Fall Concert: "The Big Switch"
Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth with guests Kacico Dance (Kansas City Contemporary Dance)
Friday November 9 at 8pm
Saturday November 10 at 2pm and 8pm
$15 General Admission / $8 Students and Seniors
Advance tickets available here on CD/FW's website through PayPal

Hardy and Betty Sanders Theatre at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center
1300 Gendy St. (corner of Lancaster and Montgomery), Fort Worth, TX 76107
Theatre website: www.fwcac.com. Since the Sanders Theatre is in the heart of the cultural district, where there are many events at many facilities, we suggest that you arrive early to ensure adequate time for parking.

Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth and Kacico Dance (Kansas City Contemporary Dance)are joining forces to produce shared concerts in each other's home cities, including the premiere of a collaborative work featuring both companies. This is the first time that these companies have worked collaboratively together In addition to presenting public performances in both cities, they will also be jointly presenting school shows in educational outreach programs.

"Swap and Shop" is the new collaborative work which the company will premiere together. "This is a true collaboration from the get go," says CD/FW Artistic Director Kerry Kreiman. "We came up with some general themes based on the ideas underlying human activities such as exchange, trade, barter, and swap. Each company created original movement phrases, we exchanged videotapes of those phrases, we then created new phrases with themes and variations of the other company's phrases, and we are working on a chance structure which will manipulate those phrases based on a variety of factors. It should be a lot of fun, and will likely be quite humorous in its results." (More on Swap and Shop, with photos from Kansas City trip.)

Amy Jo, in "Blessed"

In Kansas City, CD/FW will perform a new version of "Blessed" along with the musicians Icicle and the Kid featuring Brian Oblivion (John Siebman aka Icicle, David Daniels aka the Kid, Van Eric Martin aka Brian Oblivion.) An earlier version of this collaborative dance incorporating video projection was featured in CD/FW's "Guns and God" concert last spring. Choreographed by Kerry Kreiman in collaboration with the CD/FW dancers and composer/film maker Van Eric Martin, "Blessed" features live music and video projections to accompany the dancers. A previous edit of Martin’s "Spirit Matters" video, which was a forerunner to this work, was featured in the 2004 national conference of the International Association of Near Death Studies in Chicago. Martin’s video features excerpts from interviews he conducted with economically disadvantaged residents of Fort Worth, during which he asked people whether or not they felt that a higher power had had an influence on their lives.

Photo by Milton Adams

Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth dancer Sheyna Ferraro performs an excerpt from "Light in 5 acts" by Amy Jo

CD/FW will also perform an excerpt from "Light" by Amy Jo, featuring Sheyna Ferraro in a solo.

When Kacico Dance appears in Fort Worth, they will be bringing three dances: "Four of a Kind" an upbeat, fast-moving quartet to jazz music; "Moving Into Stillness," an airy trio featuring suspensions and stillnesses; and excerpts from a longer work, "Freedom (of Speech)." CD/FW will be premiering new group works on this same concert, in addition to the Fort Worth premiere of "Swap and Shop" in collaboration with Kacico Dance.

The residencies also include educational outreach programs at schools in the respective cities: Oak Grove Middle School in Kansas City and Manuel Jara Elementary School in Fort Worth (CD/FW's Adopt-A-School Partner since 1994).

The NOTcracker: A Barefoot Brigade Holiday Dance Festival of Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance, and Performance Art
Saturday December 8, 2007 at 3 pm
Dallas Museum of Art café atrium, 1717 Harwood, Dallas, TX 75201
Admission FREE

Just when you thought you couldn't stomach another Nutcracker, The NOTcracker brings a variety of holiday treats for visual consumption in a free performance at the Dallas Museum of Art on Saturday December 8 at 3 pm.

The members of the Barefoot Brigade coalition, and guests, will present an eclectic show of modern dance, contemporary dance, and performance art in the Café atrium of the museum. The performance is family friendly and admission is free.

