Walker Art Center presents
Choreographers’ Evening 2022
50th Anniversary Celebration
Curated by Judith Howard and Alanna Morris
Saturday, November 26, 2022
4 pm & 7 pm
McGuire Theater
50th Anniversary Toast at 6 pm in Cityview Bar
Choreographers Evening 2022: 50th Anniversary Celebration
Curated by
Judith Howard & Alanna Morris
Featuring
Kayla Schiltgen
Elizabeth Flinsch
Averie Mitchell-Brown
Alys Ayumi Ogura
Meridian Movement Co (Colin Edwards and Canaan Mattson)
Romeo Cannady
J. H. Shuǐ Xiān and Kristin Van Loon
Aloe AoLiu
Laurie Van Wieren
Tonight’s performance runs approximately 70 minutes with no intermission.
The 4pm performance includes ASL interpretation by Mary Catherine.
Between the two performances, please join us in the Cityview Bar for a special gathering to celebrate this milestone 50th anniversary. At 6pm, the Walker’s Performing Arts Director and Senior Curator, Philip Bither, and Judith Brin Ingber, founder of the first Young Choreographers’ Evening in 1971, will say a few words about this historic occasion and offer a toast to our extraordinary dance community.
A Note from the Curators
HERE! NOW! FORWARD!
As curators we selected artists whose work felt urgent to show in this particular showcase, at this particular time. Artists whose work surprised and intrigued us; artists who represent various identities, stories, and aesthetics. We were drawn to introspection; work that brought us into our bodies, as well as projects that created impact in the moment, spoke to real experience, and captivated our imaginations.
We asked the artists: What is alive for you right now and what questions are you asking within your practice?
This 50th Choreographer’s Evening anniversary showcase honors legacy as something that continues to be earned and gives space to emerging artists who do not hang back! The work moves us, sends us forward, and opens the door to what’s next.
– Alanna Morris and Judith Howard
A Note from Philip Bither
For half a century, Choreographers’ Evening has stood as a testament to the creativity, diversity, tenacity, and independence of Minnesota’s rich dance community. The Walker has been honored to play host and producer of the event over decades, and this year we are particularly thrilled to be celebrating this important marker in time, one that speaks to our dance community’s uniqueness, and to its collaborative, generously collective spirit.
– Philip Bither, McGuire Director and Senior Curator for Performing Arts
A Note from Judith Brin Ingber
AN ODE
To Choreographers’ Evening
sustained and cultivated by Walker Art Center
In 1971, I went to my boss Suzanne Weil at the Walker and said, “Let me direct an evening of young MN choreographers to show off unrecognized creativity.” She said, “Sure,” and so began an amazing history.
In addition to visiting dance companies, what audiences were accustomed to were provided by the MN dance pillars: Loyce Houlton and her MN Dance Theater; Nancy Hauser and her Guild of Performing Arts; Lorand Andahazy and Anna Andriana with their Ballet Borealis Company; Gertrude Lippincott as master teacher and spokesperson who had retired from performing but her dance partner Bob Moulton was well known as choreographer for the Tyrone Guthrie Theater and creator of oilios for the University’s Showboat. All agreed I could visit. I also went to Margret Dietz’s new studio and some theatres incorporating more dance to scout out possible participants.
I chose solos, duets, and group dances, some with humor and some poignant, from modern and ballet, then coached the other creators and created a program to be on Walker’s oddly shaped oblong stage (missing cross overs and a real backstage). This was before the McGuire Theater where we are tonight. I included my own solo, I Never Saw Another Butterfly, inspired by a child’s poem written in a concentration camp, plus my more cheerful group piece, Carrying. For my cast, Loyce Houlton loaned me 11 MDT dancers as a wedding gift. The other performers /choreographers were Gale Turner; Sara and Jerry Pearson; Judy Morgan; Katherine Hearth; Joann Saltzman and Terrence L. V. Karn. An unwanted consequence of participating occurred when one of the choreographers was banned by their teacher from returning. Bias still existed for leaving one’s home studio for other offerings.
