NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR Welcome to Thought in Motion, the University Dance Theatre fall 2019 production. This UDT program presents the vibrant and compelling dance work of three choreographers, each of whom are responding to social issues within the complex and often contradictory times in which we live. Each year the University Dance Program is honored to host national and international Cowles Visiting Artists. Our 2019 UDT concert presents the work of two of these dance artists, choreographers Andrea Miller of Brooklyn-based Gallim Dance and Robert Moses from San Francisco. The program also showcases the work of faculty choreographer Leslie Parker. The Dance Program’s mission is the education and research of contemporary dance in global contexts. As you will witness today, our dance students strive to realize the full intention and embodiment of each choreographer’s vision, making this UDT concert a defining moment in their educational and artistic journeys as thinking dancers and dancing thinkers.
2019 is a landmark year for the Dance Program, as we celebrate 20 years in the Barbara Barker Center for Dance on the west bank campus. Barbara Barker was instrumental in garnering dance a prominent position in the College of Liberal Arts. She enlisted the generous support of the late Sage Cowles to provide the endowed chair which has offered our students the chance to work intimately with some of the world’s most important dance artists, choreographers, scholars and composers to share their artistic gifts and modes of thinking with our students.
I’d like to thank our dance students, Cowles Coordinator Nora Jenneman, Rehearsal Assistant Laura Selle-Virtucio, Production Manager Mike Grogan, and all of the participating students and faculty in the Theater Program. Please consider making a financial contribution to support our curriculum and brilliant students. Enjoy the performance!
With gratitude, Erin Thompson UDT Director
Cause (2004)
Choreography Rehearsal Direction Text Sound & Music Lighting Design Costume Design
Robert Moses Erin Thompson Poets of Youth Speaks Jonathan Norton Dan Featherstone Soap Curtis
Dancers Romeo Cannady Rahila Coats Morgan Cogley Suzette Gilreath Tiffany Johnson
Allie Kunesh Milo Sachse-Hofheimer Maria Strittmater Megan Sullivan Elliana Vesely
Understudies
Aubrey Clark Eve Hanson Arcadia Langmead
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In Search of Colors (premiere)
Choreography & Direction Composition/Soundscape Lighting Design Costume Design Media Design Scenic Consultant
Leslie Parker Dameun Strange Ellie Simonett Rhiannon Fiskradatz Alexa Lewis Katherine Edwards
Dancers & Collaborators Tori Breen Gabriella Carey Suzette Gilreath Ava Izenstark
Mia Johnson Ashley Pyle Tessa Russ
A special thank you to Talvin Wilks and Ellie Simonett for their contributions to dramaturgy.
----intermission----
Wonderland (excerpt, 2010)
Choreography Restaging Artists Rehearsal Direction Original Sound Design
Andrea Miller Dan Walczak, Haley Sung Laura Selle Virtucio Jakub Kiupinski & Cristina Spinei of Blind Ear Music Vincent Vigilante Matthew Gawryk Jose Solis Keegan Mahin Orchestra Marzizza, Chopin, Black Dice, Tim Hecker, Michel Bokanowski, Sebastien Agneessens, and Kyle Fische Remix courtesy of the Alan Lomax Foundation
Original Lighting Design Lighting Reconstruction Original Costume Design Costume Reconstruction Music
Dancers Andre Allen Hunter Batterson Abby Beckers Tori Breen Rahila Coats Lily Conforti Jacqui Gerlach
Kaitlyn Hawkins Ava Izenstark Ashley Pyle Tessa Russ Milo Sachse-Hofheimer Yangchee Yang
Understudies
Kimberly Crabb Johanna Engebretson
Concert Staff
UDT Director UDT Production Manager Stage Manager Assistant Stage Managers
Erin Thompson Mike Grogan Anna Meyer Rachel Kaisler Lila Sell
SAGE COWLES LAND GRANT CHAIR
Since 1987, through the generosity of Sage and John Cowles, University of Minnesota Dance has annually hosted four to six dance professionals of international renown in residencies ranging from one to ten weeks. The guests teach, choreograph new dance work, rehearse repertory, and lecture in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and the Twin Cities community at large. The Cowles Land Grant Chair connects nationally and internationally recognized artists and scholars with dance students, exposing them to contemporary artistry, masterworks and new thinking in dance studies.
