by Kirby Lindsay, posted 21 February 2011
Betsy Cooper, of Seattle Dance Project, performs a piece by Molissa Fenley at Fremont Abbey in December 2010 Photo by Alan Alabastro
Fremont routinely celebrates visual arts – sculpture, painting, found, performance and celebratory – and Karin Stevens, dance curator for the Fremont Abbey Arts Center, would like to add movement arts to that list. Movement arts, as Stevens described them, are “about constructing a piece of art through movement and the human body.”
“When people think of art,” Stevens expanded, “they think of painting – all kinds of painting,” such as watercolors, murals, finger painting, Impressionism, Abstract, etc. “When people think of dance,” she said, “they think of only one or two kinds.”
A Better Understanding
By the end of the first ever ‘A Moving Conversation’ performance and discussion, at the Abbey at 7:30pm on February 25th & 26th, attendees will know that “the possibilities of creating movement art are vast,” Stevens predicts.
The two evenings will gather together 12 choreographers who represent a spectrum of experience, from emerging to established, to demonstrate and discuss “the breadth of art making in dance.” Members of the dance community in attendance, including the featured artists and the dancers, can use this opportunity to pick up ideas from one another. She described learning what others have done as building a tool belt. “I hope this is an enlargening event,” she said.
Members of Karin Stevens Dance perform "Point of Departure" in March 2010. Photo by Alan Alabastro
Yet, the evening also offers a unique experience for those with only a casual interest in movement arts and modern dance. For one thing, the evening begins with 11 performance pieces choreographed by the 12 featured choreographers, all captured in one show.
After the performance, the choreographers will “talk about how they create a dance,” Stevens explained, and the “aspects of their process.” This is not a lecture, she clarified, but a conversation that allows the audience – those experienced dance professionals to the curious but casual dance fans – to pose questions and observations on movement art in general and/or aspects of the featured performance pieces.
“It will be successful for me if an audience member walks away with a better understanding of what goes into making a dance,” Stevens allowed. She expects to see family and friends of dance at the show/discussion but, “I’m hoping to expand to the neighborhood,” she admitted. Neighbors from Fremont, Wallingford, Ballard and Phinney/Greenwood are welcomed and encouraged to come down and learn, “you don’t have to go Downtown,” Stevens said, there is dance right in our backyard.
Making The Dance
The featured choreographers include Sarah Seder, Andre Bouchard, Marisa Haga and collaborators Alex Martin and Freya Wormus, and all have a connection, in some way, to the Abbey.
Members of Karin Stevens Dance perform "And You Will Renew The Face of the Ground" in March 2010. Photo by Alan Alabastro
These artists often bring with them experience in many mediums, in addition to dance, such as Sarah Olds who also does film production, visual arts, costume design, and web design. Also many, like Katy Hagelin, perform and choreograph with dance companies all over the country, and the world.
The performances promise a diversity that reflects the depth of experiences of these choreographers such as Kenaniah Bystrom, who has a background in physical theatre. Victoria McConnell and Kristen Legg both trained in ballet, while Markieth Wiley studied and teaches hip hop, among other dance genres.
For this evening, Marlo Martin will debut an excerpt from ask different questions, a piece she created for this event and the BOOST dance festival. She will bring nine dancers to perform this single piece. Overall, the eleven pieces will require the talents of 30 dancers, a showcase opportunity rarely seen.
So, stop in the Great Hall at the Fremont Abbey (4272 Fremont Avenue North) at 7:30p, on either Friday, February 25th or Saturday, February 26th. Tickets can be purchased at the door (cash/check only) or in advance through the Abbey Arts Center or Brown Paper Tickets – students/seniors $12, general $15, and front row reserved $18. Fremonsters celebrate the art in many forms, isn’t it time to take a closer look at the movement arts…and time for a Moving Conversation?
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©2011 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.
