Monday, January 21, 2013
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Director's Welcome
Thank you for joining us for Danstage 2012! This year’s concert displays five vastly different artistic and choreographic approaches, yet each is linked by the common thread of collaboration.
The dance faculty is proud to be members of a college that supports collaboration. We welcome the creative additions of guest artist Luc Vanier, Associate Professor at University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, and UWSP colleagues Sean Connors, Assistant Professor and UWSP Percussion Ensemble Director, Cindy McCabe, Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and Women’s Basketball Assistant Coach Diane Hawkins.
Universities continue to be important innovative centers whose leadership and resources make possible the range of artistic experimentation and contemporary inquiry that prepare our students to communicate, contribute and lead as global citizen artists. Thank you to UWSP’s administration for continuing to support the arts and for recognizing creative endeavors as professional academic research.
In Danstage 2012 the dancers are collaborating with faculty in crafting original research. While in residence from February 19-24 Luc Vanier restaged his intricate and compelling 2008 choreography, “Triptych”, a work that has been performed by Milwaukee Ballet II and Your Mother Dances in Milwaukee, and at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival.
Associate Professor Michael Estanich’s “Inhabitants of Tall Grass” is danced within an installation of tall prairie grasses where the dancers explore the sophisticated relationships between lines, curves and patterns through space. In Michael’s ensemble work “Homeland” the ensemble investigates memory, nostalgia and wonder, through physical, emotional and intellectual notions of home.
Associate Professor Jeannie Hill’s “The Sum is Greater” is a danced basketball game that blurs the line between athlete and dancer. Rhythmic sequences reflect Jeannie’s research with Mathematics Professor Cindy McCabe of repetitive patterns in the Fibonacci numbers.
And, in my new work “Round the Corner”, a collaboration with Sean Connors and Percussion Ensemble members, you’ll hear seven movements of Paul Lansky’s lyrical and forceful score “Threads.” The dancers’ interpretation of the score and choreography weaves and merges movement theme “threads” in a meditation on life’s beauty and mysteries.
Thank you to our outstanding technical and design team, stage managers and production crew for their vision, enthusiasm and dedication. Thank you, too, to all who support the dancers behind the scenes.
We hope you enjoy Danstage 2012 as we celebrate the deepening artistry, stylistic range and full expression of our dancers.
Joan Karlen, Director
Danstage 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
New Triptych Video Previews Posted
Click on the Videos link to see new videos about the rehearsal process for Triptych.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Meet the Dancers
Please check out our Meet the Dancers page. It has been updated with information about the seniors involved in Danstage this year.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
New Triptych photos posted 3.1
Click on the Production Photos link to see pictures from the Triptych rehearsal process and informal studio showing.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Studio Preview of Luc Vanier's "Triptych"
UWSP's Department of Theatre & Dance invites you to a Danstage 2012 studio preview of guest choreographer Luc Vanier's
Triptych
Thursday, 2/23/12
7:00-7:30
Noel Fine Arts Center 130 Dance Studio
Dancers
Corey Lugo | Pierre Clark
Maggie Zoeller | Mariusz Kujawski
Molly Anderson
Kristen Brockman
Olivia Hoffman
Sarah Johnson
Madelyn Mickelsen
Emily Nowak
Emilee Morton
Claire Wyttenbach
Monday, February 20, 2012
"Triptych"
"Triptych" / Luc Vanier Coreographer / Original score by Chris Burns. This work is more contemporary than "classical." The partnering is difficult ballet partnering and fast paced. Vanier recently reset this work on Milwaukee Ballet II, then finalized it to this version to bring it to the Minnesota Fringe Festival.
Welcome guest choreographer Luc Vanier, in residence at UWSP February 19-24!
Luc is an Associate Professor in the Dance Department at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts and the recipient of the 2009 Wisconsin Arts Board Award for Choreography. Originally from Montreal, he studied at L'Ecole Superieur du Quebec under Daniel Seillier. In 1998, he retired from Ohio Ballet having danced a variety of roles such as the Workman in Kurt Jooss’ Big City, the Third Song of Tudor’s Dark Elegies, as well as the leads in Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and Paul Taylor’s Aureole among others. Mr. Vanier was also a company choreographer; his dance Square Play, with a score by Libby Larson, was presented as part of the company’s 1995 Joyce season in NYC. His latest interactive work “Sur_Rendered” premiered with the Milwaukee Ballet January 2010. He both received his MFA at the University of Illinois (top ten dance program in US News) and became a certified Alexander teacher in 2001. His research on linking the Alexander Technique, developmental movement and Ballet is at the forefront of integrating somatic work into dance curriculum and has been presented at various conferences and workshops throughout the US, Russia, Australia and the Netherlands. His book Dance and the Alexander Technique: Exploring the Missing Link was published June 2011 by the University of Illinois Press. Luc also partners with Elizabeth Johnson as a dancer and Associate Director of the hybrid Ballet/Modern dance theater company Your Mother Dances. For more information visit www.lucvanier.com.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Danstage 2011 Press Release
For Immediate Release: 3/18/2011
The UWSP Department of Theatre & Dance announces Danstage 2011, an evening of dynamic concert dance featuring guest artist, Eddy Ocampo’s acclaimed work, Wipe, and original choreography by UWSP’s Dance faculty.