2019/2020 Cowles Visiting Artists and Scholars
Gallim (restaging artist Dan Walczak with Haley Sung) Annie Hanauer Robert Moses J-Sun Noer Leslie Parker Tim Russell
ARTISTS Brooklyn-based company Gallim kneads movement into raw emotions, distills it from existential uncertainty and unleashes it onto unexpected yet captivating paths of communion between artists and audiences. Underpinned by penetrating physicality, virtuosity and Andrea Miller’s distinct approach to performance, the Company has an expansive language bridging theater, visual arts, music and fashion. Under the direction of founder, artistic director and choreographer Miller, Gallim is recognized for its powerful and transcendent works, movement language and commitment to the creative praxis. Over the past decade, the company has been invited to create and perform throughout the world in dance venues, museums, sites, fashion, film and festivals across the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, The Met Breuer, Frieze Festival, Art Basel, The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, Lincoln Center, BAM, the Guggenheim Museum in NY, The Kennedy Center, Spoleto USA, Grace Farms, The Glass House, Theatre National de Chaillot in Paris, Teatre Grec in Barcelona, Teatros Del Canal in Madrid and the Grand Theatre de la Ville de Luxembourg, among others.
ARTISTS Since founding Robert Moses’ Kin in 1995 in San Francisco, choreographer Robert Moses has created numerous works of varying styles and genres for his highly praised dance company. His work explores topics ranging from oral traditions in African American culture to the dark side of contemporary urban culture, to the simple joys of the expressive power of pure movement. Moses has worked collaboratively with numerous artists and organizations, among them Julia Adam, Margaret Jenkins, Alonzo King, Sara Shelton Mann, Joanna Haigood, SoVoSo, Marcus Shelby, Keith Terry, Frank Boehm, Will Power, Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble, Bill Morrison, Ann Galjour, David Worm, Kid Beyond and Youth Speaks. Moses has choreographed for Alvin Ailey American dance Theater, San Francisco Opera (La Forza del Destino, 2005), Philadanco, Cincinnati Ballet, Ailey 2, Wyliams/Henry Dance company, Eco Arts, Transitions Dance Company of the Laban Center in London, African Cultural Exchange (UK), Bare Bones (UK), Oakland Ballet, Moving People Dance, and Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company, among others. Most recently choreographed the film “AM – FM”, he has also choreographed for theater and opera, with major productions for the Lorraine Hansberry Theater, New Conservatory Theater, Los Angeles Prime Moves Festival (L.A.C.E.), and Olympic Arts Festival. Robert Moses’ Kin is the recipient of multiple Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, the Bonnie Bird North American Choreography Award, the SF Weekly Black Box Award for Choreography, and the SF Bay Guardian Goldie Award in Dance. RMK has performed at many nationally esteemed venues such as Lincoln Center, the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Fall for Dance/City Center, Bates Dance Festival, Colorado Dance Festival and Black Choreographers Moving Toward the 21st Century.
Leslie Parker is native to the Rondo community of St. Paul, MN. She is a dance artist, performer, maker, improvisor and educator with a rigorous research and practice in dance, fusing forms derived from the African Diaspora. She designed Moving Dialogue for Non-Violence, a platform to use dance for social change at Broadway Women’s Shelter in Brooklyn and at The Family Place in St. Paul. Leslie has worked, studied and researched and collaborated with Urban Bush Women, Ron Brown, Nia Love, Baba Chuck Davis, Laurie Carlos, Reggie Wilson, Nii Yaartey and Kariamu Welsh among others. She is a Bessie award recipient and a Jerome Hill Foundation Artist Fellow. As creator of Leslie Parker Dance Projects, her work has been performed at venues such as the Southern Theater, Frey Theater, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center, Painted Bride, Roseville Women’s Correctional Facility, Judson Church, Pillsbury House Theater, Center for Performance Research Harlem Stage’s Emoves 13, and New York Live Arts.
