Walker Art Center Presents Choreographers' Evening Curated by Rosy Simas
“Maybe the most diverse, certainly the most democratic performance you’ll see this year … a tasty evening of the here-and-now in Minnesota dance.” —City Pages
Minneapolis, October 28, 2016— Over the course of 40-plus years, Choreographers’ Evening has offered an exciting range of Minnesota dance reflective of each choreographer/guest curator who frames the evening through a specific lens. This year’s curator, Rosy Simas, selected particular works that “complement each other, dances that reflect the times we live in, and dances that I think will create thought provoking conversation among audiences.” Choreographers’ Evening is Saturday, November 26, at 7 and 9:30 pm in the William and Nadine McGuire Theater.
Featuring Akiko, Erin Drummond, Joelle Fernandez & Frankie Hebres X Al Taw’am, Robert Keo, Paula Mann, Megan Mayer, Crystal Norcross, Laura Selle Virtucio with Holo Lue Choy, Deja Stowers – BLAQ, Taja Will, and Magnolia YSY, the pieces range from humorous to political, from abstract to literal, solos to group work, with choreography rooted in contemporary, hip hop, and improvisational dance aesthetic.
A mainstay in the local dance community, curator Rosy Simas is a celebrated performer, multifaceted choreographer, and respected Native American activist and educator. Her approach to dance making is multi-faceted: She designs immersive containers for performance using sound, textiles, film, and paper. Within these containers are her dances of sensorial, intentional, and gestural movement.
Simas choreography is excavated from history, ancestry, and culture which are stored in the body. Simas’ dance work investigates how culture, history, home, and identity are stored in the body and can be expressed in movement. Her work is driven by many inspirations: philosophy, relationships, art, film, nature, poetry, music, and history. She has created work speaking to a wide range of subject matter – from the Iraq war to her grandmother’s American Indian boarding school experience.
Simas is a 2016 McKnight Choreography Fellow, a 2016 First People’s Fund Artists in Business Leadership Fellow, a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, and a 2013 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Dance Fellow.
Her solo We Wait in The Darkness is touring 14 cities in North America with support from the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) National Dance Project and the Minnesota State Arts Board.
Simas recently presented Skin(s), a dance work that brings together presenting organizations with community and Native artists. Skin(s) is commissioned by presenters in Minneapolis, Berkeley and Oakland – and will tour to Chicago and Duluth. Skin(s) is supported by a 2015 National Presenters Network Creation Fund award, a 2016 NEFA National Dance Project Touring Award, and commissioned by Intermedia Arts (Minneapolis), EastSide Arts Alliance (Oakland), and LaPeña (Berkeley).
In 2016, in addition to creating new work for international audiences, she is enjoying creating dances for students at Northwestern University, St. Paul Conservatory of the Arts, and the University of Minnesota.
Simas is also co-curating Oyate Okotakiciyapi, a series of Native contemporary dance events in the Twin Cities in March 2017, with the Ordway.
Tickets
Tickets to Choreographers’ Evening are $25 ($20 Walker members) and are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600.
Drinks in Cityview Room (in the former Gather by D’Amico space) is the place to be before and after the performance. Grab a cocktail before the show, or stay afterward for a drink and conversations.
Free Gallery Admission
Extend your art experience—come back with your ticket within seven days of a performance, and get in free to the Walker galleries.
Acknowledgments
In memory of Sage and John Cowles, support for Choreographers’ Evening is provided by the Unity Avenue Foundation. Additional support provided by The McKnight Foundation.
The Walker Art Center’s performing arts programs are made possible by generous support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through the Doris Duke Performing Arts Fund, the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Producers’ Council
Performing Arts programs and commissions at the Walker are generously supported by members of the Producers’ Council: Goodale Family Foundation, Nor Hall and Roger Hale; King’s Fountain/Barbara Watson Pillsbury and Henry Pillsbury; Emily Maltz; Dr. William W. and Nadine M. McGuire; Leni and David Moore, Jr./The David and Leni Moore Family Foundation; Mike and Elizabeth Sweeney; and Frances and Frank Wilkinson.