The NOTcracker's "stocking stuffer surprise" lineup this year includes:

Reflecting Winter's Beauty: Beckles Dancing Company will perform the trio "Shimmer" to music by Richard Strauss. Choreographer Loris Anthony Beckles' notes for the audience: "A reflection / as if in snow at midnight / by turns peaceful, turbulent, resigned"

Dancer Keira Amison of Muscle Memory Dance Theatre performs "Embellish" by choregrapher Amy L. Sleigh Photograph: Jeanne Mam

Fun and Games: Armstrong/Bergeron Dance Company will perform "No Bonz" choreographed by Artistic Directors, Carisa Armstrong and Christine Bergeron, and former ABDC dancer, Julie Spector. This piece is set to electronic music and incorporates funky and fun movements based on the idea of having "No Bonz."

Ice Capades: Guest Chiaroscuro Dance Company will premiere a new solo by artistic director Kimberly Bland entitled, "To the Sea: Metamorphosis of an Ice Sculpture" - the fantastical odyssey of an ice sculpture as she melts, evaporates into the atmosphere, and rains down into the ocean. This solo celebrates the wonder of movement and the beauty of transitions.

Silliness: Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth will premiere "A Swinging Christmas" - a light-hearted dance to holiday music by Ella Fitzgerald - the choreography is a collaboration between CD/FW company members and artistic director Kerry Kreiman, who are all equally guilty of allowing their "inner Rockette" to be revealed. Kreiman says, "I can't say that it's necessarily modern dance or contemporary dance or any particular style, but we're definitely dancing, it's definitely eclectic, and we're having a good time... It's just a dance... Primarily costumed at Old Navy and out of people's closets."

Sentiment: Dallas Dance Company will present the lyrical solo "Love Me Still."

Extra Decorations and a Little Decadence: Muscle Memory Dance Theatre will perform the group dance "Embellish" choreographed by Amy L. Sleigh, with the dancers costumed in "abstract tutus." "Embellish" features quick-witted movements, snooty gestures and the marvelous sounds of Mozart. The choreographer's note: "The world's smallest violin is playing just for you..."

Taking Stock at the End of Year: Phase 2 Dance Ensemble will premiere "Unleashed" to music by Clint Mansell. This dance is a exploration of self and the art of looking at oneself to find the true self.

Dancer Shelley Blanton of Armstrong/Bergeron Dance Company in "No Bonz" Photographer Igor Kraguljac

The producing members of the Barefoot Brigade coalition are:

Armstrong/Bergeron Dance Company (Bryan/College Station)
Mary Lynn Babcock (Denton)
Beckles Dancing Company (Dallas)
Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth
Dallas Dance Company
3/A Modern Dance Company (Dallas)
MamLuft&Co. Dance (Ohio)
Muscle Memory Dance Theatre (Dallas/Fort Worth)
Out On A Limb Dance Company (Waco)
Phase 2 Dance Ensemble (Houston/Fort Worth/Dallas/Denton)
Lori Sundeen Soderbergh (Fort Worth)

 

 

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS: The Barefoot Brigade Dance Festival at the Bath House Cultural Center will take place on April 4-6, 2008.

The Barefoot Brigade coalition gratefully acknowledges the Dallas Museum of Art as a sponsor of "The NOTcracker."

	Dru Chapman of Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company in Say WHAT!? Photograph by Brett Buchanan.

Three’s Company
Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth
Caroline Calouche & Company (North Carolina)
Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company (Austin)

Friday, March 28 at 8pm, Saturday, March 29 at 2pm and 8pm
Hardy & Betty Sanders Theatre, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, 1300 Gendy St. (Corner of Lancaster & Montgomery)
$15 General / $8 Students & Seniors
Advance tickets available here on CD/FW's website through PayPal.

Three dance companies join forces to present an eclectic concert: Contemporary Dance / Fort Worth, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company, and Caroline Calouche & Company.

KDH Dance Co. (Austin) will perform "Say WHAT?!" Choreographed by artistic director Kathy Dunn Hamrick, "Say WHAT?!" is inspired by the words critics use to describe dance in their reviews. Audiences can look for selected words and phrases in this choreographic word hunt. Here's a list of the words and phrases: In tandem; Scampered, preened and tumbled; Multiple cuppings of dipped heads; Soporific; Hunched shoulders and dangling arms; Arm sculptures; Bobbles and wobbles; Jarring; Zippity canons; Enigmatic pantomimes; Slid, tumbled and collided.