Weil dubbed the show the Young Choreographers’ Evening, scheduling it for an unusual time of 7:00 PM. By 6:45 that night, the Walker/Guthrie foyer was so jammed that she came backstage to ask if everyone could agree to a second show? We all said yes. The Minneapolis Tribune was curious enough to send a photographer and featured a full photo spread in addition to a positive review by Mike Steele.
For the following fifty years, Choreographers’ Evening has helped to sustain and cultivate our dance community, indeed introducing new dances and personalities to audiences while backstage, new connections have been formed and appreciations gained watching each other’s works. I’ve heard, too, of job offers extended to join companies and performances. It has remained a coup to be chosen a guest curator, and I deeply thank the 95+ curators who have followed me, each producing such different shows built from their individually held strong views. Styles and concerns have changed so the scope goes beyond the labels of ballet and contemporary, considering BIPOC, LGBTQIA, post-colonial concerns, site-specific, hip hop, or post-modern. We wish there were a census of the hundreds and hundreds of unnamed dancers and featured choreographers who have been presented. But I close with a curtsy and a request:
Doff your hats, exclaim Merde, huzzah, and congratulations to this unique elixir that brings forth our vital dance community. Celebrate with us and bow too, to tonight’s co-curators, Walker’s long serving performing arts director and senior curator Philip Bither, seasoned senior program officer Julie Voigt, and their staff.
– Judith Brin Ingber
About the Artists & Works
Kayla Schiltgen
object permanence
Performed by Kayla Schiltgen
Composition and music: Dean Sibinski
Choreography, dance, cinematography, and editing: Kayla Schiltgen
Production assistance: Eric Elefson
object permanence is an act of curiosity pursuing my enduring wonder about visibility or lack thereof in a time of perpetual display. Object permanence is a concept studied in developmental psychology, it refers to the understanding that people, places, and things continue to exist even when they can no longer be sensed. I stumbled across this idea during my research, it captured my attention, and has since been revealing what it wants discovered through this creative journey. What you are viewing this evening is the first half of object permanence. The virtual premiere of the full screendance, accompanied by an artist chat, is happening in December and I would love to share this with you. For information on how to attend the event you may visit my website at www.kaylaschiltgen.com and follow me on Instagram @kaylaschiltgen. I would like to thank my Community Supported Art patrons whose generous support made this work possible.
KAYLA SCHILTGEN is a rural artist from Two Harbors, a community of 3,500 people on Minnesota's North Shore, the ancestral land of the Anishinabewaki. She creates screendance, a hybrid medium using dance and film to innovate movement language that solely exists on the screen. As a neurodiverse introvert, Kayla finds gladness in a mostly solo practice with the natural environment as her collaborator. Her daily life is informed by interacting with her surroundings in delicate, intuitive, and intentional ways and her artistic practice is saturated by this kind of attentiveness. Kayla does not find accomplishment to be an indicator of artistic merit or worth but rather finds solace in her dedication to her truth and path as a creative person. This began as a child improvising movement to the radio in the barn on her family’s farm and has led her on a beautifully stubborn journey of embodying, documenting, and sharing her curiosity for existence.
DEAN SIBINSKI is a Minneapolis-based electronic musician, composer and songwriter. He enjoys exploring sound design, especially with modular synthesizers and engineering records in the production, mixing and mastering. His plans are to continue to collaborate with artists, both visual and performance-oriented, in his home city and beyond.
Elizabeth Flinsch
We Shall Not Want
Performed by Elizabeth Flinsch
Music originally composed by Shivali; interpreted and performed by Jordan Lawrence
Part ritual, part inquiry, the work is elongated and deliberate. This collaboration between music and movement poses a form of mutual emergence; a symbiosis of simultaneous expression. Together they offer a glimpse of this ceremonial encounter with a creative unconscious.
ELIZABETH FLINSCH is a transdisciplinary artist based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Their work takes the form of performance, interdisciplinary sculpture, and imagined realities in which chance, desire, and impulse are among the cornerstones. After a car accident and suffering a traumatic brain injury in 2019, movement practice became central to Flinsch’s work. Now working within their disabilities, memory loss and visual dysfunction are an asset to their process of creation. Their work is always in metamorphosis; a state of continuous becoming.
