UWM Peck School of the Arts Presents WINTERDANCES, Now thru 1/26

Milwaukee, WI -- Winterdances...Past Moving Forward is set for UWM Peck School of the Arts, today, January 23-26, 2014, running at 7:30pm Thurs-Sat; 2pm Sun in the Mainstage Theater, 2400 E. Kenwood Blvd. For more information, visit arts.uwm.edu/winterdances.

UWM's Dance Department celebrates its 50th Anniversary by honoring the past and embracing the new. The program features works by both past and current faculty and students, embodying the history of the department as it launches into the next five decades. It includes works by alumna and New York artist Keely Garfield; alumnae and faculty Debra Loewen and Christina Briggs Winslow; newest dance faculty Maria Gillespie; and Dance MFA student Carrie Lande.

Post-show discussions follow Thursday and Friday night performances. Reception in the Mainstage Lobby following the Saturday night performance honoring alumni.

Purchase tickets at arts.uwm.edu/tickets or by calling 414-229-4308. Ticket prices: $17 general; $15 seniors, UWM faculty, staff; $5 (presale) / $8 (night of show) students & under 18; Free for Dance majors.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

Keely Garfield is a 2013-14 Guest Choreographer in the Department of Dance. In her own words... "The dancing in Lamb is framed by the Zen saying, 'Fall seven times, stand up eight' - When life knocks you down, you should get up and try again. By you in this instance, I mean me. The work is about the permeability of boundaries, continually adjusting to conditions as they present themselves, and the Murmeration of starlings..."

Debra Loewen's the chat room has no chairs places the conundrum of "connection" front and center. Using samples from online sources, the movements mix and mash Beyonce, Stravinsky, Facebook and de Keersmaeker, as dancers connect, search, comment, shift, return, pause, copy and control their fast-paced moving world. Set to the intricately sampled music of composer Matthew Herbert, (with additional mixing by Tim Russell), the dance builds to a spinning rainbow as connections are made, lost and re-imagined.

In Proximity Determines, Christina Briggs Winslow excavates and incorporates the stories of the performers. To a seismic score by Tim Russell, the dancers are challenged to locate themselves in spatial relationships to each other, the audience, events in the dance and personal life experiences. By extension, the dancers find a level of engagement with others and a relationship to self that would lead to being present in the moment, not just simply doing or being.

Originally choreographed in 2008, Maria Gillespie's La Hora de Salir is an exploration of the mechanics of leaving. It reveals powerful unions and separations between individuals. Rooted in tenderness, the dance is sparked by the magnetic pull that compels us to seek connection, even as we affirm our independence. This version is a deconstruction of the original dance and signals the protean nature of the self - to endure departures and find strength in new connections.

Carrie Lande Homuth is one of the current recipients of the UWM Dance MFA Thesis Award, which will include an evening length work to be presented on the UWM campus, Summer 2014.This work will explore the roles of women spanning the early 1900's through the 1930's, by means of storytelling, rhythm and movement. In the 1930's, though illegal, brothels and bordellos were still part of the social underground scene in many big cities. Going to Polly's is a lighthearted look at the women who occupy these brothels and their silly antics to "win" the attention and affection of the evening's clientele.

ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHERS:

Christina Briggs Winslow (Choreographer) joins UWM for her third year as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Peck School of the Arts. She comes to Milwaukee after 15 years in New York City, where she was on the faculty of Hofstra University, Queens College and the Joffrey Jazz & Contemporary Summer Intensive. She has also taught Contemporary Technique, Ballet, and Repertory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the TseKh Summer Dance School in Moscow, Russia. In 1998, Christina co-founded Incidents Dance with Edward Winslow. Since then her work has toured nationally and performed in New York City at Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center, Dixon Place, Joyce SoHo, Pace University, St. Mark's Church and University Settlement. Christina has performed with and been influenced by Gerald Casel, Pat Cremins, Heidi Latsky, Susan Osberg and Li-Chiao Ping. She has been a Pilates Instructor since 1998 and is currently training in the Alexander Technique.

Keely Garfield (Choreographer) has created work for ballet dancers (Dance Theater of Harlem), antique puppets (Czechoslovakian-American Marionette Theater), musical theater (Gypsy Sundance, Carousel NJ Shakespeare Festival etc), children (DTW's Family Matters, Lincoln Center's Reel to Real etc), students (Barnard, Hunter, The New School etc), and MTV. Keely Garfield Dance has been presented at many theaters and festivals nationally and internationally. Highlights include: Deep (The Joyce Theater), Disturbing The Peace (Zenon Dance Company, MN), Iron Lung (Groundworks Dancetheater, OH), Disturbulance (Dance Theater Workshop), Scent of Mental Love (A film for Radio Bremen/Canal Arte), Limerence, & Bessie-nominated Twin Pines (Danspace Project), Telling the Bees (Chocolate Factory). KGD has been presented by Celebrate Brooklyn!, Milwaukee Danceworks, Philadelphia Dance Projects, The Southern Theater, Danse Vernissage (Montreal), Spring Loaded (London), and Tanzmesse (Frankfurt). KGD will premiere new work at Danspace Project, NY, in 2014. Keely holds an MFA from UWM, is an E-RYT 500 yoga teacher and an Urban Zen Integrative Therapist.

Maria Gillespie (Choreographer), artistic director of Oni Dance was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch". Gillespie's choreography has been presented at venues including The Ford Amphitheatre, The Getty Museum, the Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theater, The A.W.A.R.D Show!, UCLA, CalArts, Scripps College, Pomona College, Cal State Long Beach, and Santa Monica College as well as in New York and San Francisco. She has performed and taught internationally in Mexico, Japan, and China. A four time Lester Horton Award winner, Gillespie received grants from The Durfee Foundation, The Irvine Foundation, and UWM's Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies. She was an adjunct and visiting professor at UCLA, CalArts, Loyola Marymount, CalState University Long Beach, University of Iowa. Gillespie received an MFA from UCLA's Department of World Arts & Cultures and a BFA from SUNY Purchase. She joined the faculty at UWM's Peck School of the Arts as assistant professor in 2012. www.onidance.org

Carrie Lande (Homuth) (Choreographer) is a choreographer/dance educator/performer throughout the Twin Cities, Minnesota and her work has been seen both nationally and internationally. In 2011, she began her company Live Wire Dance, a modern and jazz dance company. As the Director of Dance for Shattuck-St. Mary's college prep boarding school in Faribault, MN, Carrie has the opportunity to share her love of movement with today's youth. Going to Polly's is part of an evening length work, which will be presented on the UWM campus Summer 2014. This work explores the roles of women spanning the early 1900's through the 1930's, through storytelling, rhythm and movement. A special thank you to her husband Matt for his constant love and support and to the dancers for their inspiration and commitment to the work.

Debra Loewen (Choreographer) Senior Lecturer, Department of Dance, PSOA, founded Wild Space Dance Company in 1986 following a career as an independent choreographer and solo performer. Loewen has created more than 120 works for the company, which have been performed to critical acclaim throughout Wisconsin and in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Japan, and South Korea. Featured in Dance Magazine, her site-specific work has brought renewed interest and recognition to Milwaukee landmarks, such as Historic Turner Ballroom and the Lynden Sculpture Garden. Loewen has earned fellowships from Milwaukee County, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2011, she was selected by the Milwaukee Arts Board as an Artist of the Year. She holds a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MFA in dance from UW-Milwaukee. In addition to PSOA, she has taught for the University of Delaware and Alverno College, and Lawrence University.

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