"...a splendid piece of modern dance..." -- Austin American-Statesman "... ingenious. Hamrick's sense of humor is one of her trademarks as a dancemaker." -- Austin Chronicle

Caroline Calouche & Co. will perform three dances: An excerpt from "RiSK" choreographed by Caroline Calouche in collaboration with the dancers. In the groundbreaking, original dance performance "RISK," Caroline Calouche & Co. challenge the audience to remember the euphoria of accomplishing a goal, amidst the looming effects of making the choice to follow a dream.

Caroline Calouche and Natty Mncube Photo by Michael Church

In addition, Calouche will premiere the duet "At Odds" -- an exploration of two women at odds with themselves and society. While in each other's presence, their internal frustration grows invading each other's space. Once the storm passes, they wonder, "will it come back?"

Choreographer and dancer Nkosinathi 'Natty' Mncube will also perform "Still feel the presence" -- Part I of III were created & premiered in South Africa in 2000. Part I deals with da loss of a loved one dat I accept and keep da memories. Part II entails da difficulties i encountered. Fear of trusting, giving in, and accepting love . Part III concludes da journey accepting dat we live to die, we love to hate and above all we trust but always fear.

Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth will premiere three new dances choreographed by former CD/FW company member Amy Jo (Austin), CD/FW Artistic Director Kerry Kreiman), and CD/FW dancer Tina Mullone-Carter (Dallas):

    "almost?" by Amy Jo, is an abstract group work which hints at the politics of "change"
    "Elevenses" by Kerry Kreiman, is a densely structured "visual snack" set to musical "11"s
    "wil danse fer fud" by Tina Mullone-Carter is a humorous "dance theatre" piece celebrating some of the more interesting aspects of life as a dancer

About KDH DANCE COMPANY www.kdhdance.com
The Austin-based KDH Dance Company delights audiences with work described as "heavenly," "ingenious," "zany," and "smart." Kathy Dunn Hamrick's collaborations with composers, visual artists, musicians and filmmakers provide her dances with a colorful and dynamic richness, while audiences and critics alike applaud the choreography for its combined athleticism and expression, and, quite often, for its wit and humor. Over the years, the company has accumulated numerous awards and recognitions including "Top Ten Dance Events" by the Austin Chronicle and "Outstanding Dance Concert" by the Austin Critics Table and invitations to perform at prestigious dance festivals, conferences and other events. In addition to dancing for Austin audiences, KDH Dance Company has toured extensively throughout Texas and has performed in several major North American cities as well, garnering critical acclaim from the Dallas Morning News, the Toronto Globe and Mail, and the New York Times among others.

ABOUT CAROLINE CALOUCHE & CO. www.carolinecalouche.org
Founded in 2005, Caroline Calouche & Co. developed from an independent project called Dimension that produced a great success drawing college football players to professional artists into the University Theater at Texas Christian University to see an evening-length dance work in October 2000. Since then Caroline Calouche has continued to produce her choreography in festivals and for dance companies within North Carolina, Texas, Germany and Austria. Her unique genuine and physical choreographic voice has been praised by many throughout her artistic career. Caroline Calouche & Co. was formed with the mission of creating an arts organization dedicated to producing and promoting contemporary dance choreography in conjunction with multi-disciplinary artistic collaborations.

ABOUT CONTEMPORARY DANCE/FORT WORTH
Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth’s mission is to develop the art, artists, and audience for Modern Dance through performance and education in schools and the community. Fort Worth’s first professional modern dance company, CD/FW is led by Kerry Kreiman, one of the company’s co-founders. The Star-Telegram has recognized Kreiman as "one of the most inspired artistic leaders in our community." The CD/FW company's repertory includes works by choreographers recognized on local, regional, and national levels. In addition to producing the CD/FW Co., the organization also acts as a presenter, bringing nationally and internationally-recognized modern dance companies and independent choreographers to Fort Worth audiences. The CD/FW company has toured throughout the U.S. and in Mexico, and artistic leaders Kerry Kreiman (Executive/Artistic Director) and Susan Douglas Roberts (Founding Director and Artistic Advisor) have taught and performed internationally, representing the company as solo artists throughout the world (Taiwan, Brasil, Guatemala, Paraguay, Spain, France, Mexico, Hong Kong). CD/FW’s "Dance Delivered" educational and community outreach programs bring dance to under-served communities and the general public to reach audiences and participants of all ages, abilities, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds through presenting performances, teaching residencies, workshops and master classes in schools, community centers, workplaces, shopping centers, museums, parks, festivals, landmarks, and more. In 1996, CD/FW was awarded the Fort Worth ISD Adopt-A-School Program Outstanding Small Company/Organization Award for its exemplary partnership with Manuel Jara Elementary School. CD/FW is honored to be a member of the artist rosters for the Mid-America Arts Alliance Regional Touring Program, Imagination Celebration Fort Worth, and the Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County's Neighborhood Arts Program in collaboration with the City of Fort Worth. The company established a school in new studios at Orchestra Hall in southwest Fort Worth in 2003, and now offers year round classes for ages 3 and up, at all levels of experience. In the fall of 2007, CD/FW became a Company In Residence at the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts. 2007-2008 marks the CD/FW company’s 18th performance season.