ARTISTS Haley Sung is originally from South Korea, where she received Korean folk dance and ballet training at the age of eight. She earned her B.F.A. in Dance from University of the Arts with a “Promising Artist” Scholarship in May 2017. Haley further studied dance at The Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and has performed abroad in France, Korea, Italy, and Luxembourg. Haley first joined Gallim as an apprentice in 2017. Dan Walczak, based in Brooklyn, NY, has worked with Gallim since 2008. He has been a part of multiple world premieres and has taught and set work at colleges and institutions throughout the US. He has performed throughout Europe and North America and has presented his own work in Jackson Hole, WY, and the Performing Arts Project where he was on faculty in 2016 and 2018. Walczak has also worked with MADBOOTS DANCE, LoudHoundMovement and Patricia Noworol Dance Theater. Erin Thompson (Director) began her dance career with the Minnesota Dance Theatre and continued in New York City in the companies of Nina Wiener and Bebe Miller from 1980-1989. She received a New York Dance and Performance award, ‘BESSIE’, in 1986. Since 1992, Erin has been on the faculty of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Theater Arts and Dance as well as at Zenon Dance School, where she continues to provide advanced professional modern dance training for the Twin Cities dance community. She is also a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. Erin received a Sage Award for Outstanding Dance Educator in 2008, was voted City Pages “Best Dancer” in 2016, and is a 2019 McKnight Dancer Fellow.
Dameun Maurice Strange (Composition/Soundscape for In Search of Colors) is a sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, and award winning composer whose conceptual chamber works, choral pieces and operas are focused on stories of the African diaspora, often exploring afro surrealist and afrofuturist themes. Strange is compelled to express through sound and poetry, the beauty and resilience of the Black experience, digging into a pantheon of ancestors to tell stories of triumph, while connecting the past, present, and future. While his sound experiments have many dimensions, he often uses West African polyrhythms, with classical music forms, contemporary jazz harmonic explorations, along with found sounds and historic recordings to create modern afrofuturist performances that disrupt the notion of genre. Dameun currently explores using graphics scores and improvisational new music with his octet, Temple of the Nu. Dameun lives in Saint Paul, MN with his wife, Corina and son, Ezra. Like any good nerd, he enjoys a good sci-fi story and has a soft spot for anything related to astrophysics. www.dameunstrange.com
DANCE PROGRAM FACULTY & STAFF Director of Dance, Professor: Carl Flink Professors: Ananya Chatterjea, Joanie Smith Associate Professor: Gindy Garcia Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies and Dance Program Coordinator: Nora Jenneman Executive and Administrative Office Specialist: Andrea Reynolds Student Office Assistant: Rose Johnson Musician in Residence: Michelle Kinney Technical Coordinator: Mike Grogan Lecturers /Full Time Instructional Staff: Maggie Bergeron, Leslie Parker Senior Teaching Specialist /Full Time Instructional Staff: Erin Thompson Teaching Specialist /Full Time Instructional Staff: Laura Selle-Virtucio Instructional Staff: Sarah Baumert, Lynn Dennis, Allison Doughty, Andrea DuCane, Penelope Freeh, Rebecca Frost, Mike Grogan, Karla Grotting, Mathew Janczewski, Herbert Johnson, Erin Jorich, Michelle Kinney, Associate Professor Diyah Larasati (GWSS), Ryan-Olivia McCoy, Kaleena Miller, Jason Noer, Barbara Nordstrom-Loeb, Abdo Sayegh Rodriguez, Eve Schulte, Marciano Silva Dos Santos, Darrius Strong, Linda Talcott-Lee, Rebecca Trost, Kristin Van Loon, Tina Wallum, Elayna Waxse, Arwen Wilder, Taja Will Musicians: Joel Arpin, Andrew Bocher, Yan Pang Clark, Mamadou Gueye, Marya Hart, Taji Malik Hill, Eric Jensen, Michelle Kinney, Babatunde Lea, Joe Strachan, Bruce Wintervold, Ahanti Young
