Image via DanceWorks
Small But Mighty
Danceworks Performance MKE (DPMKE) will close its season with a big show titled Small But Mighty. The adjectives refer to the four Milwaukee chamber ensembles that inspired—and will provide live accompaniment for—six world premieres performed by lots of dancers at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center on June 2-4.
The show marks the close of Christal Wagner’s second season as DPMKE’s artistic director. It’s been her dream to stage such a concert. “I know plenty of small ensembles, “she tells me, “that have just as much to offer as the bigger groups. The small ensemble is really important to our community as a way of giving artists their first opportunity to become a bigger artist in some way.”
When Wagner heard the Cosmo Reed Quintet perform The Wildflower Quintet for Reeds at UWM, she knew she had to choreograph it for the professional DPMKE ensemble. The five-movement work for oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon was inspired by poems about wildflowers, butterflies, hummingbirds, Indian paintbrush and summer gardens.
“It feels like springtime, wandering through a meadow,” Wagner says. “It puts us in a soft, sensitive state that’s simple, even though the work is complex. The dance is abstract, but I think it features each artist in the ensemble in a really lovely way.”
The professional company will also premiere choreographer Gina Laurenzi’s dance to Raymond Burkhart’s Suite Arcata, performed by Milwaukee’s Black Cat Ensemble, a woodwind ensemble that aims to provide inclusive and representational repertoire, emphasizing living and underrepresented composers, according to the website.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Suite Arcata has three movements: “Winter Rain,” “Coastal Fog,” and “Summer Sun.” As costume designer, Wagner crafted a fanciful animal headpiece for each performer.
Treasured, Precious Moments
“They gather as unique individual creatures emerging from the forest,” Laurenzi tells me. “If you’ve ever taken a walk in the woods and a deer pops out, imagine what might unfold if you follow that deer somewhere. Everything’s so hectic these days, so I wanted to make a piece about treasured precious moments. I’m into immersive world building for the audience, this time in a more whimsical way.”
Black Cat Ensemble will also accompany DPMKE dancer/choreographer Gabi Sustache’s Six Cuban Dances. The high schoolers from Danceworks Youth Performance Company will perform. “I was drawn to the quickness and fast patterns in the music,” Sustache tells me. “I really allowed for the dancers’ voices to come through. I was passionate about that. As we listened to the music together, I let them pick out the parts they were drawn to, and to use that for inspiration. My work is in collaboration with them.”
Danceworks Intergenerational Performance Company will perform a second Laurenzi premiere. The youngest members of the group are in their early 20s, “and it’s up from there,” as Laurenzi puts it.
Milwaukee’s Microcosm Ensemble will accompany with two movements from James Stephenson’s Trio Sonata for Flute, Trumpet and Piano. “By providing intimate music experiences, Microcosm creates a bridge between our community and the larger Classical Music world,” says the website.
“The dance,” Laurenzi says, “is about people meandering through a park and all the happenings that might occur. There’s some theatrics in there.”
Imposter Syndrome
Microcosm will also accompany choreographer/soloist Elisabeth Roskopf’s premiere titled, like the music that inspired it, to find the beauty in surviving our emotions. Composer Erika Malpass was inspired by imposter syndrome, the belief that you’ve achieved success by mistake and don’t belong where you are.
Born in South Korea and adopted as a child by an American family, Roskopf could relate. “I’m examining my place between two worlds,” she tells me. “I don’t fit fully into either one. I’m seeking a permanent connection to my Korean cultural roots. I’m finding more about who I am, and how to create a sense of home and belonging.”
DPMKE dancer/choreographer Nekea Leon worked with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra’s steel pan drum ensemble. Her piece includes spoken narration. “It’s an Afro-Cuban fusion piece about what steel drums are and how they came to be,” she tells me. “I’m first generation American, of Caribbean decent. I wanted to do a piece connected to my family because this will be my final performance with Danceworks, as I’m moving out of state.”
Her colleagues in the professional company will dance the premiere. A small, select group of advanced drummers – all students just beginning high school – will perform the Calypso-based music. Leon says, “It will show them that their hard work means something, and this can take them into adulthood. That was a drawing point for me to even do this collaboration, because I didn’t have that when I was younger. Kids need to know that art can be a career if you put your mind to it. It will show the audience that we should put money into the arts.”
|
|
Performances are June 2 at 7:30 p.m.; June 3 at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and June 4 at 2:30 p.m. at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut Street. Call 414-277-8480 or visit danceworksmke.org.