Barefoot Brigade Dance Festival CD/FW and members of the Barefoot Brigade Coalition along with adjudicated guests April 4-6, 2008 at the Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake Program A: Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 3 pm Program B: Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 3 pm $15 General / $10 Students, Seniors, and Dance Council members. Tickets sales are cash at the door, but reservations can be made in advance by calling 214-886-2321.
Program A Barefoot Brigade members: Mary Lynn Babcock (Denton) DBDTII (Dallas Black Dance Theatre II), Allyne D. Gartrell, Artistic Director Muscle Memory Dance Theatre (Dallas/Fort Worth), Amy Sleigh Ross and Lesley Snelson-Figuerroa, Artistic Directors Lori Sundeen Soderbergh (Fort Worth) Out on a Limb Dance Company (Waco), L. Brooke Schlecte articistic director and choreographer With adjudicated guests: Outstanding Balance (Denton), Michelle Contrino, Artistic Director Infusion Dance Ensemble (DFW Metroplex), Marquita DeJesus and Lara Strain, Artistic Directors	Marlayna Locklear of Dallas Black Dance Theatre II in "No More Dry Tears". Photograph by Sharen King- Bradford	Program B Features Barefoot Brigade members: Beckles Dancing Co. (Dallas), Loris Anthony Beckles, Artistic Director Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, Kerry Kreiman, Executive/Artistic Director Phase 2 Dance Ensemble (Houston/Fort Worth/Dallas/Denton) 3Dance (Dallas), Angie Dutton, Artistic Director With adjudicated guests: Nicole Touzien (Denton) The Moving Canvas Dance Project (Fort Worth), Gypsy Crane Ingram, Artistic Director
Program A Dances   Sarah Newton of Out On A Limb Dance Company. Photograph by Rachel Bruce Johnson. Out On A Limb Dance Company (Waco) will premiere Confusing The Looking Glass -- Artistic director and choreographer L. Brooke Schlecte created this solo for company member Sarah Newton, exploring aspects of one's internal self image. The dancer feels her way through a dreamlike fantasy while contemplating the physical and emotional paradigms of this world. The juxtaposition between tiny and large moments expose both familiar and unfamiliar sensations as it relates to common emotion. Outstanding Balance (Denton) premieres Forbearance and Mercy by artistic director and choreographer Michelle Contrino. Forbearance and Mercy is a new group dance which exposes the human soul in a state of weakness, yet shows the power of faith in people and a higher reasoning. Infusion Dance Ensemble makes its Barefoot Brigade premiere with Spring Haze choreographed by Marquita DeJesus. This quartet focuses on the mental, physical, and spiritual struggle against mediocrity. Muscle Memory Dance Theatre presents Qubix -- This unique duet by choreographer Elisa De La Rosa takes place within a box-shaped world where the performers discover a fusion of risk and stability. Two cubes are used throughout the dance to represent their individual dynamics while they are assisting each other with guidance and support. The relationship between the dancers builds as they understand the purpose of the six-faced figures. Fort Worth's Lori Sundeen Soderbergh premieres Footprints, a collaboration with Tammy Gomez (Fort Worth) and Chris Curiel (Dallas). Inspired by the "carbon footprint" movement, choreographer Lori Sundeen Soderbergh joins forces with performance artist Tammy Gomez and musician Chris Curiel in an artistic exploration of the destruction of the environment. This fusion of dance, poetry and sound ranges in tone from the tragic to the comic. Mary Lynn Babcock (Denton) presents the duet Where Rivers Meet. Like rivers that merge and part, sometimes softly, sometimes crashing, the dancers in this duet inscribe vivid spatial patterns, and weave imaginative interactions which unfold confrontations, negotiations, and overthrowing; all of which crescendo into newer terrain... like the waters ripple, there is a time for healing, when the flows of difference run together. Babcock collaborates with Denton composer Robert W. Brown. His musical score contains a driving energy with a haunting dissonant pull and unexpected syncopations pushing and pulling the dancers into crossing paths. DBDTII contributes two works to this year's festival: artistic director Allyne D. Gartrell will perform his own choreography in the solo Reflections and eight of the company members will perform No More Dry Tears, choreographed by Edmond Giles to music by Sweet Honey in the Rock. Program B Dances As It Once Was Told is a duet that