Don’t miss the FWDC this Friday, May 11 at 7pm at the Fort Wayne Tincaps game as we show the video of Johnny Tincap learning to dance at the FWDC during National Dance Week! We will be working the Fort Wayne Dance Collective booth before, and during the game this Friday, as well as debuting the video on the big screen. We hope you’ll join us in laughing…I mean cheering Johnny on during his crash course in Dance 101. (Truth be told, we taught the Bad Apple Dancers a thing or two as well.) Stop by our booth a pick up a new Summer class schedule, sign up for our newsletter, or just say hello! We hope to see you all there! If you can’t make the game, we will be posting the video on our website and Facebook page in the near future.
Don’t miss this hilarious…err, educational video!
Join the Fort Wayne Dance Collective at South Side High School Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27 at 7pm in the auditorium for the SSHS Dance Program’s annual Spring Concert! This performance is always a treat! Help keep this amazing dance program going by attending the performance and supporting this outreach program of the FWDC. We would appreciate any donations you can make to the Fort Wayne Dance Collective Outreach/Scholarship campaign to allow these talented students to continue dancing. This performance will feature four different dance classes showcasing multiple pieces, a collaborative dance between North Side High School and South Side High School dance students, the first ever classical ballet piece and more! Don’t miss your chance to support these talented and passionate students, and the many outreach programs of the FWDC! Admission is just $7 for adults and $5 for students. We hope to see you all at South Side!
There will be NO classes next week April 2-7 during Spring Break except Monday morning T’ai Chi w/ Nancy Woollacott, Monday evening Cont. Modern Dance & Improv. w/ Liz Monnier, and Wednesday evening Cont. Ballet & Modern w/ Elizabeth Mikautadze. All classes will resume April 9.
Also, be sure to tune into Arts Weekly on PBS39 this Sunday, April 1 at 7:30 pm to catch Artistic Director, Liz Monnier talking with Chuck O’Connor about RUBBERBANDance Group’s upcoming performance, Lecture/Demonstration and Master Class, etc. You can catch this interview on FIOS channels 3 & 470, Comcast channels 3 & 240, or Digital channel 39.1. Have a safe and relaxing Spring Break!
Be sure to get your tickets in advance for this ONE-TIME ONLY performance by international dance sensation, RUBBERBANDance Group from Montréal, Canada coming up April 14 at the Arts United Center. The doors open at 7 pm and performance starts at 8 pm. Adult advance tickets are $22/$27 at-the-door, Students advance tickets are $20/$25 at-the-door, and $18 for groups of 10 or larger. Why pay full price, when you can get a group of friends and family together and pay just $18? For just $5 you can attend the Lecture/Demonstration April 13 at 4pm at the Arts United Center, 303 E. Main St. and attend the Master Class in the FWDC Elliot Studio 437 E. Berry St., Downtown Ft. Wayne for just $25! Just imagine, a chance to dance with international dance sensation RUBBERBANDance Group! Call 260.424.6574 to reserve your spot today, but better hurry, space for the Master Class is limited.
To order tickets for the lecture/demonstration or the performance and to enroll in the master class, please call 260.424.6574 or email info@fwdc.org.
RUBBERBANDance Group is a tribe of five dancers who move like spiders, spending as much time on all fours and upside-down as they do vertically. They use their legs like arms, their feet like hands. They do not dance with rubber bands but rather like them, unpredictable and flexible. RUBBERBANDance Group was founded in 2002 by choreographer and dancer, Victor Quijada to create an exploratory base where he could blend several dance influences resulting in a new concept of how dancers can move through space. Borrowing from yoga, modern dance, ballet, and hip-hop, RUBBERBANDance Group presents a unique vision of contemporary dance theatre. The presentations of the company are also rich in its exploration of human relationships concentrating on psychological constructs and emotional conflicts. Their work provides a cultural bridge between the traditional and nontraditional arts.
The piece they are bringing to the Fort Wayne audiences this spring is titled “Gravity of Center,” and as you may guess, their center of gravity is not what you’d expect. The 75-minute non-stop piece had me reminding myself to breathe. They appear tough in costumes that resemble rehearsal clothes, and the red socks worn by one female dancer catch my attention against the gray and brown tones of the other clothes. The piece is dark with it’s lighting design and the layering of relationship dramas which find it’s way into duets, trio’s, quartets and solos. What is this dance? It cannot be defined in terms you might identify as modern dance, break dancing, ballet, street dance but rather a unique blend. And as you watch “Gravity of Center,” it really doesn’t matter what you call it because it is just. …well, amazing. There is so much happening that when there is a pause, it is welcomed, as I became as exhausted as they were even though the movement itself seemed effortless. The sound score by Jasper Guhunia changed so incrementally that I never noticed that the quiet solo piano had transitioned into a percussive drum piece that somehow later became a cello piece with a little violin.
There is a story somewhere in “Gravity of Center,” but don’t bother trying to figure it out. The title is just a title, I believe based on how choreographer, Victor Quijada, decided to explore the movement by challenging the dancers to find different ways to find their center of gravity not only in themselves but as a group.