Danstage 2011 opens in UWSP’s Noel Fine Arts Center Studio Theatre on Friday, April 8th at 7:30 pm. Additional performances area at 7:30 on April 9th, 13th, 14th 15th and 16th with a 2:00 matinee on Sunday, April 10th.
Tickets are $17 for adults, $16 for senior citizens and $12 for youth. UWSP students with a valid ID may purchase advance tickets for $4.50 per show or, be admitted free the day of the show, if seats are still available. Tickets may be purchased at the University Information and Ticket counter in the concourse of the Dreyfus University Center, by calling (715) 346-4100 or (800) 838-3378, or online at www.uwsp.edu/centers/uit/ordering.asp. Visa, MasterCard and Discover are accepted.
For more detail and commentary on the show visit the Danstage 2011 Blog: uwspdanstage.blogspot.com.
Chicago guest choreographer Eddy Ocampo worked with UWSP Theatre & Dance students twice this semester – in January to audition his cast and again during February to restage his 2007 compelling, Wipe. A Chicago native, Ocampo has danced with the Joel Hall Dancers, River North Chicago Dance Company and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in addition to enjoying an international career as a master teacher and award-winning choreographer. Ocampo’s chorographic residency was funded in part by the COFAC Great Artists Great Speakers Series.
The choreographic structure of Wipe is based on a stage wipe that occurs throughout the piece. The dancers travel in a line from stage right to stage left and vice versa. The initial idea came with the intent that something new would happen every time a stage wipe occurs. Eventually, the stage wipe took on a role as a governing entity and controlled the dancers throughout the piece. The costumes are wedding dresses - beautiful, yet confining and restricting. The story that developed is based on the premise that although something can be beautiful, as the wedding dresses are, it still can be restricting and inhibiting. The full-bodied choreography is challenging enough without wearing the dresses; performed in the dresses, the dancers struggle to exist within these beautiful confines. At the end one dancer breaks free from the struggle, while the rest are still controlled by the wipe.
In Joan Karlen’s contemporary ballet, Trace, dancers move fluidly through projected tree scenes as their paths are echoed by patterns of appearing and dissolving text. Karlen’s inspiration for the work began last summer while bicycling through the verdant forests of Stevens Point’s Green Circle Trail. After, while participating in The Banff New Media Institute’s Interactive Screens summit, she met Canadian software author Travis Kirton and was introduced to Text Draw and Type Is, software programs that allow text to flow from a pen tip as one draws.
In Trace, projected text paths echo the dancers’ movements. The set is enriched by Wisconsin artist Rafael Francisco Salas’ landscape paintings. Salas, whose work has been cited by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as “one of the best painters working in Wisconsin today,” creates images that evoke a sense of memory and dreams. The resulting themes of generation and illumination are supported by Gary Olsen’s light and Susan Sherwin’s costume design. TJ Searl designed props and is technical coordinator.
Choreographed by Michael Estanich, A Classical Dance I is an ebullient dance inspired by choreographer Paul Taylor’s iconic work Esplanade. The cast of 14 run, skip, dive, fall and leap through the air. Set to Franz Hoffmeister’s Allegro from Violin Concerto in D Major, the dance summons a giddy freedom expressed through a contemporary movement vocabulary and delightful musical interplays.
Michael Estanich’s new dance-theatre work, The Attic Room, examines modes of escapism, and can be considered a fantasy. The set design evokes the private atmosphere of an attic and establishes the main metaphor of confinement and escape. Through a series of vignettes the group of nine dancers navigate uncharted waters of the imagination, transforming themselves into otherworldly creatures. Brenda DeWaters designed the surrealist owl masks and vintage-inspired costumes.
Suite For Buster brings together nine dancers and three musicians in a swinging celebration of tap dance legend James “Buster” Brown. Having studied and performed with Brown, Jeannie Hill passes down Brown’s original choreography to UWSP students and develops a suite of dances to honor her late mentor. Hill commissioned Mathew Buchman, UWSP professor and director of jazz studies, to arrange a medley of some of Brown’s favorite tunes. Following an opening double-time tap routine, a high-spirited second line parade launches the dancers into joyous swing. An exchange of rhythmic wit erupts. Dancers and musicians banter in true jazz tradition. From goofball antics to poetic reverie, the message is universal: Take time to honor the cool “old people” you know.
