Mixed Bill 2 Dance theater and other works by new and returning artists.

Mixed Bill 2

Sat June 22 at 8 PM

Dance theater and other works by new and returning artists.

CASSIE BURNS and MADDIE KURTZ are dancers, teachers, and choreographers who serve as the artistic directors of Cassie Burns Dance Project and MKrep, respectively. Their individual choreographic works have been presented at venues such as MuCCC, Rochester Brainery, Triskelion Arts, and WestBeth Artist Collective, and they are thrilled to join forces for this exciting collaboration. Cassie likes to think she is tech savvy but still uses a Yahoo email account, while Maddie is obsessed with Celine Dion and pays her bills by judging dance competitions. They each hold an MFA in Dance Performance & Choreography from The College at Brockport, SUNY. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” explores female friendship through the lens of pop culture by way of popular songs that have been completely pulled out of context. The work raises questions surrounding the often-exaggerated tropes commonly portrayed in popular media, and challenges the performers to embody a version of their relationship that doesn’t quite match their real-life experiences. This work also interrogates the definition of the duet as a construction, posing two solos against one another in various ways to portray the layered complexities of female friendship not just through content, but also structure.

DEBORAH CHAMBERS is a New York City-based choreographer, who made her professional choreographic debut during the 2010 season of Dance Canvas (an emerging choreographers showcase). Her choreographic work has been presented at Dances at MuCCC, and in New York at Dance Astoria, Christine Giordano‘s Artist Salon and Hillsong FNL Showcase. Deborah writes, ““Light is Best Reflected in Front” is a tribute to my Grandfather. The primary focus is the perspective gained from sitting stationary before a window, for decades. It explores what happens when we take a moment to reflect in the midst of the chaos of this world. The window represents the light shining in from the outside world and the light shining out of my Grandfather to the community around him. Light in this sense represents heart, service and investment in others.”

From Clifton Springs, NY, LAURA D’AMICO holds both a B.A. in Biology from SUNY Geneseo, and an A.A.S. in Veterinary Technology from SUNY Alfred. While minoring in dance at Geneseo, she performed in the stage premier of America’s first copy written Labanotated score, “Songs from the Hebrides” (1951), by Nona Schurman (1909-2016). In 2018 Laura danced under scholarship at the Garth Fagan Summer Movement Institute, and has returned from teaching English in theatre camps across northern Italy last autumn with Educo Italia. Since returning, she has performed with Frazee Feet Dance. Joshua Lang, and Roy Wood. Her new piece examines how the macroscopic patterns of life imitate the microscopic. Biochemical pathways have predetermined, favorable outcomes, with hundreds of backup mechanisms to correct for the predetermined patterns’ mistakes. But are these even mistakes? Or are they predestined? Do we always follow our predetermined path, or are our deviations planned and expected?

DAYSTAR/ROSALIE JONES (Pembina Chippewa) specializes in “native modern dance” as seen through the perspective of Indigenous ancestry and cultural values. She was mentored by Mexican American choreographer José Limon. In 1980, Jones founded her company Daystar: Contemporary Dance Drama of Indian America, performing throughout North America as well as Ireland, Germany and Istanbul. Daystar/Rosalie Jones is a teacher, choreographer, writer and facilitator of cross-cultural understanding. Performer DANIEL FETECUA, a native of Bogotà, Colombia holds a BFA from Folkwang-Hochschule, Germany. He appeared as guest artist in Pina Bausch’s masterpieces, Rite of Spring and Tannhäuser and was a member of the Jose Limon Company from 2006-2017. In 2018, Fetecua originated the Latitudes Dance Festival at Flamboyan Theater, Velez Cultural and Educational Center, NYC. Combining Colombian Folklore and Modern Dance, his own company Pajarillo Pinta is based in New York and Germany. Regarding “Wolf: A Transformation” - The Anishinaabe/Ojibway peoples of North America consider the Wolf (Mi-een-gun) to be the first companion of the First Man. Traditional regalia, mask and oratory express this story as relevant to the presence and treatment of not only the wolves but the Original Peoples of North America.

