ONLINE: UW Dance Department Alumni Festival
press release: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Dance Department presents the Alumni Festival, a live stream event September 24-26 on YouTube. The event will feature performances and choreography from our recent graduates Julianna Hom (BFA, 2020), Megan Schimke (BFA, 2020), and Alice Svetic (BFA, 2020).
Hom will present a video compilation from three sections of her project "What Are You?" and a live solo performance at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24. Hom's work examines the “othering” of Chinese Americans and the idea that Asian Americans do not encounter racial discrimination due to their economic and academic achievements. Her works address the role of family in identity-shaping, identity duality, assimilation into white society, and how individuals react when their identity is challenged.
Schimke will present "Pleasing" on Friday evening at 8:00 p.m., a solo, originally shown at the UW-Madison 2019 Undergraduate Symposium, that has been reworked for her larger project "Bittersweet."
On Saturday at 2:30 p.m. Alice Svetic presents two solo works that represent the two sides of our present situation: wanting to return to the "past" while living more than ever in the present. Her work "BEAM / BEAST," set on artist Tye Trondson, physicalizes the emotional range between shielding and attack, tenderness and force, prey and predator. Svetic will also present "Lullaby," a work in progress solo.
Thursday, September 24 at 8:00 p.m.
WHAT ARE YOU?
Choreography by Julianna Hom
Friday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m.
PLEASING
Choreography by Megan Schimke
Saturday, September 26 at 2:30 p.m.
BEAM / BEAST
LULLABY
Choreography by Alice Svetic
About the Artists
Julianna Hom is originally from Wilmette, Illinois. She graduated with distinction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2020, where she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in dance. She has performed works by Jin-Wen Yu, Li Chiao-Ping, Chris Walker, Collette Stewart, Christian von Howard, Kaitlin Webster, and Merce Cunningham, and has served as a rehearsal assistant to Seán Curran. Julianna has performed at various venues throughout Chicago and Madison including Links Hall and the Overture Center for the Arts, as well as internationally in Guatemala City with Jin-Wen Yu Dance. She has received additional training through summer programs with Perry-Mansfield, Gibney Dance Center, and LA Contemporary Dance Company. She is honored to be presenting "What Are You?" today through the support of the Buff Brennan Senior Honors Award, which she received in 2019.
Megan Schimke is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor of fine arts degree in dance. Prior to her undergraduate studies, she attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and graduated in 2016. During her time at UW-Madison she was featured in repertory by Jin-Wen Yu and Liz Sexe and has had the pleasure to work with guest artist and former Merce Cunningham dancer, Carol Teitelbaum. Megan has also worked as a choreographer, having works featured in the annual adjudicated student concerts at UW-Madison. Two of her pieces were performed in the Kloepper Student Concert in 2017 and 2018, as well as a group work featured in the 2019 H’Doubler Student Concert. She has had the opportunity to study at summer programs such as the New Dialect Intensive with Banning Bouldin, a GagaPeople Workshop in New York City, and the b12 Contemporary Dance Festival with international artists. She was the recipient of the Ruth Glassow Memorial Scholarship, the Barbara Walz Scholarship, the Buff Brennan Senior Honors Award Scholarship, and the Noel Hefty Scholarship during her time at UW-Madison. Currently she is a dance instructor at Monona Academy of Dance in the Madison area.
Alice Svetic, dancer+choreographer+educator, graduated with a BFA in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2020, amidst worldwide panic. Alice is extremely grateful to the department for the opportunity to present these works, and to Tye for being willing to take risks alongside her.
Acknowledgments
Julianna Hom and Megan Schimke's research and performances are generously funded by the Buff Brennan Senior Honors Award.
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