JORDAN LAWRENCE is a musician and poet who uses word and sound as vehicles for connection to himself and the moment. He finds healing through being present in intentional space, and loves to grow, explore, and collaborate with others.
Averie Mitchell-Brown
Choosey
Performed by Averie Mitchell-Brown, David Stalter Jr., Rachel Kalema, Jaylen Franklin, and Lydia Jones
A story of unfaithfulness, revenge, and love… or the lack there of. How do we deal with the devastating news of a not-so-faithful partner? Eye for wondering eye makes the whole world blind? This is one of many stories of how to take care of a choosey situation.
After first dancing on stage at the age of 11, AVERIE MITCHELL-BROWN strived to make any aspect of dance her life by taking classes in ballroom, West African, break dancing, jazz, and contemporary. Averie Mitchell-Brown is a University of Minnesota-Twin Cities graduate aspiring to touch as many lives as possible with her love, light, artistry, and talent. She has worked with well-known artists like Al Taw’am - The Twins as a crew member in S.H.E - She Who Holds Everything, Kenna Cottman in Voice of Culture drum and Dance, Aneka McMullen in Epitome No Question, Bboy J-Sun, Leah Nelson, and many more. Working with other artists and dancers of different styles helped her improve as a dancer holistically and become more knowledgeable in the origins of the dance community here in the Twin Cities. She lives her life as a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in African diasporic dance. When not dancing, she is touching the lives of many as an educator and traveling with her family.
Alys Ayumi Ogura
Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. History Repeats Itself… Oh, Really? Hope Not…!
Performed by Alys Ayumi Ogura
Audio excerpts: Canon D major; Hanayome Ningyo (Bridal Doll) and Japanese Children’s Folk Song; NBC news clip, "President Trump: The impeachment inquiry is a scam, Schiff should be investigated" (October 7, 2019); Akuma no Ko by Ai Higuchi
Special thanks to Sarah Myers who directed Never Underestimate a Short Asian Woman with an Accent. She helped me write the narrative for the show, which developed into Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. History Repeats Itself… Oh, Really? Let’s Hope Not…!
Ogura has created her “Yumi” character and her own universe, called the “Yumi-verse,” to share stories that have been percolating in her inner landscape. Ogura named these stories “The Yumi-Talk Series,” and she’s using them to make social commentary through her own perspective: a short Asian woman with an accent living in the US.
Truth is Stranger Than Facts. History Repeats Itself… Oh, Really? Let’s Hope Not…! is Ogura’s reflection on the past three years’ seemingly significant moments that made her think: “Didn’t I read about these events in world history class, about post-war countries recovering, climate-change challenges, dealing with insurrections, and recovering from pandemics?” How can I make satire when the world seems to be quickly going crazy? Truth is Stranger than Facts is Ogura’s attempt to answer her own questions. She hopes her perspective is somewhat hopeful to you, though it’s somewhat depressing at the same time.
ALYS AYUMI OGURA is a storyteller through her movements, voice, and quirky humor. After trading her surroundings of Japan’s rice fields for Iowa’s cornfields, she earned a B.A. from Westmar University. Ogura’s movement and choreography are most influenced by her first two mentors, the late Mika Kurosawa, and Rob Scoggins, who each offered boundless encouragement. Ogura has been performing in Minnesota since 2010, and she has worked with more than 30 artists—near and far—such as Hauser Dance, Emily Johnson/Catalyst, Emily Gastineau, Kata Juhasz, Pam Gleason, Pramila Vasudevan, Laurie Van Wieren, and more. She has toured with April Sellers’ ASDC on National Dance Project and with Sarah LaRose-Holland’s KEDC. She has performed her choreography at various venues, including the Southern Theatre, Walker Art Center, and the Cedar Cultural Center. Ogura is a former fellow at the Arts Organizing Institute (2017-18) and Naked Stages (2021), and she serves on the DanceMN steering committee.
Meridian Movement Co (Colin Edwards and Canaan Mattson)
The Black Masc: The Origin Story
Performed by Colin Edwards, Canaan Mattson, Jahi Henry, and Cecil Neal
This is a story of four men’s exploration within self, through the past. Reflecting on those who came before us and their effects on us today – primarily our Fathers. The first part is pre-birth. The trials our fathers, grandfathers, and ancestors faced that caused the disconnections of today. Leading to the second part, rebirth. We explore what it means to support one another guided by love. Ultimately, redefining masculinity for ourselves.
