Kayla Pickrell

The annual World Music Concert, which seeks to unite different cultures, will offer a little something extra for its patrons at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening in the Singletary Center recital hall.

In Spring 2012, the UK College of Fine Arts will launch a dance minor for students in the college. To stimulate the program, the UK School of Music is incorporating dance into this year’s World Music Concert.

“As a college we like to offer new initiatives to students, and we are very proud to be offering dance as a minor in the spring,” said Nancy Jones, chair UK’s theatre department.

According to a news release, the performance “will showcase six different types of world music and dance from China, Ireland, Appalachia, India, Korea and the Caribbean.”

Among the musical performances are the U.S. Chinese Ensemble, the UK Bluegrass Ensemble, the UK Korean Percussion and the UK Steel Band Combo, according to the UK School of Music’s website.

The dance performances will include the McTeggart Irish Dancers and Bharatanatyam, which is an Indian dance to be performed by Anniruddhan Vasudevan.

The UK School of Music has pooled talent from extracurricular clubs and students in classes to bring aspects from the entire college into the performance.

The concert will begin with the Chinese ensemble and end respectively with the Korean Percussion.

The World Music Concert precedes the “3Dimensions: Winter Dance Concert” opening in January from the UK Theatre Department.  Both are efforts to get students excited about the new dance minor, Jones said.

“3Dimensions” will feature a set of dances that have been taught through the classes.  The UK Theatre Department is bringing in guest choreographers year-round to provide the dancers and actors with an outside view of the new minor.

Jones said both productions will strike new beginnings for the university and for the UK College of Fine Arts.