Contact Susanne Voeltz for Kanopy Dance
susivoeltzpr@gmail.com 608-284-0848
Kanopy Dance Lights up the Stage with a Multicultural Holiday Celebration
Winter Fantasia: Reimagined
Scandinavian legends and a festive ode to the revered Hindu Festival “Navratri”
Told through the Magic of Dance
December 8-11, 2022
At the Overture Center for the Arts
Madison, WI—November 15, 2022—-The Winter Solstice, a time of transition when the dwindling light and the sun are finally poised return, has been celebrated thousands of years and marks a season of festivities and storytelling on every continent and in many cultures. In this festive annual concert, Kanopy Dance continues to offer two cherished audience favorites—winter stories that are rooted in Scandinavian folklore and brought to life through dance: “Once Upon a Winter’s Eve” and “The Norse Tree of Life”. (Stunning new gender-fluid costumes with original fabrics designed by NY artist David Quinn will also be debuted in “Once Upon a Winter’s Eve” for this production). And, starting this season, Kanopy presents Winter Fantasia: Reimagined—with a program designed to enrich the spirit of the holiday celebration by showcasing important contributions of other cultures with the debut of a world premiere, “Chalo Ramiye”, commissioned by Kanopy from South Asian dancer and choreographer Udbhav Desai. Mr. Desai will also guest perform in the dance. “Chalo Ramiye” (or “let’s play in Gujarati”), is a “garba” folk dance, and it is performed in ritualistic reverence of the Hindu goddess “Durga”, a protector of all that is good and harmonious in the world. Performing the festive garba dance form is a major highlight of the nine-day Hindu festival, Sharad Navratri, that honors “Durga” and has been observed for centuries. Appropriate to the spirit of the holidays, it is a celebration of good over evil. Garba is a communal dance form —born from cultural tradition, shaped by each generation– and yet it shares many parallels with modern dance and principal ballet techniques. Dancers will wear lavish and colorful traditional costumes and jewelry crafted in a traditional Gujarati style. As is customary, Mr. Desai’s “Chalo Ramiye” garba dance will be choreographed to heavy percussion sounds with a variety of drums paired with manjira (small brass cymbals), sundari (a double reed instrument, and surando, (a stringed instrument) among others.” The costumes and jewelry worn by female dancers for Chalo Ramiye were donated by Raxitaben Desai, who is the choreographer’s mother.
They come from a collection curated by Bijalben Patel, a lifelong Garba dancer who choreographed and shared the love of the dance with all.
Winter Fantasia: Reimagined Performing at Overture’s Promenade Hall, Reception Following Friday Night Performance. Thursday, Dec 8, 7PM; Friday, Dec 9, 7:30PM; Saturday, Dec 10, 2 & 5PM; Sunday, Dec 11, 1 & 4PM. Tickets (reserved seating): $40; Groups: 4 or more $35; Ages 18 & under $20; Students $20 Tickets: Overture.org (608) 258-4141
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About Kanopy Dance
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, 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 is comprised of Kanopy Dance Company, Kanopy 2, (Kanopy’s second company and pre-professional training program), and the Kanopy Dance Academy housed at the new Kanopy Center for Modern and Contemporary Dance. Kanopy is a resident company of Overture Center for the Arts. Pease visit us at https://kanopydance.org/