examines the complexities of relationships. Created by Denton choreographer Nicole Touzien, the dance explores themes such as the   Sung-Hun Lim, Bethany Therese Nelson in Nicole Touzien's "As It Once Was Told". Photographer: Emily Lockard struggle for power and dominance, the need for love and affection, and the value of support and equality. The dance rejects the fairy tale ideal of romance and illustrates the sometimes unsuccessful quest for happiness in relationships. Beckles Dancing Company will perform two contrasting works choreographed by artistic director Loris Anthony Beckles: Charlie is a playful, flirtatious, and rhythmic celebration ; Dream Flow Forty is a meditation on a journey, a painting in four panels. The Moving Canvas Dance Project presents In The Name Of... -- a duet by choreographer Gypsy Crane Ingram exploring the subtle negotiation of power that emerges when individuals lose themselves in the passion of competition and the fervor of rivalries. Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth will perform the group dance will danse fer fud by CD/FW dancer and choreographer Tina Mullone-Carter -- a humorous "dance theatre" piece celebrating some of the more interesting aspects of life as a dancer. 3Dance's Angie Dutton presents a new videodance version of I Am A Woman Phase 2 Dance Ensemble brings more humor to the table with choreographer Lacreacia Sanders' new Trippin' Out -- a group dance which takes an over-exaggerated and not so serious look at conflicts that arise when we take differences between people too seriously. In addition, they will perform Cristy Jefferson's trio Unattained.
How to get to the Bath House Cultural Center The Bath House Cultural Center is located at 521 East Lawther (at Northcliff) in Dallas. From Buckner Boulevard, turn west on Northcliff. Northcliff dead-ends into the Bath House Cultural Center, on the eastern shore of White Rock Lake. Yes, the address is 521 East Lawther Drive, and no, it cannot be reached using Lawther Drive. The BHCC phone number is 214-670-8749.
About the Barefoot Brigade   The Barefoot Brigade is a coalition of area modern dance and performance art professionals and enthusiasts working to improve exposure, accessibility, and economics for artists creating new works. The Barefoot Brigade encourages collaborations between area artists and companies to support each other’s growth and impact on the local community. BB’s long-term mission is to develop a vibrant artistic community for modern dance choreographers and performers, and performance artists who emphasize movement in their work. The Barefoot Brigade seeks to work alongside the larger community to develop the audiences, venues, and financial resources necessary to make North Texas a nationally-recognized community for the creation and presentation of innovative dance works. The Barefoot Brigade's 2007-2008 season is sponsored in part by the Bath House Cultural Center, the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Dallas Museum of Art. The Barefoot Brigade and their members also acknowledge the support of many other institutions as they conduct their collective and individual seasons, including the Texas Commission on the Arts with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County and their Neighborhood Arts Program in collaboration with the City of Fort Worth, the South Dallas Cultural Center, the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts, and more. Please NOTE: Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth is a founding member of the Barefoot Brigade coalition, and frequently acts as a representative on behalf of the Barefoot Brigade coalition, but is not the sole "presenter" of any Barefoot Brigade event   Current Producing Members of the Barefoot Brigade   Armstrong/Bergeron Dance Company (Bryan/College Station), Carisa Armstrong and Christine Bergeron, Artistic Directors Mary Lynn Babcock (Denton) Beckles Dancing Co. (Dallas), Loris Anthony Beckles, Artistic Director Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, Kerry Kreiman, Executive/Artistic Director DBDTII (Dallas Black Dance Theatre II), Allyne D. Gartrell, Artistic Director MamLuft&Co. Dance (Ohio) Muscle Memory Dance Theatre (Dallas/Fort Worth), Amy Sleigh Ross and Lesley Snelson-Figuerroa, Artistic Directors Out On A Limb Dance Company (Waco), L. Brooke Schlecte, Artistic Director Lori Sundeen Soderbergh (Fort Worth) Phase 2 Dance Ensemble (Houston/Fort Worth/Dallas/Denton) 3Dance (Dallas), Angie Dutton, Artistic Director

