The University dance program will make history this weekend by presenting "Diversity in Dance," the largest cooperation of University dance groups since the program's birth.

The show will bring together dance instructors and seven performance groups from University Park and Ogontz campuses; approximately 125 dancers ranging from novices to professionals will participate. The event, held at 8 tonight and at 2 and 8 p.m. tomorrow in the White Building Dance Theater, is sponsored jointly by the department of exercise and sports science, the Black studies program and the Paul Robeson Cultural Center.

The two-hour program will include performances by the Contemporary Dance Company, Orchesis, the Penn State International Dancers and the Ogontz Campus Dance Company. The Dance Collective, a company formed to perform American dance in Israel this May, and dancers from NOMMO, a University affiliated black cultural arts group, will also dance for the event.

"This is our chance to say not only is there dance at Penn State, but there's a lot of dance at Penn State -- and it's interesting and varied too," said Susan Koff, University dance instructor.

In addition, the program will honor and welcome African-dance instructor Myrna Munchus-Bullock. Munchus-Bullock will perform Fanga, an African welcome dance, with volunteer students from her African-American dance classes.

"It's an excerpt or restaging of traditional West African dance of welcome," Munchus-Bullock said. "It's a dance villagers would do anytime they had visitors, dignitaries or anytime you want to make somebody feel welcome -- you do the dance Fanga."

Costumes for the African dance will be as close as possible to traditional styles, Munchus-Bullock said. In addition, the dancers will wear body instruments. The females will wear bells or shells around their waists while the males will have decorative bells and boards strapped to their calves. Students from the class will also perform vocals and music for the piece.

"The thirty-some people on the stage are my students who have only been studying for three weeks," Munchus-Bullock said. "It's really hard to do traditional African dance solo, because it's really a community of people, of voices. So I got this grand idea -- why don't I ask my students to perform with me?

"I'm glad that (my students) are having this opportunity. I'm sorry that it's coming as early in the semester as it is because they would be able to perform a great deal more closer to the end of the semester, but it's impressive that they're able to do this. I'm very pleased."

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Patricia Heigel-Tanner, assistant professor in the department of exercise and sports science, said she and Elizabeth Hanley, artistic director of the Penn State Internationale Dancers, have always wanted to do a combined concert but were unable because of other performance and teaching commitments.

"We first started talking about this about a year ago, and it grew rapidly with the arrival of Myrna (Munchus-Bullock)," said Casey Sams Bealer, University dance instructor. "If there's a dance company we haven't included, I don't know about it!

"Last semester, all of the artistic directors of these various and sundry companies met and talked about what we wanted to accomplish with this concert," she said.

The directors finally decided on the theme of diversity in dance, Sams Bealer said. Elizabeth Limons, University dance instructor, added that the diversity comes from unity.

"We're all here as diverse human beings interested in diverse types of dance, and we're unifying in a common interest, to express ourselves in movement," Limon said.

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Dancers from the black cultural arts group, NOMMO, will complement the African style of Munchus-Bullock. They will perform three works from their repertoire, two of them demonstrating African-American dance styles.

"The third dance, which is called 'Our Essence,' will take from the modern jazz and ballet," said Josephine Heard, director of NOMMO dancers.

The first two NOMMO pieces will use music from South African artists, while "Our Essence" will be performed to the music of the New Wave group, Enya. Sixteen NOMMO dancers will participate in the show.

"Our dances feel a little bit more of the touch of America on the African descendants in America -- jazz, ballet, all of the influences that we've learned over the years," Heard said.

The Penn State Internationale Dancers will round out the ethnic dancing with two pieces, one from Bulgaria and one from Greece, Hanley said.

The Greek dances will be divided into island and mainland dances. Costumes for the piece will be authentic but intermixed because the dancers will represent different islands, Hanley said. Native Grecian Angela Yannoulkalis, who danced with a "premiere" Greek group before coming to the United States, choreographed the dances, Hanley said.

The Bulgarian dance will be set to two songs: one love song and one song of national pride dedicated to a Bulgarian mountain range, Hanley said. Both the Greek and Bulgarian works are part of the company's repertoire which changes each year.

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Orchesis, a student-run dance company, is the oldest University dance organization set to perform this weekend, said Patricia Heigel-Tanner, assistant professor of exercise and sports science. The 25-year-old organization will present three numbers choreographed, costumed and danced by the student members.

Adding a romantic slant to the Orchesis program is Juanita Tryon's "When I Fall In Love," a ballet pas de duex dedicated to her parents. The other two pieces --the jazzy "One or the Other" by Carolyn Burke and Julie Bauer, and the modern ballet "Will of the Wind" by Chrisse Wilson and Kathy Scafidi -- will round out the performance.

Burke and Bauer described "One or the Other" as a high-energy number with sharp moves which emphasizes technique while Wilson said 'Will of the Wind' is about the soul searching for unity with the body.

All of the Orchesis pieces were performed in the dance group's semi-yearly show last November.

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The Contemporary Dance Company will offer two pieces which will give the flavor of the group's style: the light-hearted "Dance Suite," choreographed by Heigel-Tanner, and "A Little Bach," choreographed by Koff.

"What makes (the pieces) so good for this program is that it shows the capabilities of Contemporary, but they're not so abstract that they become inaccessible," Koff said.

"Dance Suite" is a ballroom style piece set to Frank Sinatra music, while "A Little Bach" explores the Limon modern dance style, Koff said. The Limon technique, taught in Koff's classes, is based on a movement principle of fall and recovery as founded by Jose Limon.

University dance instructor and Contemporary director Elizabeth Limons will not present any pieces through Contemporary, but one of her pieces will be performed by members of the Dance Collective.

The Collective was formed last September under the artistic direction of Kathryn Kearn, assistant professor of exercise and sports science at Ogontz Campus. Dancers from Ogontz Campus and University Park auditioned for the Collective, which will travel to an Israeli university in May as part of an international cultural exchange, said Debbie Birrane, student liaison for the group.

Six dancers from the 11-member Collective will perform Limons' "The Big Fall." Limons said the central idea to her dance is movement efficiency.

"The gravity (in this piece) is very strong and the dancers are trying to overcome this heaviness. And at times they do overcome it," she said.

Music for the two-part dance was chosen in an attempt to use contrasting rhythms, Limons said. She said she wanted something with "a real driving force," and David Sanborn's suite, Blue Night, worked well.

"The first section is not chaotic, but it is unstructured," Limons said. "Then the second section is based on efficiency and shifts of weight, the ability to travel quickly, really using the pelvis to move the entire body."

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The Ogontz Dance Company will perform two pieces for the weekend concerts that will be performed by the Dance Collective on their Israel trip said Kearns, artistic director of both companies. Kearns began the eight-member Ogontz company approximately 10 years ago.

"I have people say, 'Where is dance at Penn State?"' Heigel-Tanner said. Well, we've got it folks!"

Tickets for the performance will be available at the door to the White Building Dance Theater. General admission tickets for the event cost $5, student tickets cost $4.