“Sarah Michelson is an artist you can trust, even if you’re not exactly sure what she’s doing. Her work can thrill you even when it’s making you uncomfortable—a risk she’s willing to take.”—Village Voice
Minneapolis, September 1, 2015—The Walker Art Center’s Performing Arts season launches with the world premiere of a new work by New York–based innovator Sarah Michelson. The Walker-commissioned work, tournamento, will be performed in the William and Nadine McGuire Theater
Thursday–Sunday, September 24–27.
The McGuire Theater house will open each day at 3:45pm.
On-stage seating $1; auditorium seating is free. No reservation required.
SHOWTIME 7pm each evening. On-stage seating $28 ($24 WAC members); auditorium seating is free.
The Walker Art Center has had a long, close relationship with Michelson over the past decade including the commissions and presentations of the ambitiously scaled Daylight (For Minneapolis) (2005) and Devotion (2011). tournamento, Michelson’s third consecutive commission from the Walker, will be presented on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the landmark Daylight (For Minneapolis), her work that was inspired by the design of the Walker’s new Herzog and De Meuron building and new theater which opened in 2005.
Sarah Michelson’s work has been presented and commissioned by BAM, PS 122, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, Movement Research, The Walker Art Center, On the Boards, Chapter Arts (Cardiff, Wales); and has toured to Cutting Edge Festival, Frankfurt; Venice Biennale; SommerSzene, Salzburg; Tanz im August, Berlin; and Zuercher Theater Spektakel, Zurich, where she received the Der Foerder prize for best work at the festival.
She has created several evening-length works and modular works including 4 created for The Whitney Museum of American Art (2014); Devotion Study #3 (work in progress) MoMA for the Some sweet day series curated by Ralph Lemon (2012); Not a Lecture/Performance Crossing the Line Festival, FIAF, Tinker Auditorium, New York (2012); Devotion Study #1, The American Dancer The Whitney Museum of American Art (2012); Devotion, which premiered at The Kitchen (2011) and toured to the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, ODC Theater, San Francisco, and On the Boards, Seattle; Dover Beach, which premiered at Chapter Arts (Sept 2008) and The Kitchen (2009); DOGS (2006), commissioned by BAM; and Daylight, Daylight (for Seattle) and Daylight (for Minneapolis) (2005) commissioned by The Walker for the opening of the first season in the center’s expanded building. Sarah has created commissioned works for Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project (2002); Lyon Opera Ballet (2005); Transitions Dance Co, Laban Center London (2006); and CanDoCo, London (2010).
Michelson was awarded two Bessies for choreography and one for Visual Design; a Doris Duke Artists Award, the 2012 Bucksbaum Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship 2009, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award 2008, the 2006 Alpert Award in Dance, a NYFA Fellowship; and support from Altria, Creative Capital, Jerome Foundation, NYFA BUILD, Mid-Atlantic’s USAI, AMC Live Music for Dance, MAP Fund, the DNA Project, NEFA’s National Dance Project, NPN, Sophie and Leonard Davis Fund, Yellow House Fund, and Arts International.
Tickets:
The McGuire Theater house will open each day at 3:45pm. On-stage seating is $1 and can only be purchased on-site in the theater. Auditorium seating is free. No reservation required.
SHOWTIME 7pm each evening. On-stage seating is $28 ($24 WAC members); tickets are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600. Auditorium seating is free.
Media Resources
Sarah Michelson in Conversation with Curator Philip Bither via walker art.org click here
Choreographer Sarah Michelson joins Walker Performing Arts Senior Curator Philip Bither for a discussion about her Walker-commissioned piece Devotion.
Ralph Lemon on Sarah Michelson in Bomb click here
I’ll Be Your Mirror: Artforum’s David Velasco on the work of Sarah Michelson click here
Video: Sarah Michelson, Daylight (for Minneapolis), 2005. (Excerpt from performance at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, September 15, 2005.) click here
Make a Night of It!
Balcony Bar
Meet the artists, talk about the show, and enjoy drinks on the upper balcony of the elegant McGuire Theater. Open one hour prior to and after most performances.
Dig Deeper
Discover
Keep an eye on the Walker site for all the latest updates, including original articles about artists and performances.
walkerart.org
Find rich film and audio content related to artists past and present on the Walker Channel. channel.walkerart.org
Engage
Share your thoughts on the Walker’s social media channels or leave your comments on the performing arts blog, The Green Room.
blogs.walkerart.org/performingarts
Discuss
On Saturday nights after select shows, join us in the Balcony Bar for SpeakEasy, a conversation led by Walker tour guides and local artists.