Conjuring Light Quilting Life
Stage West and Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth premiere a unique dance/theatre collaboration for the “More Life: The Art & Science of AIDS” festival.
Two Weekends: May 16-17, and 23-24, Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 3pm and 8pm
Sanders Theatre at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center
TICKETS: $17.50 General admission. Stage West Season Subscribers:  $15. Students & Seniors:  $12 matinee / $15 evening. 20% of ticket price goes to AIDS service organizations.
For more information, and for reservations, call the Stage West box office at 817-784-9378

Between May 10 and June 8, 2008, Fort Worth’s three AIDS Service Organizations, along with the Fort Worth Opera, are taking a unique, groundbreaking approach to AIDS education and awareness in our community, as they open the first More Life Festival: An Arts Intervention. More Life leverages the excitement surrounding the Fort Worth Opera’s 2008 Festival, which includes Angels in America, and brings together more than 45 arts, science and educational organizations, who will focus their energies and talents on programs to increase the awareness and knowledge of AIDS in our community.

Stage West's Justin Flowers, Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth's Breanna Kimbley and guest choreographer Loris Anthony Beckles prepare for the premiere of Conjuring Light Quilting Life. Photo by Milton Adams.

Stage West and Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth have joined forces for the Festival to present Conjuring Light Quilting Life, a collaboration which fuses music, dance, and theatre in a celebration of life and love as they intermingle with sorrow and loss. In this unique piece, opening Friday, May 16 at the Sanders Theatre at the Community Arts Center, actors and dancers merge together on stage to create a dream-like tapestry of memories. Guest choreographer Loris Anthony Beckles (Dallas) and members of the CD/FW company have created a choreographic collage to interweave with actors and text. Electronic music by composers William Meadows (Austin) and Timothy Wilkendorf (Minnesota) amplifies a dream world of childhood patty-cake and guardian angels, interwoven with the more adult musings and realities of life and death. Rather than focusing on AIDS specifically, this collage of human experience celebrates the beauty that is life, even in the face of illness or death.

This one-time event is a must-see for local arts audiences and is limited to six performances. More importantly, your attendance will also benefit local AIDS service organizations. Twenty percent of all ticket sales will be donated to AIDS Outreach Center, Samaritan House, and Tarrant County AIDS Interfaith Network. Learn more at www.morelifetexas.com.

ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS

GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER LORIS ANTHONY BECKLES
Loris Anthony Beckles (Guyana, South America) has studied ballet, modern dance, jazz and a taste of African dance. He has performed with companies including the Eleo Pomare Dance Company and the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble. He has taught in the U.S., the Caribbean and in Europe; and choreographed just about wherever he stayed long enough. His company, Beckles Dancing Company, gives regular performances in Dallas and other parts.

GUEST COMPOSER WILLIAM MEADOWS
William Meadows (Austin) has worked as a composer, performer, and sound designer for over twenty years. His compositions have been performed at the Austrian Society for Electro-Acoustic Music, the Los Angeles New Music Festival, SEAMUS National Conferences, and new music concerts across the country. Meadows has created and performed in multimedia works at the International Symposium of Electronic Arts in Montreal, the Caravan of Dreams Theater (Fort Worth), the Dallas Museum of Art, and Richland College Planetarium. He has performed with Tina Marsh and in concerts presented by the Austin New Music Co-op. Meadows has worked as a sound designer and composer for many choreographers and dance companies including Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth, Deborah Hay, Tré Arenz, Johnson/Long Dance Company, Sharir/Bustamente Danceworks, Heloise Gold, and Stephen Brown. For eleven years he has been composer in residence with Austin-based Sally Jacques’ Blue Lapis Light productions.

