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Dance Weekend: Culminations

By Jamuna Chiarini
April 29, 2015
Dance

The season is coming to an end, and with it the cumulative work of many Portland dance artists. White Bird will finish out their season with New York tap company Dorrance Dance, live music and nine tappers. The Jefferson Dancers and Polaris Dance Theater will also perform a year’s worth of hard work learning dances from many different choreographers. And if you want to see dance on a smaller scale, check out Keyon Gaskin at Yale Union and Push Leg at Performance Works NW. Of course, if you want to get movin and groovin yourself, get to Allie Hankins Transcendentaerobicourage class on Saturday.

Jefferson Dancers Spring Concert
April 29-May 2
Newmark Theater, 1111 SW Broadway
Freshly off their tour to France, this extremely talented pre-professional high school dance company will be performing works by Jefferson Dance alumni. The choreographers showcased will be Bethany Reisburg from the Hot Shot Tappers, Charlotte Faillard from Aterballeto and Ballet d’Europe, Ty Alexander Cheng from Spectrum Dance Theatre, Thomas Yale (a Portland hip hop choreographer),  Bunky Williams (Jefferson Dance Staff) and Steve Gonzales, (Jeff Artistic Director, formerly of MOMIX Dance Theatre dancer).

Dorrance Dance taps out the Blues Project/White Bird

Dorrance Dance taps out the Blues Project/White Bird

Dorrance Dance, The Blues Project
WhiteBird
Wednesday, April 29, 7:30 pm
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway
For one night only, Dorrance Dance directed by Michelle Dorrance, will take the stage at the Schnitz with nine tap dancers and live blues music composed and directed by Toshi Reagan and her 5-piece blues band, BIGLovely to perform “The Blues Project.” Dorrance dance is interested in pushing the boundaries of tap as well as maintaining its history. This show concludes the White Bird dance season.

“On an Overgrown Path” Agnieszka Laska Dancers and Lyrical Strings Duo
Thursday, April 30,8 pm
Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta
The AL Dancers will be joined by the Lyrical Strings Duo for a program built around music from the Polish folk tradition, including work by Antonín Dvořák, Frédéric Chopin, Henryk Wieniawski, Mykola Lysenko, Jeno Hubay, and Bohuslav Martinů. The evening begins with Andrei Temkin’s Chervona Bambino trio, featuring Viorel Russo of the Oregon Symphony on viola and Jeff Holt of the Wanderlust Orchestra on upright bass.

X-Posed
Polaris Dance Theater
May 1-10
Polaris Studio Theatre, 1501 SW Taylor St Portland
Polaris Dance Theatre’s annual collaborative performance exposing company members to new choreography, and audiences to the artistic process. New dance works by Artistic Director, Robert Guitron and guest Kieraqmil Brinkley, Blake Seidel, Jocelyn Edelstein, and Gerard Regot. Local musicians include Gerard Regot, Robert Hoffman, and Anthony DeMarco.

“it’s not a thing”
Keyon Gaskin
Saturday, May 2, 9 pm
Yale Union, 800 SE 10th Ave.
Keyon Gaskin, a Portland based dance artist, will continue “its not a thing,” the performance he’s been working on the better part of two years. Yale Union is a center for contemporary art in Southeast Portland, Oregon. It is led by a desire to support artists, propose new modes of production and stimulate the ongoing public discourse around art.

Transcendentaerobicourage
Allie Hankin & Allan Wilson
May 2, 12 pm
Flock Dance Center, 8371 N Interstate Ave. #4
Transcendentaerobicourage is an all levels movement/embodiment class. “We will breathe, vocalize, bounce, sweat, push, rest, DANCE, and work as individuals & as a group in actions that help us access the pleasure of effort and feel held by the strong hearts & minds of the people with us in the room. LIVE DJ Allan Wilson‘s music buoys us through our fatigue and steers us to an empowering transcendent climax.”

Transcendentaerobicourage is part of Physical Education(PE), a group comprised of dance and performance artists Keyon Gaskin, Allie Hankins, Lucy Lee Yim and Takahiro Yamamoto with the vision to offer performance audiences, artists of all mediums, and curious individuals immersive modes through which to engage with dance and performance.

A Push Leg Salon: AVOIDANCE
May 1-3
Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave.
Push Leg’s inaugural performance will take a look at what we avoid, how and why. A wild collision of movement and text, inspired by YouTube videos of dogs avoiding taking a bath, articles about the collapse of civilization, the ‘furry’ movement, Blanche DuBois, mashed together with The Gas Heart by Tristan Tzara and the Surrealist Manifesto. Among other things…

The evening also includes an excerpt from Faith Helma’s (Hand2Mouth) new solo show “I Hate Positive Thinking.”

Did we forget anything? Tell us with a comment!

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