FWDC’s Choreographer’s Lab nurtures budding choreographers
Every year the Fort Wayne Dance Collective offers an opportunity to budding choreographers and interested dancers to participate in our Choreographers Lab performance. As part of our goal to nurture artists and creative process, we hold a performance consisting of several pieces choreographed by new and upcoming artists.
This was last February’s lineup of artists and their dances. It was a very inspiring event and we look forward to doing it again next year and seeing what Fort Waynes’ new and innovative choreographers and performers have in store for us!
A few of the proposals from last February:
- Local high school students Erlinda Wall and Lacy Smith are performing a piece not yet titled
- Long-time FWDC teacher Becca Wegner presenting “By Your Side”, about a relationship between a mother and child.
- New York native Vicki Gallagher presenting “In Memoriam”, a dedication to the loved ones we’ve lost.
- Peter Johnson with “Birth, Play”, a Spanish dance.
- FWDC veteran Linda Bess performs a piece not yet titled, featuring the use of scarves, silence, candles, and more.
- Amanda Brostek and Bree Rudd and their piece, “Society’s Canvas”, about peer pressure and how it can effect a person.
- Guest Artist Bob Eisen, founder of Link’s Hall in Chicago, presenting a piece after returning to the US from studying in Russia.
Many people are surprised at the size and diversity of Fort Wayne’s arts scene. Thanks to large supporting organizations like the Foellinger Foundation, Arts United, and lots of others, we can all coexist easily and peacefully.
So rather than compete with our fellow arts nonprofits, we often find ourselves able to collaborate! And that’s just what we’re doing with the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir next week.
FWDC is taking part in “Rejoice”, a holiday-themed program put on by the Children’s Choir at Holy Cross Lutheran Church on December 3 and 4.
We are coordinating several different dance groups to perform while the Children’s Choir sings: Our own adult modern dancers, South Side HS dancers (directed by Brittney Coughlin), Studio 149 (directed by Tricia Graf), the Weisser Park Elementary Dance Troupe, and the Mikautadze Dance Theatre, choreographed by our friend and teacher Elizabeth Mikautadze.
Sound like a lot of dancers? It is! There’s 30 minutes of choreography (which is a lot in our books), so we have lots of enthusiastic performers to keep up the energy, keep choreography fresh, and to fill the stage. We hope you’ll come see it. You can get tickets through FWDC (by calling 260-424-6574), or through the FW Children’s Choir.
In the meantime, tonight is our big dance dress rehearsal. Wish us luck!
It’s the week of the Dark Dance, Deadly Tongue at the Dance Collective, and the office is buzzing. Our phones have been ringing more than usual with ticket buyers (have you bought yours yet? We’re selling fast!), we’ve been getting calls from the media (Check us out in Thursday’s Whatzup and News-Sentinel, and Friday in the Journal Gazette!), and our Elliot studio is morphing into the Elliot Studio Theatre, a fully lit performance space that will hold 80 audience members!
Larry Kenner, a local educator and talented arts photographer, came to Sunday’s tech rehearsal and took some great pictures of the show. Here’s a taste, below! Also, check out the PBS ArtsWeekly website to watch the program online, and see an interview with Liz Savannah Serbin!
Meanwhile, call us at 424-6574 if you’d like a ticket.
Hope to see you this weekend!
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.
More information coming soon!
Performances:
- Friday, December 10 @ 7 p.m.
- Saturday, December 11 @ 7 p.m.
- Sunday, December 12 @ 2 p.m.
Tickets are $12 adults and $10 children, and all performances are held at the FWDC Elliot Studio Theatre at 437 E. Berry St.
FWDC is pleased to present Dark Dance, Deadly Tongue, a Halloween-themed concert featuring the spooky work of 10 local choreographers. It promises to be just as popular as last year’s sold-out Eaten Alive: 7 Deadly Sins.
Hilary Andersen performs as an Angel of the Inbetween during 2009's Eaten Alive: Seven Deadly Sins. Photo by Andy Welfle.