The process is an incubation on fatherhood through spoken, written, and movement workshops, diving deeper into how choreographed movement can be the flowering of a therapeutic somatic exercise. The piece hopes to ask questions, to share, to interview, to find solutions and to bring to light the most important, joyful, and painful parts of fatherhood and the ways it affects all dancers as male identifying people.
COLIN EDWARDS and CANAAN MATTSON are co-directors/choreographers for MERIDIAN MOVEMENT CO (MMC). MMC is a collaborative company with the focus of generating a new somatic healing language for black men using movement to investigate and reflect topics around identity, personhood, and the shared ideal of community.
Romeo Cannady
Pin
Performed by Romeo Cannady
Music Locked in Place by Hurd Ensemble
When it rains, one would likely step under an umbrella or a pergola. But imagine the umbrella or pergola as a metaphor for your external shell. It's your identity. It's your manner of claiming, “No, I'm fairly proud of my reality. Don't take that off from me.” Still the rain comes down and it washes what was there. It takes you to deeper situations, it shows you the reality beneath. So you let it rain. When you step from underneath the pergola. That is the primary step. That's the art of presence. By stepping from underneath the pergola, you're dropping all the pride, the individualities, and also the attachments and you begin to fantasize the world. The next step is to “express” thus you begin to bounce within the rain. Now, permitting yourself to travel with abandon and enabling the rain to ignite action in you toward different and new realms of knowledge.
ROMEO CANNADY is a Saint Paul-based dance/movement artist. Romeo explicitly combines his deeply rooted passions to fuse with his signature choreographic movement language. Throughout the years of his ventures into spirituality and personal development, he tapped into his internal power. Romeo's mother, Tanya Lynn, who directed the dance department at their church until Romeo's senior year of high school, urged him to begin dancing at the age of 6. Romeo would go on to attend the University of Minnesota where he majored in dance and graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He had the pleasure of dancing in works by Dr. Gaynell Sherrod and Robert Moses as an undergraduate student. As a developing dance artist, he continues his dancing with TU Dance's CUL·TI·VATE, A Trainee Program; and the BLAQ Dance Company.
J. H. Shuǐ Xiān and Kristin Van Loon
First Dance
Performed byJ. H. Shuǐ Xiān and Kristin Van Loon
Soundscore by J. H. Shuǐ Xiān
We’ve been doing this dance since the day we met 7 years ago.
J. H. SHUǏ XIĀN is an interdisciplinary choreographer, improviser, and sound artist (video & installation on the way, keep your eyes peeled!). She has enjoyed creating works in Mni Sota Makoce since 2015 and has recently enjoyed performing for and collaborating with others including Dua Saleh, Rosy Simas, Heather Kravas, lazer axelrood, Valerie Oliviero, Leila Awadallah, Judith Howard, Shayna Allen, Maddie Granlund, Emily Gastineau, and Erin Drummond. She is a 2017 Q-Stage: New Works and 2019 Momentum: New Dance Works recipient and was part of the 2022 Red Eye Works-In-Progress cohort. She also serves as a teaching artist at Young Dance, and has been focused on living life with comfort, consistency, and love as top priorities. Judee is honored to be part of Choreographers’ Evening for the 4th time this year under curation of artists she much admires.
KRISTIN VAN LOON grew up a competitive figure skater in the Chicago suburbs and earned a BA in Geology from Colorado College in 1993. She then moved to Minneapolis and debuted HIJACK, her choreographic collaboration with Arwen Wilder, at Choreographer’s Evening that fall. HIJACK’s 20th anniversary was celebrated with the Walker Commission of redundant, ready, reading, radish Red Eye for the McGuire Stage and the chapbook Passing for Dance: a HIJACK Reader published by Contact Quarterly. She has danced in the works of Catherine Sullivan, Morgan Thorson, Chris Schlichting, Chris Yon, Karen Sherman, Judith Howard, Laurie Van Wieren, Steve Paxton, and Lisa Nelson, among others. Van Loon/HIJACK teaches Improvisation / composition at Zenon, the University of Minnesota, and Carleton College. Van Loon is the Artistic Director of the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater and co-runs HAIR+NAILS Contemporary Art Gallery with Ryan Fontaine. She curated Choreographers' Evening in 1996 as HIJACK and in 2001 with Judith Brin Ingber.
