Comprised of 91探花 graduate students, the Chamber Dance Company works to perform, record and archive dance works of artistic and historical significance, particularly those that have rarely or never been seen by Northwest audiences. Since its founding in 1990, the company has primarily performed classical modern dance choreography dating as far back as 1895.

But for this year鈥檚 annual performance, the company will exclusively perform contemporary works created within the last 15 years. The choreography incorporates elements from ballet, street styles, classical and contemporary modern dance as well as projected and vocalized commentary 鈥撯�� a new direction with fresh challenges.

鈥淥ur repertoire is shifting,鈥� said , associate professor of dance and co-director of the Chamber Dance Company. 鈥淧art of that change is questioning and reassessing what makes historic work 鈥榮ignificant鈥� and asking who can perform in that work.鈥�

This year鈥檚 performance will celebrate a broad sweep of contemporary dance styles. Members of Seattle鈥檚 professional dance community will join the company to perform excerpts from Canadian 鈥檚 鈥淭en Duets on a Theme of Rescue鈥� and Californian 鈥檚 鈥淪tardust.鈥� Additionally, faculty and undergraduate guests from the 91探花Department of Dance will join company members to stage new works choreographed by second-year 91探花graduate students and .

鈥淭his is definitely a different repertoire than we鈥檝e performed in the past,鈥� said , professor of dance and founding artistic director of the Chamber Dance Company. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned a lot along this journey. I鈥檝e learned that this new direction can be liberating; it can free us to be more expansive and inclusive about our repertory and the dancers who perform it.鈥�

The experiences of the current graduate students range from ballet to traditional Chinese dance to commercial dance, or dance created with entertainment or promotional purposes, to modern with an Afro-contemporary influence, meaning it’s based in rhythms from Africa and the diaspora.

Champi, who has an undergraduate degree in cognitive science from Stanford University, will have seven dancers portray the complex patterns and repetition resulting from the number seven as the denominator in 鈥淰ulgar Fraction.鈥� 鈥淪ilent Summer,鈥� by Pray, is a dance theater solo that uses language and movement to portray a future Earth void of birdsong.

鈥淚t feels like the impetus for this new direction is largely thinking about who we are welcoming into our MFA program,鈥� Lincoln said. 鈥淎s dance in academia evolves to embrace artists with backgrounds in more styles, we must expand the Chamber Dance Company鈥檚 repertoire. It鈥檚 exciting to see.鈥�

The company will also perform three duets from 鈥淭en Duets on a Theme of Rescue鈥� by Pite. The choreographer wrote that her dances were inspired 鈥渂y the shared narratives that live in our bodies 鈥� the familiar, repetitive storylines that move across cultures and generations.鈥�

鈥淭he dancers are taking some risks that they haven鈥檛 been asked to take in other works before,鈥� Wiley said. 鈥淭he audience needs to perceive the labor and the struggle in the work. Dancers have spent years trying to make the hardest thing look easy. To let go of that, which is to let go of a certain notion of what鈥檚 beautiful, has been a performative challenge.鈥�

The program will conclude with a new excerpt from 鈥淪tardust,鈥� which redefines the coming-of-age story through the digital age as it follows a Black, gay teenager who is never seen on stage. He is present only through the tweets and text messages he sends.

鈥淭he dancers on stage aren鈥檛 the character, but they are creating an emotional landscape for him to live in,鈥� Lincoln said. 鈥淎s a viewer of this piece, I think we go back and forth between seeing language that is evocative in one way and abstract movement that is evocative in a completely different way. There is something poignant and arresting in the way the two intersect 鈥� even if it鈥檚 hard to make sense of or challenging to digest.鈥�

鈥淪tardust鈥� depicts bullying, and it contains projected text that includes racial and homophobic slurs and references to physical violence and explicit sexuality.