Choreographers and their pieces:
- “The Dark Shadow” by Britney Tun
- “Where the Demon Waits” by Savannah Serban
- “Spook Machine” by Heidi Prussing
- “Till Death” by Alison Gerardot
- “The House that Visits” by Liz Monnier
- “Never Ending Nightmare” by Jamie Grabner and Jessica Williams
- “Facing the Internal” by Becca Wegner
- “Se Vita Privare” by Kara Wilson
- “Beauty’s Descent” by Elizabeth Mikautadze
Performances:
- Friday, October 22 @ 7 p.m. SOLD OUT!
- Saturday, October 23 @ 7 p.m. SOLD OUT!
- Sunday, October 24 @ 2 p.m. SOLD OUT!
Thank you for making this production a success! Unfortunately, we’re not able to add performances, but check us out next Halloween for a bigger and spookier show!
This performance is not appropriate for children.
We are really fortunate to have an opportunity to perform at the Main Branch of the Allen County Public Library on Saturday. It’s Books Alive!, a program for children and their caretakers, involving books. FWDC has a commitment to teaching literacy through movement, and based on our selection of books… well, let’s let Liz tell us in this great YouTube video Melissa Kiser at ACPL made:
As Liz said, since we take this show throughout Indiana, we don’t often get a chance to perform it here. If you want to see another successful side of FWDC you may not have experienced, this is the place to be.
Check us out, but space is limited! The library is offering tickets through the childrens’ department starting at 9:00 am.
One of our goals at the Dance Collective is to foster burgeoning local dance and movement initiatives. A new called, called [undefined]movers, is a comptemporary dance company formed by Kristin Benner, Chelsea Harkelroad and Janae Stewart, who met at Hope College.
They’ll be performing in our space in the Elliot Studio next Saturday, July 17 at 7:00 pm. From their press release:
The performance will consist of five diverse contemporary dance pieces. Ms. Benner choreographed two pieces, one of which entitled “Kicks and Gigs” was originally created and performed for the student choreographed and student led dance performance at Hope College. The second piece she choreographed is called “Amidst”, which is a solo performed to live acoustic guitar played by Adam Nelson. Ms. Harkelroad choreographed a duet that Ms. Stewart has reset entitled “Aviemore” exploring the journey of a relationship through movement as well as the finale, “Scarce”. A collaboration jazz piece called “After Hours” is a piece coming to life before the audience eyes as the dances improvise to the original jazz score by a jazz band. The musicians, Mike Bass, Kin Fong, Mike Reynolds, and James Sa recorded music specifically for this performance called “After Hours”. Harkelroad will also present a work-in-progress called “You Say”.
Tickets are a steal at $2, and are only available at the door. We hope you can make it!
A picture of the sky from Friday Night's Storm, via Indiana's NewsCenter.
Wow. What a weekend.
It’s ironic that last year’s June concert was called Mother Nature’s Nightmare, because this year, it really lived up to that title. In case you didn’t know, our Friday King’s Curse family concert was ended prematurely by high wind/tornado sirens going off. Our 140 cast members spent about 45 minutes in the basement, while our 450 audience members were asked to remain in the auditorium. The temperature dropped 15 degrees, it started hailing, and the sky looked like something out of the beginning of the Wizard of Oz.
Despite no tornadoes actually touching down, I think it was the right thing to do. Between the sirens, the sheets of rain, and the extremely high winds, it could have easily turned into a tornado situation, and when you have a cast consisting mostly of 3-12 year-olds, it’s better safe than sorry. And luckily, the Arts United Center is maybe literally the safest building in Fort Wayne. Between its box-within-a-box architecture, and the foot-thick concrete walls, it’s going to take a lot more than a tornado to penetrate that building. Having a few upset parents is better than even the small chance of severe weather injuring one of our students.
