Kanopy Dance Company

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Shawn Harper Photography

Three dancers in the woods.

Kanopy Dance Company members (from left) Miye Bishop, Edward Salas and Hannah King.

Kanopy Dance director Lisa Thurrell characterizes “Polaris,” the company’s season-opening program, as “a fusion of Indigenous and modern expressions.” It features guest dancer and choreographer Daniel Fetecua Soto who brings a wealth of experience from his days as a soloist with the Limón Dance Company. Fetecua’s choreography often draws from Colombian folk traditions as well as modern dance techniques. On the program are Wolf: A Transformation, Rejoice: Returning Home and Pacha-Mama. Rosalie “Daystar” Jones, founder of the first Indigenous modern dance company in the U.S. and who choreographed Wolf, will also be on hand. Performances at 7 p.m. on Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m on Oct. 11, and at 3 and 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 12.

media release: Guest artist Bogotá, Colombian born Daniel Fetecua Soto (Fetecua), the magnificent former soloist with the Limón Dance Company, opens Kanopy’s 2024/25 season October 10-12,2024 at the Overture Center for the Arts in Polaris. The concert offers area audiences a rare opportunity to see the choreographic work of the first indigenous modern dance company in the U.S., Daystar: Contemporary Dance Drama of Indian America, founded by Daystar/ Rosalie Jones (Daystar).

Fetecua will perform an indigenous masked dance, “WOLF: A Transformation”, gifted to him by the choreographer, Daystar, to preserve its cultural legacy and the tradition of performance for future generations. The masks for the dance were custom created for Fetecua by renowned Hopi woodcarver Timothy Talawepi. In a special appearance for this production, Daystar will introduce and provide narration for her iconic work. 

“WOLF: A Transformation” is inspired by the Anishinaabe/Ojibway story of the traditional recognition of the wolf as the first companion of the first man. This solo dance begins with an intertribal men’s traditional dance, in full regalia, but as the story unfolds, the dancer transforms, wearing artful masks, into the shaman of youth and then finally into the shaman of age.

Fetecua will also present two of his original choreographies featuring an interplay of Currulao, Afro-Colombian rhythms, that originated in the Colombian Pacific coast, American modern dance techniques, and German Tanz Theater.

They are “Rejoice: Returning Home”, a group ensemble for 10 dancers that addresses the significance of ancestral memories and oral traditions as a celebration of life, from one generation to the next; and Pacha-Mama,” a solo and homage to “Mother Earth” that Fetecua will perform, exploring the importance for us to reconnecting with the earth. 

Polaris Oct 10-12, 2024, 

Overture Center for the Arts Overture.org (608) 258-4141

10/10 Thursday,7PM;10/11, Friday, 7:30 PM;10/12, Saturday, 3 & 7:30 PM

Tickets (reserved seating): $40; Groups: 4 or more: $35; Seniors 62+: $30; Ages 18 & under and Students: $20. A reception to meet the artist will follow the Friday evening performance.

About Kanopy Dance

Kanopy, a resident company of Overture Center for the Arts, 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. Pease visit us at https://kanopydance.org/