Northrop and the Twin Cities Tap Festival Present Dorrance Dance

Dorrance Dance makes their much-awaited return to Northrop on Sat, Oct 19, with their renowned Myelination, which is a highlight of the 2019 Twin Cities Tap Festival. Choreographer and performer Michelle Dorrance leads her company through their signature tap dance performances, accompanied by the original works of composers Donovan Dorrance and Gregory Richardson with Aaron Marcellus. The evening of tap dance also features two shorter pieces, Jungle Blues and Three to One, preceding the featured Myelination.

Northrop and the Twin Cities Tap Festival Present
Dorrance Dance
Carlson Family Stage
Sat, Oct 19, 7:30 pm

Jungle Blues
Three to One
Myelination
with live music

Michelle Dorrance, founder and artistic director of Dorrance Dance, has been hailed as "one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today." A 2015 MacArthur "Genius Grant" fellow and currently an Artist in Residence at the American Tap Dance Foundation, Dorrance's choreography is renowned for its "inventiveness, virtuosity, and musicality." Dorrance Dance's company also boasts world-renowned performers, with diverse backgrounds in ballet, tap, and hip-hop. The differing backgrounds of company members result in the unique medley of dance styles that Dorrance Dance is known for.

Dorrance Dance's Myelination first premiered at the New York City Center's 2015 Fall for Dance Festival as a 16-minute piece. The response was positive, with The New York Timeswriting, "Dorrance has choreographed a glittering closer that needs to have a second life...please, someone, make that happen." Dorrance rose to the request, expanding Myelination into an evening-length odyssey. Featuring live music performed by musicians on stage, the choreography and score blend seamlessly into one another, offering an integrative energy throughout the work.

"Myelination" is an anatomy term that refers to the process of a myelin sheath forming around a nerve, which then allows the nerve impulse to move more quickly. Dorrance Dance's Myelination embodies this term through its frenetic choreography and transitions from quick duets to compelling pieces of the entire company. The inherent musicality of the tap dance coincides with the shifting formations and fast-paced group footwork that showcases Dorrance's unique ability to capitalize on both the visual and audible aspects of tap dance. Myelination crescendos into a stunning mix of visual and audible art.

Jungle Blues and Three to One, choreographed in 2012 and 2011 respectively, are performed as preludes to Myelination. Jungle Blues, featuring a cast of 10 dancers, spares no intricacies with playful partnership and intermittent improvisation from select dancers. Three to One, noted by critics as an "all time favorite," features a dancer in tap shoes accompanied on either side by two barefoot dancers. Dramatic lighting directs the audience's view to the legs and feet of the performers, drawing attention to the stark contrast of tap shoes against bare feet in this game of mimicry. Dorrance Dance firstdebuted on Northrop's stage in November 2015 with The Blues Project.

Dorrance Dance is presented in conjunction with the Twin Cities Tap Festival, a weekend-long celebration of tap that brings together dance lovers to learn, inspire, and foster creativity. Since 2015, the Twin Cities Tap Festival has offered classes, workshops, and performances focusing on bringing the ever-changing art of American tap dance to dancers through classes, workshops, and performances.

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