Originally from Texas, NANCY HUGHES has been kicking up her heels in Buffalo for eight years. Hughes is an educator, performer, choreographer and event organizer and has been awarded grants from NYS DanceForce, A.S.I., Northampton Arts Council and KeyBank. Her work has been performed across the U.S. as well as in France and Canada. Hughes choreographed for the plays “The Full Monty” and “Furies of Mother Jones” and she is the director of Center Dance. Through interdisciplinary performance, movement training, community outreach and the presentation of learning opportunities Center Dance strives to increase Buffalo’s gravity as a hub for creative exchange between artists. Hughes writes about her new solo, “This is a solo that is personal and coming from a body feeling based in loss I went through that brought my being into a state of trauma. How to arrive into a body that doesn't understand time? I decided to go with it and do some "time traveling" which brought me to realize that punk 15 year old kid I use to be would be really proud of me. This dance is developing from my past self merging with my current state which is always happening yet not consciously felt and experienced. It is a new dance and makes space for me to connect/converse with the audience to fully realize it. I don't know what this dance is yet however I am living in this dance.”

MARIAH STEELE is a full-time Lecturer at the University of Rochester and the Artistic Director of Quicksilver Dance. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Princeton University, an MFA in Dance from Hollins University and an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Steele has previously taught at MIT, Santa Clara University and Endicott College. In 2013, The Boston Globe Magazine named her a “rising talent” in the arts. QUICKSILVER DANCE was founded in Boston, MA in 2010, relocated to Oakland, CA in 2015, and then to Rochester, NY in 2018. Quicksilver has performed at ODC Theater, Shawl-Andersen Dance Center, MIT, Harvard, Tufts, Princeton, SUNY Purchase, UMass Amherst and Brooklyn’s John Ryan Theater. Quicksilver has been awarded an East Bay Community Foundation’s Fund for Artists grant (2017) and has been in residence at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center (2016), the Boston Center for the Arts (2012) and Summer Stages Dance at Concord Academy (2012). The company was also nominated for the "Best Choreography" award at the St-Ambroise Festival de Montreal (2014). In a review of Quicksilver Dance, the Montreal blog Bloody Underrated writes: "I dare you to find a company that dances with more heart." “14 Variations” is a comic deconstruction of ballroom dances, set to seven different instrumentations of Bela Bartok’s “Sash Dance.”

ZOE WALDERS is a dancer and choreographer from Rochester, NY. She holds a BA in Dance from SUNY Potsdam. She has trained in ballet, modern, contemporary, tap, musical theater, and jazz. Most recently, she presented her piece, “Fern Dair” at The Outlet Dance Project’s Day of Dance Festival and Marie Christine Giordano’s Artist Salon in NYC. She is currently a company member with PUSH Physical Theater. As a choreographer, she is interested in the play between intuition and analysis. Her work is highly detailed and gestural and is often generated from improvisation practices. Her piece is a solo created collaboratively and in conversation with cellist and Rochester-native, RACHEL MILLS. The choreography reflects the music itself, how it informs the musician, and her response to playing and interpreting it. The movement vocabulary is created through conversation between dancer and musician about characteristics of each section of the music. Is this section about momentum? Is this moment of silence a rest or is it building to something? By discussing and embodying questions like these and a live musician, the piece is a fully body, immersive experience into the music.

MALIA WEE comes from the island of Oahu, Hawaii, with also having spent some time in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Since moving to New York, she works as a freelance dancer and choreographer, though some of the usual suspects include Hillsong Dance NYC, Blue Morph Collective, Emma Elliott Dance, and Leigh Ann Kabatra. “Sleeping At Last” is a solo. “The best story one can tell is the story he/she already has. This is one of those, known and owned. And while communicating chronological points, this story is ultimately more about and a celebration of the people, the pillars, within and along that journey.”

Tickets $10 in advance, $10 students and seniors, $12 at the door

https://www.facebook.com/events/1169657379861442/

Contact dancesatmuccc@yahoo.com for further information

All programs subject to change.

This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts.

Support is also provided by the Gouvernet Arts Fund at the Rochester Area Community Foundation.

Photo by Annette Dragon; Cassie Burns and Maddie Kurtz pictured.