鈥淚 appreciated hearing David鈥檚 response to the reactions of past audiences, which ranged from moved and in love to offended,鈥� Lincoln said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 just like, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 all OK. We made this thing and then people receive it. However they receive it, that鈥檚 OK with me.鈥�

鈥淚 love seeing this cast on stage. Knowing who would be in the company this year inspired us to ask David for the piece. It鈥檚 what David does. He intentionally puts such a range 鈥� of dance styles, race, age and experience 鈥� into his company, which allows for multiple perspectives to coexist on stage. I think that can be a profoundly beautiful part of contemporary dance.鈥�

, operations manager for the Department of Dance and assistant to the director for the Chamber Dance Company, graduated with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in dance in 2020. She started noticing a change in the department鈥檚 focus while she was still at the UW. Now, she鈥檚 seeing the results.

鈥淚t feels exciting and important where the company is going,鈥� Daugherty said. 鈥淚t feels like it鈥檚 shifting. We鈥檙e asking, 鈥榃hat is the work we want to be restaging?鈥� I feel like this concert embodies such an important direction that even Seattle dance is going in. We鈥檙e also helping guide the audience that has been supporting the company for so many years into a new era.鈥�

For more information, contact Wiley at hcw@uw.edu and Lincoln at rlincoln@uw.edu.

A dance piece titled “Groundswell” 鈥� one of three to be performed 鈥� is an excerpt from a longer BANDALOOP work titled “Harboring” that involves eight dancers, four of whom are suspended low to the stage with ropes and harnesses.

The 91探花performance of “Groundswell” will mark the first time the piece has been performed on a regular stage.” The work was restaged by , 91探花assistant professor of dance, with guest artist Melecio Estrella, assistant artistic director of BANDALOOP.

Also in the evening, composer ‘s timeless Bol茅ro is explored in choreography by assistant professor , aided and accompanied by two concert grand pianos.

For a piece titled “Begin Again,” associate professor and Dance Program director collaborates with digital artist Martin Jarmick and composer Paul Moore, aided by six projection screens that move to “continually create and destroy landscapes for the dancers to navigate.”

Costumes for the program were designed by Christine Meyers and Michelle Lesniak.

The 91探花Dance Program’s reimagining of BANDALOOP’s work is supported by the Mellon Creative Fellowship Initiative Project, through a from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Tickets to the concert are $10-$20 in advance, available online at artsuw.org, by phoning 206-543-4880 or at the Arts 91探花Ticket Office, 1313 NE 41^st Street.

Six new works of choreography by graduate students in the 91探花 will comprise the . Performances will be May 18-22 in the Meany Studio Theatre.

This year, themes range from meditations on architecture and war to the physicalizing of verbs and even an alien encounter 鈥� with a bit of Beatles and Broadway along the way.

The choreographers each must have at least eight years of professional experience to be admitted into the graduate program, and these concerts merge that experience with the academic and artistic inquiry of the dance program’s rigorous two-year program. More than 50 undergraduate dancers will perform, some also sharing in the process of making the dance, in collaboration with the choreographer.

Graduate student 鈥� who has both performed on Broadway and choreographed dancers for pop star Jimmy Buffett 鈥� tapped music of the Fab Four, interpreted by Buffett’s guitarist , to get a retro, 1960s feel for her piece titled “Fly.”

The piece is based on ideas prompted by the music. The title plays on several meanings, she said 鈥� “from the hip, ‘fly’ attitude of the dancers, to seeing them literally fly around the stage, to the metaphoric idea of flying.” It also reflects a bit of her graduate school experience: “the frantic pace, the found friends, the frustrations, the challenges.” And, she added, “It’s just fun.”

The other pieces and, choreographers and themes are:

• “we are the silent weapons of this quiet war,” choreographed by together with, he says, “the inspiration of 16 movers and shakers,” that “proposes the idea of change toward progress and individuality.”

• “Actions to Relate to Oneself,” choreographed by , is inspired by visual artist ‘s “.” Cardinal and the dancers have physicalized verbs such as “to fold,” “to swirl” and “to enclose,” set to music by Chopin and .听
  

• “What if the aliens only take me?” choreographed by and dancers finds that bravery is needed by young people prior to their “stampede to adulthood.” And that, “Imagining the heavens opening up and an ‘other’ coming to save you from the inevitable is a daydream that is, and should, be indulged.”

• “Rendering,” choreographed by explores “how architecture and form lead to recognition” and asks, “When does a form become a body? When does a body become a person? How do bodies arranged in space elicit recognition of a time, memory or feeling?” The dancers explore the questions but, Burrer notes, “leave space for the audience to construct their own interpretation.”