Connect with the Artists
Take part in unique offstage experiences such as public workshops, open rehearsals, opening-night celebrations, postshow Q&As, and member events walkerart.org/performing-arts
Free Gallery Admission
Walker gallery admission is free with a paid event ticket within one week of every performance.
Accessibility
The Walker is accessible to all visitors. Assistive listening devices, audio description, and ASL interpretation are available for performing arts events. For more information, call 612.253.3556 or e-mail access@walkerart.org.
Walker Art Center Performing Arts Program History
A catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences, the Walker Art Center examines the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities. Established in 1927 as the Walker Art Gallery, in 1940 it adopted a new name and focused on modern and contemporary art exhibitions as well as screenings, performances and public programs. The Performing Arts program grew dramatically during the 1960s, presenting over 100 events a year and transitioning into a formal Walker programmatic department in 1970. Following a 1971 expansion and its 1988 opening of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, in 2005 the Walker opened a $100 million expansion which housed dedicated venues for all its disciplines including the 385-seat McGuire Theater. Today the Walker is one of the top-five most visited modern and contemporary art centers in the U.S. Multidisciplinary in focus, it is equally committed to advancing artistic innovation and interdisciplinary scholarship as it is with increasing access to lifelong learning in the arts. Approximately 1,600 artistic presentations engage 600,000 people per year through up to eight exhibitions; 170 film screenings; 85 performance events; the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden; and hundreds of residency, education, and community program events. Its 16-acre campus includes the highly acclaimed Herzog & de Meuron designed 385-seat McGuire Theater – home to one of the nation’s largest contemporary performance programs. The Walker is respected nationally and internationally as a groundbreaking leader in contemporary performing art presentations, residencies, and commissions. Led by Senior Curator Philip Bither since 1997, the Walker’s Performing Arts program under his tenure has been defined by its commitment to the increasingly blurred lines between artistic disciplines, including contemporary dance, new music-theatre, performance art, experimental theatre, avant-jazz, contemporary classical music, new global sounds and alternative rock and pop. In addition to animating its outstanding McGuire Theater, the Walker has also greatly expanded its placement of dance into gallery settings, in its sculpture garden, and beyond, to further encourage a conversation between forms. It has also continued it long-standing tradition of mounting work together with presenters, venues, community-based collaborators, and unique sites across the Twin Cities. Through its endeavors, the Walker has earned an international reputation as “one of America’s foremost experimental art spaces” (UK’s The Guardian).
Commissioning History Highlights
The Walker actively commissions work from emerging and established artists and provides artists intensive residencies to develop their work and connect their art and ideas with its audiences and neighboring communities. During the past decade alone, the Walker has commissioned more than 100 works involving hundreds of performing artists whose Walker commissioned works have travelled to 270 venues in the U.S. and 30 countries. The Walker helped to establish now common national practices like commissioning work from leading artists (Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Twyla Tharp and many more) and our commitment continues to this day with 5-8 new commissions and production residencies per year. The Walker has hosted multiple residencies from hundreds of artists over the years, including longstanding relationships with artists such as Cunningham, Brown, Philip Glass, and Meredith Monk, and more recently, vanguard artists such as Elevator Repair Service, Erik Friedlander, Cynthia Hopkins, So Percussion, and Ralph Lemon (who opened the 14/15 season with a new interdisciplinary work, Scaffold Room). 15/16 commission highlights include premieres like Sarah Michelson’s tournamento; Julian Crouch, Rinde Eckert, Paola Prestini’s Aging Magician; and Trajal Harrell’s The Ghost of Montpellier Meets the Samurai.
Acknowledgments
Commissioned by the Walker Art Center with support provided by the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Producers’ Council members Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Support also provided by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; and the Engaging Dance Audiences program, administered by Dance/USA and made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The Walker Art Center’s performing arts programs are made possible by generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through the Doris Duke Performing Arts Fund, the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Producers’ Council
Performing Arts programs and commissions at the Walker are generously supported by members of the Producers’ Council: Nor Hall and Roger Hale; Kings’ Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury and Henry Pillsbury; Emily Maltz; Dr. William W. and Nadine M. McGuire; Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation; Mike and Elizabeth Sweeney; and Frances and Frank Wilkinson.
Commissioning Circle
Additional support is generously provided by members of the Commissioning Circle: Harriet and Bruce Bart, Barbara Broker, Jocelyn Hale and Glenn Miller; Judith and Jerome Ingber; Leonard and Linda Schloff; Elizabeth and John Schott; JoAnn Verburg and Jim Moore; and Binky Wood and Winthrop Rockwell.
The Walker Art Center’s Dance Season is supported with funds from the Engaging Dance Audiences program, administered by Dance/USA and made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.