GUEST COMPOSER TIM WILKENDORF
Tim Wilkendorf, a native Texan now living in Minnesota, has performed mainly as a laborer and tile setter throughout Texas for the last twenty years. Though he has played several musical instruments throughout his life, he is mostly self-taught on the piano and began composing on the keyboard a few years ago. He has written and performed recorded voice-overs for the production of WHIRLYGIG by the Minneapolis based theater company, Burning House Group.

5th Annual Modern Dance Festival at The Modern
July 11-26, 2008

Seattle's Deborah Birrane. Photo by Milton Adams.

Named one of the Top 10 Dance Events of 2005 by The Dallas Morning News."Vast space and rippling water gardens at the Modern proved an ideal setting."

Opening event: CD/FW Dance Exchange: A Choreographers Showcase
July 11-12, 2008, 8pm in the Grand Lobby
Admission Free

Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth kicks off its 5th Annual Modern Dance Festival at The Modern with the 18th edition of the CD/FW Dance Exchange: A Choreographers Showcase.

Renowned for her lengthy career as a principal dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Dallas native Mary Cochran returns from New York to premiere Beau Geste, a solo dance choreographed with her longtime artistic associate Sara Hook. In this satire of confessional modern dance, Cochran's driven character is adrift in a landscape of modern dance clichés, pursuing her appetite for fame and perfection with a frank, determined optimism that will make you cringe. This is Cochran's third appearance at the Modern.

Back by popular demand, Seattle’s Deborah Birrane will perform two solos by prominent Seattle-based choreographers. The Raven, by Eva Stone, is set to Richard "Lord" Buckley's semantically hip version of the Edgar Allen Poe poem. Shirley Jenkins’ In a Sacred Manner We Dance is a solo inspired by a Native American poem:"Praising the sky, earth, wind and life...the dancer's love is great."

A past guest of the dance exchange, Mary Williford-Shade (Denton) makes her first appearance at The Modern with the premiere of Out of the Woods, a solo created by John Giffin (Ohio), a former member of Pina Bausch’s Wuppertal Dance Theatre.

Anna Preston & Dancers are traveling from South Florida to preview Beneath Percussion, a trio work-in-progress exploring the textures and rhythms of a percussive score. This is their first appearance in Fort Worth.

Muscle Memory Dance Theatre (Dallas/Fort Worth) will premiere La Serenissima, part one of a three-section dance by Amy L. Ross. Three female dancers portray strong Celtic women with vertical carriage and stern chins, while softened eyes and hands unravel the romantic mysticism of travels to Venice.

Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth will perform two group dances which premiered in March. Elevenses by artistic director Kerry Kreiman, and almost? by former company member Amy Jo, who currently resides in Austin.

Audience members who arrive a little early to claim their seats will get a sneak preview of some of the movement phrases from Twyla Tharp's "The One Hundreds" which will be performed in a culminating event on Saturday July 26 (see below).

Guest artist bios

A new version of Lori Sundeen Soderbergh's "Peace Chain" will be presented in the Grand Lobby. Photographer: Milton Adams.

Other Events During the Festival

Peace Chain
Saturday and Sunday July 19-20, 1pm in the Grand Lobby
Admission Free
Fort Worth choreographer Lori Sundeen Soderbergh in collaboration with composer/musician Eddie Dunlap, directs a performance event featuring music, dance, and poetry, and culminating in a dance in which the audience may participate. Join us for a performance inspired by a desire for world peace.

Modern Dance 101, Lecture-performance
Saturday July 19, 2pm in the Museum Auditorium
Admission free
Members of the Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth company provide an introduction to the basic philosophies and styles of modern dance.

 

 

 

still from Scrap Life

Dance On Camera: Dance shorts film presentations
Saturday July 19, 3 pm in the Museum Auditorium
Admission free
See some of the most popular short films from the Dance On Camera Festival 2008. Five films will be featured this year:

still from La Vie Est Belle

Inearthia (Simon Halbedo, Nazario Brana, Maren Sandmann, Switzerland, 2006; 2:15m) -- This short film from Switzerland reveals a creative way to spin the earth.