The two-day residency will start with a lecture-demonstration at the Arts United Center Friday April 13, 4 p.m. for the public. (It’s a deal at $5!) Following will be a master class at 7 p.m. held in the FWDC’s Elliot Studio Theatre. This is for the experienced dancer! Sign up soon as this workshop is limited to 25 and will fill up fast! RUBBERBANDance Group performs “Gravity of Center,” Saturday, April 14, at 8 p.m. at the Arts United Center. Visit fwdc.org/guest/artist for more information about RUBBERBANDance Group and other guest artists FWDC has hosted since 1989. Special thanks to Lincoln Financial Foundation, Wells Fargo Bank, and Arts Midwest for supporting this residency, and we look forward to seeing you at these events! Call 260.424.6574 to purchase tickets or for more information regarding this event.—Article By: Artistic Director, Liz Monnier
The full-length, edited DVD’s of the 2011 “Nuts & Crackers” performance are finished and ready for purchase! If you have already ordered your copy of the December 18, 2011 performance held in the South Side High School Auditorium, you may stop by the Fort Wayne Dance Collective anytime Monday-Thursday from 9-5 p.m., or Friday 9-3 p.m. to pick up your DVD. If you wish to order a copy, please call 424-6574 or email info@fwdc.org. It was a beautiful performance and we sincerely thank each and everyone of you for making it such a success! We hope you enjoyed the show, and with this DVD you may it enjoy it for years to come.
FWDC presents the works of budding local and regional choreographers in an intimate setting that provides the audience the unique opportunity to give the choreographers feedback…anonymously. We also had many more proposals for the Choreographers Lab performance February 18 and 19 than usual.
This year we will see choreography excerpts from Motus Dance Theatre’s “IN” performance from Indianapolis about “in-clusion.” We’ll also see student dancers from Weisser Park School, IPFW, North Side High School and South Side High School. Please come and support emerging artists!
Performances will be February 18 at 7 pm and February 19 at 2 pm in the FWDC’s Elliot Studio. Tickets are just $8 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.
Call 424-6574 or email info@fwdc.org for more information or to purchase tickets.
Fort Wayne Dance Collective is proud to present the “South Side High School Winter Dance Show.” The show will be held Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at the South Side High School Auditorium. The show begins at 7:00 p.m. and doors open at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $7, or $5 with a canned food item for the Community Harvest Food Bank. Please attend this show and show your support for the South Side High School Dance program!
“A marvel of speed, precision and invention”
-Dance Magazine“hip-hop mixed with ballet”
-Time Out Chicago
Every April since 1989, the Fort Wayne Dance Collective has brought a guest artist to Fort Wayne. This year, we are proud and thrilled to present RUBBERBANDance Group from Montréal, Canada. They will be performing the piece, Gravity of Center. After years of exploring dance and theatre from urban, classical and contemporary angles, Victor Quijada, Artistic Director/Choreographer, formed Rubberbandance Group in 2002. Presenting choreographic works that examine human relationships, this extraordinary collection of world-class dancers articulates the perfect marriage between explosive hip-hop physicality and the subtle profoundness of contemporary story telling. A combination of the narrative, the spectacular, and freedom of break dancing with the abstraction, nuances, and technique of contemporary dance results in a true hybrid of dance forms. Anne Plamondon joined the group in 2002 as a dancer and contributed highly to the growth and development of the company. She has been co-artistic director of RBDG since September 2005.
This breath-taking fusion of contemporary ballet and break dancing is sure to excite and amaze. Please save the date April 14, 2012 for this performance at the Arts United Center.
- Lecture/Demonstration-Friday, April 13 at 4:00 p.m. at the Arts United Center. Tickets are $5
- Master Class-Friday, April 13 at 7:00 pm Location FWDC Elliot Studio, 437 E. Berry St. Downtown, Fort Wayne. Cost is $25. Call 260.424.6574 for details.
- Performance-Saturday, April 14 at 8:00 p.m. at the Arts United Center, 303 E. Main St. Advance tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for students, At-the-door: $27 adults, $25 students. Special discounted tickets $18 for groups of 10 or larger. Please call FWDC (260) 424-6574 or email info@fwdc.org for further details.
In this annual holiday-themed performance, students from FWDC’s School for Movement Studies and Creative Process showcase what they’ve learned in the Fall semester. This year the performance will be held at the South Side High School Auditorium, and instead of having multiple shows, we will only be performing Sunday, December 18. We hope you will join us in some alternative holiday fun!
Performance:
- Sunday, December 18 @ 2 p.m.
Tickets are $12 adults and $10 children
Tickets will be available for purchase November 28. Email info@fwdc.org or call 424-6574 for more information.
FWDC will be having a Bring a Friend Week, October 19-26. During this week if you bring a friend to the FWDC they get to take a class with you for FREE! In return, IF THEY SIGN UP for classes, you receive 10% off your next session of classes! What a deal! Limit for the amount of friends you may bring to class is one per student. This includes ALL of our classes: teen/adult, parent/child, and child. So please, bring a friend to Yoga, Pilates, Ballet, Belly, Modern, Creative Movement, etc. Lets introduce as many people as we can to the Fort Wayne Dance Collective, and the wonderful things we do here!
