News From Kanopy Dance Company Contact: Susanne Voeltz [email protected]
Kanopy Dance Academy Second Quarter
Dancing with Kanopy at Home Starts LIVE via ZOOM
November 9, 2020-January 31, 2021
Special Performance Opportunities for Kanopy Academy Students
Including a Holiday Show (ZOOM): “Excerpts from Charles Weidman’s Joyful Christmas Oratorio”.
Registration Now Open. Please visit https://kanopydance.org/school-year/
Madison, WI—November 3, 2020—Kanopy Dance Academy will continue online LIVE via ZOOM for the Fall Quarter 2, starting November 9, 2020-January 31, 2021, in light of Covid-19 and Kanopy’s commitment to the health and safety of our community. (Decisions about resuming in-studio or a hybrid of virtual and in-studio classes for the Winter/Spring Quarter will be subject to strict guidelines recommended by public health officials).
As Kanopy Dance Company’s official dance school, Kanopy Dance Academy provides rare opportunities for students to learn a repertoire of master works by iconic shapers of dance from nationally acclaimed guest artists, choreographers and an exceptional faculty team.
Kanopy Academy’s fall quarter 2 offers 24 weekly classes including creative modern dance, ballet, repertory, choreography & improvisation and dance history, as well as “intensives” in principal modern dance techniques including those of Lester Horton, Anna Sokolow, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Erick Hawkins and Martha Graham. The fall curriculum will also be enriched with written creative projects, to be completed independently.
New to the Kanopy faculty this quarter is Chicagoan Anne Marie Loesch, a premiere instructor/performer in the pedagogy of the Humphrey/Weidman modern dance technique. She will teach two classes on Saturdays during the 2nd fall quarter: Humphrey Dance Technique on Saturdays, 2:15-3:05PM and the Charles Weidman Repertory “Christmas Oratorio” at 3:10-3:45PM.
Students enrolled in the Weidman Repertory “Christmas Oratorio” class session will present a holiday performance of Weidman’s joyful choreography—danced to Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio”— live via ZOOM for family and friends on Saturday, December 19, 2020.
Weidman was a modern dance pioneer who famously collaborated with the legendary Doris Humphrey, developing the Humphrey/Weidman modern dance technique. Weidman and Humphrey helped shape a legion of extraordinary dancers including Jose Limon, Gene Kelly, Sybil Shearer, Eleanor King, Bob Fosse and Alvin Ailey. (Weidman also choreographed the searing “Lynchtown”, an attack on bigotry and hatred that Kanopy performed at the Overture Center in 2015.
Another special highlight this fall quarter 2, will be learning Anna Sokolow’s signature work “Rooms”, a powerful dance about loneliness featuring music composed by Kenyon Hopkins for a jazz ensemble. As part of that project, Kanopy Academy students, and those from select companies and colleges nationally, will collaborate through the fall and spring with the Sokolow Theatre Dance Ensemble NYC creating virtual performances, shared rehearsals and coaching, and, ultimately, a film production.
In addition, Kanopy 2 and Kanopy Company dancers will rehearse (remotely) and film an adaption of the “Ciaccona” from Kanopy’s co artistic director Lisa Thurrell’s “Partita & Chorales”. This work is an uplifting yearning emotional work set to J.S. Bach’s Partita in D Minor and Bach Chorales. Kanopy’s directors Robert E Cleary and Lisa Thurrell will collaborate with videographer Mats Rudels in revisioning this work for film.
Whether you are a creative beginner, on a professional track, looking for a body-strengthening workout or wanting to experience the pure joy of dance, Kanopy has a dance class just for you. Information about registration and a full schedule of classes are available at https://kanopydance.org/school-year/ . For additional questions please contact Kanopy at [email protected] or Kanopy Dance 608.255-2211. (Registration will be offered on a rolling basis to provide flexibility and accommodate school calendars.)
About Kanopy Dance and Kanopy Dance Academy: A Resident Company of the Overture Center for the Arts.
Kanopy Dance is a quintessential modern dance company. While the company “informs” its works through its roots in the Martha Graham tradition, Kanopy has cultivated its own brand, working to forward a new dimension and visual language to advance American dance. Kanopy’s artistic directors, Robert E. Cleary, (former principal dancer for Ballet Minnesota and Minnesota Dance Theater) and Lisa Thurrell, (former dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company & School, NYC), not only strive to preserve the best of Graham; but also to cultivate the dynamic growth of American dance by training professional dancers, choreographing new works and collaborating with artists to establish new creative benchmarks.
Kanopy Dance Company has a strong regional and national presence working collaboratively with cutting edge dance and dance theater companies throughout the country. Each season, Kanopy attracts dancers and choreographers who are shaping the modern dance scene to create with us on stage. In 2013, Kanopy also formed an ongoing partnership with Martha Graham Dance Company that continues to flourish and grow.
In addition to performing original works at our home, the Overture Center, and presenting at arts venues including Chicago, Minneapolis and New York City, Kanopy annually engages in outreach programs reaching thousands through area public and private schools, libraries, community centers, preschools, senior centers, outdoor festivals, and colleges; presenting educational workshops, master classes, lecture demonstrations and performances. Kanopy also provides free tickets to those who might otherwise not have access to the performing arts with the Community Tickets program in collaboration with Overture Center.
Kanopy is comprised of Kanopy Dance Company, Kanopy 2, (our second company and pre-professional training program), Kanopy Academy, and Kanopy Studio. Kanopy Dance Company is a resident company of Overture Center for the Arts. Please visit us at https://kanopydance.org/.
