Dance Department presents Faculty Concert 2021, streamed live Feb. 12-14


The UW–Madison Dance Department presents its Faculty Concert 2021, a livestream event including dance works from faculty members Chris Walker, Karen McShane-Hellenbrand, Collette Stewart, and Maree ReMalia, and guest artist Kia Smith.

Dance Dept. Faculty Concert 2021The works have been scheduled in three separate programs and will be presented live between Friday, Feb. 12, and Sunday, Feb. 14, via the department’s YouTube channel.

“Abundant Us” will open the concert series on Friday evening. This work, by Maree ReMalia, is a piece for seven dancers exploring the limitations of and new possibilities for performance.

Professor Chris Walker’s video piece for two dancers, titled “Solos A&B: A duet of sorts,” will be presented during the Saturday program. The work explores the limitations of space, issues of access, and frustrations posed by our current circumstances. Also on Saturday, Collette Stewart will present a live performance of her ensemble work “Decompression,” a piece that uses dynamic movement and dry text to investigate feelings of stickiness and anxiety, the impermanent nature of these feelings, and the inevitability of starting over.

On Sunday, guest artist Kia Smith, the artistic director of the South Chicago Dance Theatre, will present “In the Yard,” a piece that pays homage to the working class of the American Gilded Age, set on 10 student dancers, and featuring an original score created by Timothy Russell, the Dance Department’s music director. Smith spent four weekends in residence at the Dance Department during the Fall 2020 semester virtually teaching masterclasses and setting her work on the students.

Smith’s work will follow Karen McShane-Hellenbrand’s “Portal,” an ensemble work set to a hauntingly unique musical arrangement that explores rituals and the role ceremony holds in the cycle of healing and hopefulness.

All of the performances are free and open to the public.

PERFORMANCES
Program I: Friday, Feb. 12, at 8:00 p.m. – Livestream link
Program II: Saturday, Feb. 13, at 2:30 p.m – Livestream link
Program III: Sunday, Feb. 14, at 2:30 p.m. – Livestream link

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