SCENERY AND PROPERTIES Resident Scenic Designer Technical Director Assistant Technical Director Scenic Charge Artist Props Coordinator MFA Shop Staff Undergraduate Shop Staff
Practicum Students
Stage Run Crew
Chelsea Warren Jason Allyn-Schwerin Zeb Hults Angelique Powers Abbee Warmboe Justin Parks, Arina Slobodianik Killian Coffinet-Crean, Katie Edwards, Ella Egan, Angie Gagliano, Sarah Hasker, Josh Koser, Alexa Lewis, Remmi Middleton, Taylor Robers, Ella Van Haren Noah Branch, Soap Curtis, Lydia French, Jonathan Haller, Wesley Hortenbach, Patrick Kennedy, Remmi Middleton, Juncheng Mu, Zachary Sanders, Renee Schwarz, Imanuela SequeiraRibein, Katrina Soholt, Carolyn Solberg, Caroline vanVilet, Ruby Wesley Bradley Johnson, Sophia Louwagie
LIGHTING
Resident Lighting Designer Lighting Supervisor Master Electrician Assistant Master Electrician Light Board Programmer Light Board Operator MFA Shop Staff Undergraduate Shop Staff Practicum Students
COSTUMES
Resident Costume Designer Costume Shop Supervisor Costume Draper First Hands/Undergraduate Shop Staff Wardrobe Crew Chiefs MFA Shop Staff Practicum Students
Costume Run Crew
AUDIO & MEDIA
Audio/Media Supervisor Sound/Media Board Operator MFA Shop Staff Undergraduate Shop Staff Practicum Student
STAGE MANAGEMENT Production Stage Manager Practicum Students
Marcus Dilliard Bill Healey Smaida Rizzotto Lila Sell Dustin Morache Andre’ Hardy Matthew Gawryk, Patricia Goodson, Smaida Rizzotto Dan Featherstone, Rose Hogan, Lila Sell, Ellie Simonett, Evette Star Brittany Brederson, Martin Cruz-Gonzalez, David DeNeui, Angie Gagliano, Grace Hillmyer, Minha Jee, Alexandra Jorndt, Rachel Kaisler, Yan Yu Khoo, Ethan Lizotte, Robert McGrady, Andrea Narveson, Lila Sell, Mark Sun, Catherine Vorwald Mathew J. LeFebvre Susan Binder-Pettigrew Kathleen McCarron Diana Chen, Soap Curtis, Kierney Gray, Riley Kelly, Yan Yu Khoo, Miki Lim, Claire Looker, Emily Rosenberg
Diana Chen, Soap Curtis, Riley Kelly, Miki Lim, Claire Looker Ani Mosity Abram Blitz, Sabrina Diehl, Amber Frederick, Jacob Greathouse, Denys Karia, Rashid Massie Jr., Katelyn McLane, Emily Pofahl, Emmalee Pommer, Gabrielle Stephens, Ruby Wesley Libby Borash, Maddie Jochims, Madeline Wall Montana Johnson Rose Hogan
Dustin Morache Alexa Lewis, Rachel Tennier, Julie Zumsteg David Meis Christine Swartwout Keivin Vang
MARKETING AND FRONT OF HOUSE Marketing & Communications Amy Esposito Specialist Celia Bizien, Katie Tolliver Graphic Designers Marketing Associates Madi Boveri, Ginger Dallin, Emily Rosenberg, Gracie Stockton Head House Manager Amber Johnson House Managers Ginger Dallin, John Patterson, Emily Rosenberg, Gracie Stockton Michael Haubner, Caeley Hanson, Phong Le, Practicum Students Claire Loveall, Gretchen Nelson, Kassidy Wellnitz
HELP US SOAR Your tax-deductible contribution provides our students with encouragement and vital financial support. It gives our faculty resources for enlarging knowledge and understanding. It helps to build and sustain a distinguished reputation for the department. Your contribution allows us to ensure: • A distinguished faculty: creating endowed chairs and professorships and supporting interdisciplinary research centers and programs will help us recruit and retain outstanding faculty. • Excellence and competitiveness of our graduate program: faculty choose institutions that attract the best graduate students. We need to ensure the excellence and competitiveness of our graduate programs so that we may compete for the best faculty and brightest students. • A diverse and engaged undergraduate student body: although we are attracting better students than ever before, too many other outstanding students choose other institutions— often for financial reasons. Merit and need-based scholarships are needed to recruit many outstanding students. Visit z.umn.edu/GIVETAD or call (612) 624-2848
ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE ARTS & DANCE Creating, studying, and producing works of theatre and dance that educate our students and our diverse audiences about the performing arts and the social issues and human emotions that the arts speak to so powerfully.
BA in Theatre Arts
Through programs in design/technology, performance, and history/literature, the BA in Theatre Arts explores the process of theatrical creation. Each program invites students to develop and articulate creative choices and think critically about their consequences through a variety of techniques. These include close textual analysis, historical contextualization, physical approaches to performance, and collaborative creation.
BFA in Acting
The University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program offers an undergraduate training curriculum, which leads to a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree. In a unique actor training partnership, The University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and the Guthrie Theater combine outstanding academic preparation with the artistic vision of the internationally known Guthrie Theater.
BA in Dance
The BA in dance emphasizes general studies of contemporary dance in a global context. This degree prepares the student for further studies in such areas of dance as performance, choreography, dance theory, teaching, arts management, movement therapy, and kinesiology.
BFA in Dance
The BFA in dance emphasizes excellence in technique, composition, performance, and dance studies. The program accepts students through a rigorous audition and prepares them through subsequent training designed to support professional careers in performance, creative or discursive work, or further studies.
MFA in Design & Technology
The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Design & Technology is awarded to students who explore challenges in the areas of scenery/properties, costuming, lighting, sound design and technology with an emphasis in at least one of these areas. It is a rigorous program based on the belief that good designers must have a solid understanding of each area of design in order to be able to communicate and collaborate well with the other designers, technicians, and directors. We believe that technology is an integral tool of design and seek to balance the education of the student in both areas.
PhD in Theatre Historiography
The University of Minnesota offers a unique graduate program drawing from the varied research expertise of its core faculty. Together, we are committed to the study of theatre and performance as practices of social, cultural, and political consequence. Our work in theatre historiography and performance criticism examines the stakes of acts of representation, movement, and meaning-production within and outside of the discipline of theatre.
COMING SOON The Skriker
February 27 - March 7, 2020 By Caryl Churchill Directed by Lisa Channer Stoll Thrust Theatre z.umn.edu/Skriker
The Merchant of Venice
April 2 - 5, 2020 Written by William Shakespeare Directed by Steve Cardamone Performed by the BFA Acting Second Year Company Stoll Thrust Theatre z.umn.edu/MerchantofVenice
CONTACT US www.TheatreDance.umn.edu (612) 625-6699 theatre@umn.edu | umdance@umn.edu Follow us on social media @UMTAD
To purchase tickets please visit z.umn.edu/UMTAD or call (612) 624-2345.
For more information on performances, press inquiries, or ASL interpreting (or any other disability-related accomodations) please contact Amy Esposito at aesposit@umn.edu.