Writers group to have signing for anthology

The Denton Writers League is having a book signing for its first annual anthology, Leaves in the Wind, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Hastings Books, 2311 Colorado Blvd.

For more information, call 817-403-0213 or e-mail dentonwritersleague@verizon.net.

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Local choreographer’s work to be featured

Work by University of North Texas choreographer Shelley Cushman will be one of two featured performances to kickoff the upcoming Modern Dance Festival in Fort Worth.

Cushman’s piece is called “Choking the Earth? Just Take Off Those Clothes and Join the Water in D-Flat.”

“I’m very concerned about the garbage I make,” said Cushman, a professor in UNT’s department of Dance and Theatre. “Every time I go to buy something, it always seems there is an element of garbage to it. Our garbage clutters the world just as we clutter ourselves with things going on in our lives.”

The Modern Dance Festival begins July 17 and runs through Aug. 2 at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, at 3200 Darnell St.

UNT dance students Terrynan Davis, Jenna Fisher, Melissa Hunsaker, Kristin Jones, McKenzie Krempa, Emily McNabb, Jaimie Schieve, Carissa Topham and Sara Wallis are performing Cushman’s work. The dance stage manager is student Cate Hulme.

Professor Kenneth Verdugo is the scenic designer; professor Barbara Cox is the costume designer; and Jesse Coulter, a former UNT student, is a featured composer.

For more information, visit www.themodern.org or e-mail cushman@unt.edu.

— Lori Forgay

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Two students selected to attend workshop

Two University of North Texas students have been selected to travel to Oaxaca, Mexico, to participate in a workshop with an award-winning photographer.

Photography students Liss LaFleur and Cara Smith will join 10 other participants to study with photographer Mary Ellen Mark during a 10-day workshop today through July 15.

During the trip, LaFleur and Smith will experiment with some of the latest techniques in the photography world.

Samples of LaFleur’s work are available online at www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBSpWZXSxGs and www.lisslafleur.com.

Samples of Smith’s work are available online at www.flickr.com/photos/n217cs and www.kunstallations.blogspot.com.

— Lori Forgay

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One O’clock Lab Band to perform in Thailand

The University of North Texas One O’clock Lab Band will perform at the 15th World Saxophone Congress, an international gathering of professional and amateur saxophonists, at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand.

The One O’clock Lab Band is scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. Saturday and will feature soloists James Carter, guest artist with the band, and Brad Leali, UNT jazz saxophone professor.

The event marks the band’s first international performance under director Steve Wiest, who was appointed this spring and had been serving as interim conductor since August 2008.

— Lori Forgay