Cornish dancers present spring concert

Cornish Dance Theater in Seattle, WASeattle-based Cornish Dance Theater will present its Spring 2015 Concert on April 17 and 18, featuring choreography by Donald Byrd, Pat Hon, Wade Madsen, Crystal Pite and Deborah Wolf. This event returns to the Broadway Performance Hall, and marks the final concert under the tenure of Cornish Dance Chair Kathryn “Kitty” Daniels, who retires in May.

 

Under the direction of Kidd Pivot dancer Cindy Salgado, Cornish dancers will perform excerpts of Crystal Pite’s 2009 work Dark Matters, a work emerging out of Pite’s curiosity and fascination with the unseen forces at work on mind and body. Adapted from Act 2 of Dark Matters, this work references the impossible purity and grace of a marionette while grappling with questions of free will and manipulation.

 

Guest artist Donald Byrd, artistic director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater, will present excerpts from his 2014 full-length work LOVE. In LOVE, Byrd considers the complex landscapes of intimate relationships and weaves emotionally charged dancing into the fabric of Benjamin Britten’s Cello Suites.

 

Cornish faculty choreographer Pat Hon draws inspiration from her experience dancing in Madrid in Allegro de Concierto. This ballet en pointe uses nuances of Spanish folk dance to enhance the elegant partnering and subtle charm of Hon’s classical choreography.

 

In LIFE, Cornish faculty choreographer Wade Madsen explores the ways in which difference informs community. Madsen’s large ensemble dance combines structures and patterns of traditional folk dance with the colors, energy points and sections of the body associated with the seven Chakras.

 

Motifs of peering, peeking, watching and judging proliferate in Deborah Wolf’s choreography. A sound score of layered piano drives Wolf’s sharp movement vocabulary and ever-changing imagery.

 

The Cornish Dance Theater Spring 2015 Concert will be presented April 17 at 8 p.m. and
 April 18 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. The Broadway Performance Hall is located at 1625 Broadway Avenue in Seattle. Visit www.cornish.edu for more information.

 

Photo: Students perform choreography by Michele Miller in the Cornish Dance Theater Fall 2014 Concert. Photo by Chris Bennion.