• “Encender la Luz,” choreographed by , is a dance in three movements set to the music of Argentine composer that Montoya calls “a true collaboration” with the dancers, “driven and inspired by the nuances of Piazzolla’s music.”

“The MFA concert is both an opportunity for our talented graduate students to hone their choreographic skills and for the audition-selected undergrads to experience a unique creative process and perform in the work that results from it,” said , lecturer in dance and director of the concert.

“Our MFA students 鈥� all world-class dancers 鈥� have varying levels of choreographic experience. I’m amazed to see, again and again, what strong work our students make, regardless of their specialization.”

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Performances are at 7:30 p.m. May 18-21, and 2 p.m. on May 22. are $10-$18, available online and via the 91探花Arts Ticket Office, 206-543-4880.

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, leaned slowly out into space, hands at her sides 鈥� and then walked down the side of Meany Hall for the Performing Arts.

Then, as coolly as if she were strolling to the corner for coffee, she did it again an hour later, and then a third time, all flawlessly. Earthbound again, she took a rather formal and well-deserved bow.

Each perpendicular walk was met with applause, cheers, high-fives and a bit of relief from the gathered crowd 鈥� who then went ahead and started breathing again.

This was Lincoln’s performance of “Man Walking Down the Side of a Building,” which is a dance created by famed choreographer and Washington state native . The event was part of a presented through Saturday at Meany by the .

Lincoln, a lecturer in the , is no stranger to this sort of aerial performance. She’s also a member of , an Oakland-based “vertical dance” company. Working with secured ropes from above 鈥� about 60 feet up 鈥� and helping rappel Lincoln down the side was BANDALOOP colleague Derrick Lindsay.

Watching from below was enough to scare anyone, but Lincoln remained cool; she was secure and the height didn’t bother her, she said.

“I was nervous but not in the way you’d think I would be nervous,” she said. ‘I was more nervous about 鈥� how revealing this was in its simplicity, and that every little thing shows.”

The “last third” was the hardest part of the piece, she said, together with that first step outward. “Because there’s more rope and so it’s loftier 鈥� it’s kind of pulling you away from the wall a little bit, so it gets heavier on your body.”

Lincoln was quick to note that the wall-walk was a team effort.

“It’s a duet with the rigger who’s belaying me. I’m just responding to his timing. And as a BANDALOOP dancer I’m used to belaying myself, so the hardest part is feeling out of control.”

The campus celebration of Brown’s work will continue with performances tonight and Saturday by the Trisha Brown Dance Company, a monthlong photo exhibit and a Feb. 19 film about the company. Learn more about these related events .

Talking with friends and visitors between performances, Lincoln was asked about the black knee-high boots, part of an outfit that looked a little like a flight suit. Were they for aerial work?

“Oh no, they’re just my badass boots,” she said casually.

Which seemed the right word for the whole event.

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To learn more about the 91探花World Series and its celebration of Trisha Brown’s work, contact Teri Mumme, 91探花World Series director of communications and marketing, at 206-685-0995 or tmumme@uw.edu.

A 91探花 dance faculty member will walk down the side of Meany Hall on Friday, Feb. 5,聽 performing a dance piece titled “Man Walking Down the Side of a Building.”

The “vertical dance” piece, aptly described by its name, is a creation of famed choreographer and Washington state native , whose work is being honored by the with a retrospective of evening performances Feb. 4-6 in the Meany Hall for the Performing Arts.

, a 91探花lecturer in dance and assistant artistic director of the Oakland-based vertical dance company , will perform the piece suspended by ropes along the west side of , facing 15^th Avenue NE. She will be assisted by BANDALOOP member Derrick Lindsay, who will belay her as she descends as if walking casually down a street.

Lincoln intends to perform the piece three times 鈥� at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Press and the public are invited to watch.

And though rain is ever-present in Seattle this time of year, organizers say only snow, ice or high winds will stop the performance.