Aloe AoLiu
Memories
Performed by Aloe AoLiu
Music by Ye Liu
Upon my arrival in Minnesota in January 2022, in fact my first time in the US, I was fascinated and delighted by the many contrasts to Kunming, my hometown. The brilliant white landscape and brisk temperatures were quite different from the lush green landscapes and moderate temperatures of Yunnan province. But soon I was missing the feel of home, its beauty, my family, and friends too. As a dance artist I used movements from our ethnic heritage combined with my unique movement style to process and understand my yearnings for home and my heartfelt memories from there. Feel it with me as I dance of love… understanding... forgiveness... reconciliation.
Since moving to St. Paul MN in early 2022, ALOE AOLIU has been a professional dancer, choreographer and Performance Director with CAAM Chinese Dance Theater, based in St. Paul MN. Previously Aloe performed extensively throughout China and toured in Asia and Europe while being based in Kunming, China. Aloe was principal and soloist for 8 years in China’s famous dance company founded by Yang Liping, otherwise known as the “Peacock Queen.” During this period Liu performed in well-known Chinese dance productions including Dynamic Yunnan, A Shangri-La Spectacular, and Beautiful South. Until recently she had her own studio in China and professionally performed, choreographed, and instructed dancers of all levels, including at the university level for Yunnan Arts Institute. From her base in Kunming she has developed her own unique style while choreographing and directing many contemporary dance dramas including Bed, Lost in Dream, Hidden Emotion, It will pass, and You. In addition to performance at large scale events such as Beijing Olympics and Shanghai World Expo, Aloe has been a guest artist at various international art festivals including Over the Cloud International Live Art Festival, MIPAF Macau International Live Art Festival, and Up On International Live Art Festival. She has also mounted her own personal contemporary performance art exhibition, “Feed,” at the Kunming Kong Space Art Museum. Aloe holds a Bachelor of Dance Performance degree from Yunnan Arts University and a Master of Education from Renmin University, both universities with top dance majors in China, and has completed a graduate program for International Youth Leader Education in Denmark.
Laurie Van Wieren
Where is our tomorrow, now?
Performed by Laurie Van Wieren and Michelle Kinney, cellist/composer
Music by Michelle Kinney
Where is our tomorrow, now? is an improvisational duet that is part of an ongoing project, Remote Sensing/Collecting Our Past, an investigation of the interaction between our bodies and our landscapes. This work takes place in this world and the last and the next. We are considering our ancestors, our artistic past, and our futures.
LAURIE VAN WIEREN (she/her) grew up on the west side of Chicago and moved to Minneapolis where she fell in with a pack of dance and art makers. Her first full-length dance work was co-produced by the MN Dance Alliance and the Walker Art Center with music created by Michelle Kinney. Van Wieren has created solo, ensemble, and site-specific works throughout the Twin Cities. Her dances have been seen in Chicago, Fargo, New York, Potsdam, Germany, and Yaroslavl, Russia. She is an artist advocate and has curated and produced performances at the Southern Theater, Ritz Theater, SOO Visual Art Center, and 9x22 Dance/Lab, the monthly inclusive performance/discussion platform that she created (2003 to 2019). Her work has received awards from McKnight, Jerome, Bush, NEA, Rockefeller Foundations, MN State Arts Board, MN Sage Awards, and City Pages. She is currently creating work exploring ancestral landscapes.
