responsibilities. Darish has authored a number of articles on Kuba textiles and dress and the history of Kuba artifacts from first Western contact in the 1890s. Visitors can celebrate the heritage of Africa by viewing the correlating exhibit, “Sense, Style, Presence: African Arts of Personal Adornment.”

The performance and lecture are being held during Museum Night, a collaboration among University of Florida Student Government, the Harn Museum of Art and the Florida Museum of Natural History, when both museums are open from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursdays.

Funded by UF Student Government, Museum Nights strives to increase student and community visitation at the UF Cultural Plaza, located near the intersection of Southwest 34th Street and Hull Road. It serves as an entertainment alternative for Thursday nights in Gainesville and offers individuals who are too busy during the day the opportunity to visit the museums in the evening. For more information and a complete schedule, see www.sg.ufl.edu or call (352) 392-1665, ext. 415.