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Sarah Maughan

Christopher Walker is a professor of dance and founding artistic director of the First Wave program in the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This winter tradition featuring choreography by UW-Madison dance instructors transitions to a trio of webcast concerts, examining varied topics from our current pandemic-related limitations (and frustrations) to Gilded Age workers. Choreographers include Maree ReMalia (Friday), Collette Stewart and Christopher Walker (Saturday), and Karen McShane-Hellenbrand and Kia Smith (Sunday); the concerts will be presented via YouTube.

press release: The UW-Madison Dance Department presents Faculty Concert 2021, a live-stream event of dance works from Professor Chris Walker, Karen McShane-Hellenbrand, Collette Stewart, Maree ReMalia, and guest artist Kia Smith.

The works have been scheduled in three separate programs and will be presented live Friday, February 12, at 8:00 p.m., Saturday, February 13, at 2:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 14 at 2:30 p.m. on the department's YouTube channel. Free & open to the public.

Guest artist Kia Smith, the Artistic Director of the South Chicago Dance Theatre will present “In the Yard” a piece that pays homage to the working class of the American Gilded Age, set on 10 student dancers, featuring an original score created by Timothy Russell, the Dance Department's music director. Smith spent four weekends in residence at the Dance Department during the Fall 2020 semester virtually teaching masterclasses and setting her work on the students. Smith's work will be streamed live on Sunday, following Karen McShane-Hellenbrand's “Portal,” an ensemble work set to a hauntingly unique musical arrangement that explores rituals and the role ceremony holds in the cycle of healing and hopefulness.

Chris Walker’s video piece for two dancers titled “Solos A&B: A duet of sorts.” will be presented during the Saturday program. The work explores the limitations of space, issues of access, and frustrations posed by our current circumstances. Also on Saturday, Collette Stewart will present a live performance of her ensemble work “Decompression,”  a piece that uses dynamic movement and dry text to investigate feelings of stickiness and anxiety, the impermanent nature of these feelings, and the inevitability of starting over.

“Abundant Us” will open the concert series on Friday evening. This work by Maree ReMalia, is a piece for seven dancers exploring the limitations and new possibilities for performance.

ABOUT KIA SMITH

Kia Smith, a native of Chicago, is the founding executive artistic director of the South Chicago Dance Theatre and the company’s resident choreographer. She uses a range of aesthetic values to cultivate versatile artists including the Lester Horton technique, the American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum where she is a Project Plie Partner teacher, Jazz, Improvisation, and Africanist principles of movement theory. Learn more about Smith and her company online here.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This concert is presented and produced by the Dance Department. Kia Smith's residency was made possible with the generous support of the Anonymous Fund.

SUPPORT THE ARTS, SUPPORT DANCE

The pandemic has created both challenges and opportunities for dance. Our challenge of making and presenting work safely has offered us an opportunity to use technology to bring the work to more people in new ways. Making this happen still requires resources, and while we want to make our performances accessible, we still have to fund them. The Dance Department, therefore, welcomes any gift small or large, to support opportunities for our emerging dance artists to continue their education and bolster their performance opportunities, especially during this difficult time. Gifts can be made online at: supportuw.org/giveto/dance We truly appreciate your support! .