Daniel Gaymon (Freshman Dance Performance major) and Rebecca Wilkins (Senior Dance Performance Major) in a duet from choreographer Helen Pickett’s February 14, 2012. Photo by Jason Ayer The University of South Carolina Dance Program will present Breaking Ground, a concert featuring three premiere contemporary works, February 8-11, 2012 at Drayton Hall Theatre.

Performance times are 7:30 p.m. each evening. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at 777- 5112, or charge by phone at 251-2222. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Carolina Coliseum box office. Drayton Hall Theatre is located at 1214 College Street.

A centerpiece of the concert is a premiere work by special guest artist Helen Pickett entitled February 14, 2012, a contemporary ballet set to a portion of composer Philip Glass’ score to the film Mishima.

Thaddeus Davis’s still-untitled contemporary dance piece is developing into a work where women are its dominating force.

Tanya Wideman-Davis says her original work, also untitled, has been influenced by the recent “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Set to the aggressive rock of the band Oasis, the movement in the piece matches what Wideman Davis describes as the music’s “protest energy and angst.”

For more information on Breaking Ground or the University of SC Dance Program, visit www.cas.sc.edu/ dance, or contact Kevin Bush at 777-9353 or via email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.