UMTAD Newsletter: Welcome to Spring Semester!

Welcome to the Spring 2020 Semester!

Rehearsals are already underway for our spring performances and programs.

The Dance Program is embracing the snow this year with their annual spring dance concert, Spring in the Winter,  which will feature choreography by alum and guest artist Annie Hanauer, J-Sun Noer, and University dance students. The spring mainstage season will kick-off with The Skriker by Caryl Churchill, directed by faculty member, Lisa Channer. We will complete our season a few months later with the UMN/Guthrie BFA Acting Fourth Year Company and their production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle directed by Twin Cities favorite, James A. Williams, and performed in the Dowling Studio of the Guthrie Theater. 

As usual, that is just the tip of the iceberg! We've got workshops, Shakespeare, devised works, and more on the horizon. See below for upcoming events

Upcoming Events

Community Highlights

• Karla Grotting (Teaching Specialist, Dance & Dance Alum) Founding Member, Principal Dancer, and Artistic Associate for Flying Foot Forum presenting FRENCH TWIST! on tour (Multiple Locations) September 28 - May 30.

• Mathew J. LeFebvre (Chair/Professor, Costume Design) Costume Designer for A Doll's House, Part 2 presented by the Jungle Theater (Minneapolis) January 15 - February 23. 

• Marcus Dilliard (Professor, Lighting Design) Lighting Designer for A Doll's House, Part 2 presented by the Jungle Theater (Minneapolis) January 15 - February 23.

• Chelsea M. Warren (Associate Professor, Scenic Design) Scenic Designer for A Doll's House, Part 2 presented by the Jungle Theater (Minneapolis) January 15 - February 23. 

• Erin Lavelle (BA Theatre '03) Artistic Director of the Art Shanty Project presenting On-Ice Programs (Minneapolis) January 18 - February 9.

• Talvin Wilks (Assistant Professor, Theatre) Director for White Card presented by Penumbra Theatre (Minneapolis) February 4 - March 1 .

• Marcus Dilliard (Professor, Lighting Design) Lighting Designer for White Card presented by Penumbra Theatre (Minneapolis) February 4 - March 1 .

• Chelsea M. Warren (Associate Professor, Scenic Design) Scenic Designer for White Card presented by Penumbra Theatre (Minneapolis) February 4 - March 1.

• Marcus Dilliard (Professor, Lighting Design) Lighting Designer for Little Women presented by the Dallas Theatre Center (Dallas, TX) February 7 - March 1 .

Readiness

Surface Tensions: A Ground Movement Workshop
February 18, 2020, 4:30pm

What does it mean to live in a world without verticality that is still deeply connected to this world? In this workshop, we explore the ground as home, not as a place to fall to or get away from...it is where we live. We crawl, roll, and spin using our backs, sides, and stomachs as we navigate the space. Pushing and pulling, we experiment with how to help each other in this world. I will be teaching specific techniques from break(danc)ing but also ask participants to bring their own movement practice into the collaborative space. Don't have a movement practice? Don't worry! No experience is necessary for this workshop! Supported by the Sage Cowles Land Grant Chair. 

J-Sun is a long-term practitioner of several street dance forms, which he teaches, choreographs, and performs. He received the 2017 Artist Initiative Grant from the MN State Arts Board and is the artistic director of the Mixtape series at the Cowles Center. J-Sun is a Ph.D. student in the Theater Arts and Dance Department, as well as a co-disciplinary head of the new Urban and Street Dance track. His current choreographic work is influenced by his academic focus on agency, vulnerability, and resistance through a mover’s lens.
FREE with RSVP
RSVP to Nora Jenneman by email or (612) 624-4008