The UWSP Department of Theatre & Dance announces Danstage 2011, an evening of dynamic concert dance featuring guest artist, Eddy Ocampo’s acclaimed work, Wipe, and original choreography by UWSP’s Dance faculty.
Danstage 2011 opens in UWSP’s Noel Fine Arts Center Studio Theatre on Friday, April 8th at 7:30 pm. Additional performances area at 7:30 on April 9th, 13th, 14th 15th and 16th with a 2:00 matinee on Sunday, April 10th.
Tickets are $17 for adults, $16 for senior citizens and $12 for youth. UWSP students with a valid ID may purchase advance tickets for $4.50 per show or, be admitted free the day of the show, if seats are still available. Tickets may be purchased at the University Information and Ticket counter in the concourse of the Dreyfus University Center, by calling (715) 346-4100 or (800) 838-3378, or online at www.uwsp.edu/centers/uit/ordering.asp. Visa, MasterCard and Discover are accepted.
For more detail and commentary on the show visit the Danstage 2011 Blog: uwspdanstage.blogspot.com.
Chicago guest choreographer Eddy Ocampo worked with UWSP Theatre & Dance students twice this semester – in January to audition his cast and again during February to restage his 2007 compelling, Wipe. A Chicago native, Ocampo has danced with the Joel Hall Dancers, River North Chicago Dance Company and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago in addition to enjoying an international career as a master teacher and award-winning choreographer. Ocampo’s chorographic residency was funded in part by the COFAC Great Artists Great Speakers Series.
The choreographic structure of Wipe is based on a stage wipe that occurs throughout the piece. The dancers travel in a line from stage right to stage left and vice versa. The initial idea came with the intent that something new would happen every time a stage wipe occurs. Eventually, the stage wipe took on a role as a governing entity and controlled the dancers throughout the piece. The costumes are wedding dresses - beautiful, yet confining and restricting. The story that developed is based on the premise that although something can be beautiful, as the wedding dresses are, it still can be restricting and inhibiting. The full-bodied choreography is challenging enough without wearing the dresses; performed in the dresses, the dancers struggle to exist within these beautiful confines. At the end one dancer breaks free from the struggle, while the rest are still controlled by the wipe.
In Joan Karlen’s contemporary ballet, Trace, dancers move fluidly through projected tree scenes as their paths are echoed by patterns of appearing and dissolving text. Karlen’s inspiration for the work began last summer while bicycling through the verdant forests of Stevens Point’s Green Circle Trail. After, while participating in The Banff New Media Institute’s Interactive Screens summit, she met Canadian software author Travis Kirton and was introduced to Text Draw and Type Is, software programs that allow text to flow from a pen tip as one draws.
In Trace, projected text paths echo the dancers’ movements. The set is enriched by Wisconsin artist Rafael Francisco Salas’ landscape paintings. Salas, whose work has been cited by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as “one of the best painters working in Wisconsin today,” creates images that evoke a sense of memory and dreams. The resulting themes of generation and illumination are supported by Gary Olsen’s light and Susan Sherwin’s costume design. TJ Searl designed props and is technical coordinator.
Choreographed by Michael Estanich, A Classical Dance I is an ebullient dance inspired by choreographer Paul Taylor’s iconic work Esplanade. The cast of 14 run, skip, dive, fall and leap through the air. Set to Franz Hoffmeister’s Allegro from Violin Concerto in D Major, the dance summons a giddy freedom expressed through a contemporary movement vocabulary and delightful musical interplays.
Michael Estanich’s new dance-theatre work, The Attic Room, examines modes of escapism, and can be considered a fantasy. The set design evokes the private atmosphere of an attic and establishes the main metaphor of confinement and escape. Through a series of vignettes the group of nine dancers navigate uncharted waters of the imagination, transforming themselves into otherworldly creatures. Brenda DeWaters designed the surrealist owl masks and vintage-inspired costumes.
Suite For Buster brings together nine dancers and three musicians in a swinging celebration of tap dance legend James “Buster” Brown. Having studied and performed with Brown, Jeannie Hill passes down Brown’s original choreography to UWSP students and develops a suite of dances to honor her late mentor. Hill commissioned Mathew Buchman, UWSP professor and director of jazz studies, to arrange a medley of some of Brown’s favorite tunes. Following an opening double-time tap routine, a high-spirited second line parade launches the dancers into joyous swing. An exchange of rhythmic wit erupts. Dancers and musicians banter in true jazz tradition. From goofball antics to poetic reverie, the message is universal: Take time to honor the cool “old people” you know.
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