Spring Inspirations

Kanopy Dance Company in Concert

Spring is a time of renewal and growth—a fitting season for Kanopy’s emerging Modern dance choreographers "to strut their stuff." This lively and exhilarating event will show off the best and the brightest among Kanopy Dance Company’s own performers by presenting their own original works. The program will resonate with all ages.

Five new dances with choreography by local artists Anca Cristina Botez, Erica Akiko Howard, Brianne Schenkel, Jessica Vokoun, and regional guest artist Emily Serafy Cox will be premiered.

Produced by Kanopy Dance Company in the Wisconsin Studio of the Overture Center for the Arts

Performances: May 19-21, 2005

Thursday through Saturday, May 19, 20 & 21, 2005, at 8:00 p.m. and Saturday & Sunday,
May 21 & 22 at 3:00 p.m. in the Wisconsin Studio of the Overture Center for the Arts.

Tickets are $20; Call the Overture Center Box Office at (608) 258-4141.

For further information call Kanopy at 608.255.2211 or visit www.kanopydance.org

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Choreographers’ comments

Anca Cristina Botez—“Waterwind is an exploration of how interpretive modern movements pertain to the elements of water and wind. Fluid formations, wave situations, and spinney wind movements are accompanied by Bobby McFerrin’s Circle Song 2 & Circle Song 5—perfect for a dance created in 2005.”

Erica Akiko Howard—“Wabi sabi (a Japanese concept evoking a sense of beauty in the inherent imperfections of natural or old things) is for three dancers set to modern classical music by composer Toru Takemitsu. The general theme is of how meditation and meditative movement bring not just navel-gazing serenity (being ‘blissed out’), but also an awareness of the rawness of unfiltered reality. This awareness helps us to appreciate the world and its possibilities as they are, rather than nursing our disappointment that we do not live in a perfect, static utopia. While not using any traditionally Asian movement, I will be going for a Buddhist sensibility and a Japanese aesthetic.”

Brianne Schenkel—“Passage is a continuation of my most recent solo Passage (2004), with music by Michael Nyman. Passage is divided into movements representing the whirl of emotions that comes from choosing a path. The first movement of Passage illustrates leaving behind the past with uncertainty, hesitation, and fear of the unknown future. It is also a reflection on giving thanks for the journey and the knowledge that has led to the next path. The newest movement of Passage is the beginning of that new path. We see the embrace of the unknown and a coming into the present, a channel of light appears as a guide and the journey continues.”

Jessica Vokoun—“Momentum is a large ensemble number; a study of the dynamics of motion. Parts feel like clockwork, a machine; there are more organic moments, but it builds to cacophony of physical energy. The music is by the Kronos Quartet.”

Emily Serafy Cox—“Grain—a single dancer reveals the grains that run through her. Grains of sand that weigh her limbs and hold her to her place of comfort. Grains of wood along which she can move, reach, change, and follow new paths in her life and her movement. In the tensions between these grains lie uncertainty and a shifting landscape of hope and despair. As the title Grain implies, this work follows a detailed, winding, and subtle path through the space of stage, the dancer’s body, and the emotions of earning and struggle. Despite the piece’s abstract thematic structure, Grain is not meant to be a universal framework for a certain set of emotions. Rather, the piece’s tone, and indeed the motions of the individual dancer’s body spring from the specific dancer’s own experience in the moment of performance. The music selected is The Rachel's song: Family Portrait.”