Scrap Life (Su-En, Sweden, 2006; 8:30m) -- The SU-EN Butoh Company of Sweden presents an homage to the art of recycling on site at a scrap yard. The moving, breathing organic bodies of the dancers highlighted against seemingly endless piles of metal is a vibrant and thoughtful study in contrasts, with humor interlayered throughout.

La Vie Est Belle (Tristan Duhamel, France, 2004; 3:13m) -- A character of street-art painted by JJr^me Mesnager is dancing and running on the walls of Paris, animated by Tristan Duhamel.

still from Reines D'un Jour

Reines D'un Jour (Pascal Magnin, Switzerland, 1996; 28m) -- Six tumbling bodies on mountain slopes of the Alps, caught between Heaven and Earth, among the cows and the villagers. This strikingly visual and sensual film triggered a wave of understanding among dancers when it was first shown in Dance On Camera Festival 1997. Marie-Louise Nespolo, Christine Kung choreographed the work and performed with Veronique Ferrero, Roberto Molo, Mikel Aristegui, and Antonio Bull. A unique blend of storytelling and abstract movement, the scenes reveal profound facets of the human condition with its interrelationships and struggles of body, mind, and spirit.

still from Fantastic Flower Shop

Fantastic Flower Shop (Pawel Partyka, Denmark/Poland, 2001; 15m) -- Inspired by the story, puppets, and design of Frances Osterflet, with animation by Krzysztof Brzozowski and Adam Wyrwas, this award-winning short should inspire fashion designers as well as storytellers. Set in a flower shop at closing time, wires spin out from their spools to become small characters who pluck petals to adorn themselves and dance the night

CD/FW is a Domestic Touring Partner with the Dance Films Association of New York City. The Dance on Camera films are presented as part of the touring program for the Dance On Camera Festival co-produced by the Dance Films Association and the Film Society of Lincoln Center with support of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Tribute To Twyla, Saturday July 26 (two events)

An innovator and visionary for modern and post-modern dance, Twyla Tharp has truly changed the shape of American modern dance and ballet for generations to come. Her early choreography explored many of the same issues as the Judson Church choreographers of the 1960's. Over time, her vision expanded to include "big ballet" and Broadway. Her musical "Movin Photo by Gregg Gorman Out" with music by Billy Joel is still touring the U.S. to popular acclaim. The Contemporary Dance/Fort Worth company is inviting area dancers to celebrate her work with them, as they perform her 1970 work "The One Hundreds" in a special staging incorporating the museum grounds and building with 100 dancers scattered throughout. Tharp is renowned for creating works for alternative spaces -- gymnasiums, streets, parks, libraries, and museums. This unique presentation of her seminal work "The One Hundreds" at The Modern is presented with her blessings and great enthusiasm. Tharp is devoted to the possibilities and properties of physical movement. Simultaneously, she is less and less interested in the formal separation of audience and performer and has begun to create her works more and more in such a manner that an audience, which may not see all of a work, will pay more attention to what it can see. — Don McDonagh, The Rise and Fall and Rise of Modern Dance, 1970.

100 Dancers Perform "The One Hundreds" noon, 2pm, 4pm, various locations around museum A unique special edition of Twyla Tharp's "The One Hundreds" featuring 100 dancers scattered throughout the museum and grounds. When Tharp originally developed this dance in 1970, she wanted to address three questions she faced as a performing dancer: 1) how accurate is my memory? 2) how good is my coordination? 3) how strong is my sense of beginnings, middles and endings? Tharp created 100 eleven-second phrases in answer to these questions. Twyla On Twyla (film) 1pm, 3pm in the Museum Auditorium Admission free This look at Twyla's career and philosophies gives a wonderful overview of her contributions to American dance. 100 Bottles of Beer On The Wall Party and Fund Raiser Campaign Don't miss the "after party" at Rahr & Sons Brewing Company after the performances on July 26. This party supports CD/FW's programming, including a special project to bring The One Hundreds to North Texas students during the 2008-2009 school year. You can make a donation and read more about the party by clicking here.

Photos from last year's Modern Dance Festival at The Modern