Cellist and composer MICHELLE KINNEY (she/her) is a lifelong improviser inspired by collaborative, cross-genre and non-traditional contexts for the cello. Laurie Van Wieren and Michelle have been great friends and art partners for a long time, returning to the Walker Art Center where we started. Other notable dance collaborations include working with Ananya Chatterjea, Carl Flink, Cyrus Khambatta, and Sarah Berges. Michelle’s current bands that perform her original music are Maithree, led by South Indian Veena virtuoso Nirmala Rajasekar, and a new venture, Herbaceous, with pianist Joe Strachan and saxophonist Brandon Wozniak. The short list of TC music artists featuring Michelle’s cello include Dylan Hicks, Aby Wolf, Zeitgeist, Chastity Brown, Mary Ellen Childs, George Cartwright, Noah Ophoven Baldwin, and Charles Gorczyinski’s Kingfield Tango. Michelle’s work has been recognized by McKnight Foundation, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Bush Foundation, Jerome Foundation, MN State Arts Board, NEA/Rockefeller, and American Composers Forum.
About the Curators
JUDITH HOWARD has been making dances in the Twin Cities for over 30 years and her work has been presented at numerous venues, nationally and internationally including the Walker Art Center, the Southern Theater, 9x22 Dance Lab, the NY Improvisation Festival and The Festival of Contemporary Dance in Yaroslavl, Russia. Her choreographic research includes the equation of gender and spectacle, geopolitical injustices, subversive and collaborative procedures, ineffable states of being, and pushing the proscenium. Judith has performed the work of numerous choreographers including Super Group, HIJACK, Morgan Thorson, Laurie Van Wieren, Off-Leash Area, Shapiro and Smith, Skewed Visions, April Sellers, and Mad King Thomas. Her work has been supported by the McKnight and Jerome Foundations, the MN Regional Arts Council, and Carleton College. She was selected Twin Cities Best Choreographer in 2005 and has received Sage Awards for: Outstanding Performance (with April Sellers) in 2006, Outstanding Dance Educator (2014), and Outstanding Performer for her solo in the work of Super Group (2016). Judith is currently a professor in Dance at Carleton College where she is the Chair of the Theater and Dance Department and Director of the Dance Program.
ALANNA MORRIS is a Dancer-Choreographer, Educator, Artist Organizer, and Curator. Morris danced with TU Dance (St. Paul) under Artistic Directors, Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands from 2007–2017. In 2020, they served as the company’s Artistic Associate and is a founding teaching artist at the School at TU Dance Center. In 2018 they were named Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch!” In 2019, Minneapolis’ City Pages’ Artist of the Year and Best Choreographer for their solo, “Yam, Potatoe an Fish!” They have received fellowships from the McKnight Foundation for Dance (2015) and Choreography (2021) and is a Springboard Danse Montreal Fellow (2022). Alanna returns from working in Montréal for the month of June, researching and presenting her choreography for an ensemble of danseurs. Morris is the Artistic Director of I A.M. Arts, founded in 2017 to produce collaborative solo dance works and global commissions that uplift and inspire our humanity; educational programs that utilize the creative arts as a tool for self-development; and community-building initiatives that assist mid- career women Creatives with spiritual, professional, and economic resources to thrive. Morris is currently developing a thesis around the divinity of black-ness, being researched in phases over multiple years and collaborative solo performance. Its last presentation was co-presented by the Great Northern Festival, the Cowles Center for Dance, and Northrop February 2022 for in-person and livestream audiences. Morris is currently touring Let The Crows Come with Ashwini Ramaswamy and Collaborators; and will premiere Invisible Cities, also directed by Ashwini Ramaswamy, co-presented by the Great Northern Festival, Northrop and the Cowles Center for Dance in January 2023. She is a Visiting Professor of Dance at Carleton College and a graduate of the Juilliard School and LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts (NYC). www.iamartss.com
Learn More
Co-curators Judith Howard and Alanna Morris sat down earlier this summer to discuss the impact Choreographers' Evening has had on their work and the Twin Cities dance community. Read the full interview on the Walker Reader: Choreographers’ Evening at 50 Years: Judith Howard and Alanna Morris in Conversation.
In 2012, in preparation for the 40th anniversary celebration, the Walker compiled archival information on the history of Choreographers’ Evening, including program notes, photos, rehearsal notes, press releases, reviews, and more, all posted in chronological order on a dedicated tumblr page.
In anticipation of the 50th anniversary, we started a Choreographers’ Evening Legacy Facebook Group, where we’ve been sharing photos and memories! Follow this link and request to join.
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