We’d like to apologize to our wonderful cast, to their dedicated parents, and the audience members who attended the performance. Although we got through the story portion of the concert, we were unable to finish the final dance number, the curtain call, and the awards ceremony. We’d also like to thank all of the above, as well as the Arts United Center staff for their quick actions to keep us safe.
Incidentally, I attended the Northeast Indiana Public Radio wine tasting dinner the next night at the Arts United Center (which was a fabulous event as well), and the fire alarm went off because of a contained kitchen fire. I think I need to steer clear of that place — it looks like I’m bringing the King’s Curse with me!
Please stay tuned for an upcoming post highlighting those who have been honored as a award recipient. Also: did you attend the event? Any thoughts, testimonials, or comments on the performance? Let us know in the comments below.
The first of a series of "King's Curse" rehearsals Saturday Morning, June 5.
The office is always buzzing this time of the year. We’re less than two weeks away from our June family Concert, “The King’s Curse”. We have a record 141 cast members this year!
Let me repeat that. One hundred and forty-one cast members. The majority of them are children.
Any big production involves some amount of chaos, and this is going to be no different. We have the Teardrops and the Knitters, both classes of 3-5 year-olds, We have Jesters, Witches, Drama Queens, Horses, Crabs, Bats, and more. Much more. Our narrow hallway has been clogged with dancers, parents, and crew members, and it’s been a challenge communicating details about the big performance to the masses.
Challenging, but fun.
It’s always amazing to me, even after working through 3 of these shows previously, how Liz and a score of other teachers and production people take a story, break it down into individual class dances, and then piece it together again. Although I participate in the crafting of the story along with the other FWDC staffers, Liz and our teachers make it happen. With rehearsal and time, the chaos melts into an hour-long story dance that is utterly charming.
If you’d like to come see the magic that is created by 141 dancers, let me know. Tickets are on sale for $12 (and $10 if you have a child 12 or younger)
The King’s Curse
An original story-dance concert by
the Fort Wayne Dance Collective
WHEN: Friday, June 18, 7:00 pm
WHERE: Arts United Center, 303 E. Main St.
COST: $12 adults, $10 children 12 and under
Fort Wayne Dance Collective is proud to present “The King’s Curse,” an original story-dance concert, performed by local students, ranging in age from 3 years old to adult. The concert is happening Friday, June 18, 2010 at 7:00 pm at the Arts United Center, 303 E. Main St. Tickets are $12 for adults, and $10 for children 12 and under. For tickets, call (260) 424-6574 or email info@fwdc.org.
In the story, the King and the Queen hold a grand ball, and send out invitation by carrier pigeons. The pigeon heading to deliver one to Madam Thorndye, the local pharmacist and sorceress gets lost. The invitation is never delivered. Angry and vengeful, she puts a curse on the King.
The curse plagues the King with four demons: Guilt, Fear, Blame and Grudge. Over the hour-long concert, the King must learn to deal with these demons, and win back the friends and family he alienates.
“The King’s Curse” features local theatre stalwarts Reuben Albaugh and Gloria Minnich as the King and Queen, and local artist Cheryl Spieth-Gardiner as Madame Thorndye. A whole host of other dancers play parts in the story as well, including local belly dancers led by Jordana bint Zweena, and students in FWDC’s adult modern and ballet classes. The biggest hit of the concert is always the 3-year old Creative Movement students, who play the Teardrops. There will be a unique dance adapted from the ancient Chinese movement form T’ai Chi, created and choreographed by FWDC Artistic Director Liz Monnier, as well as a special appearance by the FWDC adult creative movement class at Bi-County Services, as they play the Council of the Wicked.
For photograph and video opportunities, FWDC will be holding dress rehearsals Saturday, June 5 from 8:45-11:30 AM at the FWDC studios, Saturday, June 12 from 8:30-11 AM at the FWDC studios, Wednesday, June 16 from 6-8:30 PM at the Arts United Center, and Thursday, June 17 from 6-8:30 PM at the Arts United Center. Please contact Andy Welfle to schedule a time to capture video and photos.
The Fort Wayne Dance Collective is funded in part by