Brown, retired since 2013, is a much-beloved and prolific choreographer with more than 100 dance works to her credit. She was the first woman choreographer to receive the prestigious MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award” and has a lengthy list of honors and awards to her credit, including five fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. She was born and raised in Aberdeen, Washington, is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2011 was awarded the New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Her works, full of wit and rigor, unfolded on rooftops and rafts and even on the sides of buildings as well as in lofts and galleries, and later on proscenium stages,” The New York Times commented in a . “Like many of her colleagues in postmodern dance, Ms. Brown was inspired by everyday movement. Though rigorous, much of her choreography is silky; instead of being powered by muscles, it seems to flow through the body like liquid.”

The Trisha Brown company, which Brown founded in 1970, will perform four of her pieces 鈥� “Present Tense” (2003), “Son of Gone Fishin'” (1981), “Rogues” (2011) and “You Can See Us” (1995) 鈥� in three performances, at 8 p.m. on Feb. 4, 5 and 6. Tickets are available or by calling 206-543-4880 or 1-800-859-5342.

The campus celebration of Brown’s work will continue with master classes for students and the community as a photo exhibit in Meany Hall and a lecture and film about the dance company at the Henry Art Gallery. Learn more about these related events .

of a 2013 performance of “Man Walking Down the Side of a Building” at UCLA performed by Amelia Rudolph, artistic director of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, who has trained Lincoln in its performance.

Lincoln said she is honored to perform the iconic piece and hopes to capture the “stunning simplicity” of the work.

“After 18 years of dancing in a harness with BANDALOOP,” she added, “I believe the challenge of performing ‘Man Walking…’ will lie in executing its unembellished, pedestrian elegance 鈥� without showing how incredibly hard it is to fight gravity.”

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For more information or accommodations in covering this event, contact Teri Mumme, 91探花World Series director of communications and marketing, at 206-685-0995 or tmumme@uw.edu.

The controlled chaos of improvisation was the source for “Pony,” a dancer’s duet featured as part of this year’s Faculty Dance Concert, being performed Jan. 22 to 26 in the Meany Studio Theatre.

“Pony” was created by Rachael Lincoln, the newest faculty member of the 91探花’s , together with student dancers Siena Dumas Ang and Hannah Old. The annual faculty dance concert features dance students performing choreography designed by faculty members.

Lincoln has the “courage” part down pat 鈥� she is a longtime member of , a group that defies gravity with “vertical dance” performances hundreds of feet in the air.

“Pony” is one of four pieces 鈥� including “May and June,” a film written and directed by Lincoln 鈥� that comprise an eclectic evening. The other dance works are “Beats Me,” choreographed by Jennifer Salk, associate professor and dance program director; and “From Here,” choreographed by J眉rg Koch, assistant professor.

Lincoln said improvisation in dance can range from totally freewheeling to somewhat directed. The “do’s and don’ts” vary depending on the piece. 聽“To me, skilled improvisers are always exceptional listeners 鈥� to themselves, to those around them, to the space, to timing and to context. Improvisation involves constant decision-making and a very alive mind and body.”

Lincoln said the process of creating “Pony” began with free improvisation by the two dancers, then grew more specific through her suggestions until it became a set piece. By the time dancers and choreographer had brought the piece to its final form, Lincoln said, “it became unrecognizable from the initial direction.”

But even as they perform, Lincoln said, the dancers are free to change things a bit. “The dancers have autonomy within the performance to continuously listen, modify, change and tweak 鈥� it keeps them on their toes.”

Also on the program:

• In “Beats Me,” choreographed by Salk in collaboration with musician Paul Moore and the dancers, three on-stage musicians will serve as referees as dancers compete in a series of games 鈥� some fun, some competitive.

• “From Here,” was choreographed by Koch with technology and text created in collaboration with composer Doug Niemela and actor/writer Dylan Ward. The performance weaves overlapping layers with movement and words and was created with the ideas of “universal design” and the aesthetics of disability theater in mind. Eleven dancers will perform. There will be American Sign Language interpretation by Andrew Scudder.

“This year’s faculty concert appears to have more collaborative elements with dancers than in some years,” said Salk. Noting that faculty focused their efforts in this concert on the dancers’ strengths and creative contributions, she added, “As choreographers in a research/teaching institution we try to merge our own artistic desires with something that is educational for our students.鈥�

Tickets for the 2014 Faculty Dance Concert are available online at and from the , 1313 NE 41^st St., or 206-543-4880.