'Get Dancing' at Kohler Arts Center

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Photo credit: Victoria Sendra

Fan Dance

On Dec. 13, New York City-based choreographer Catherine Galasso brings four time-honored dance works to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan.

The program, which starts at 7:30 p.m., features notes on de groat, Get Wreck, Fan Dance and the film Rope Dance Translation. Notes on de groat, a Galasso work, pays tribute to dancer/choreographer Andy de Groat (1947-2019), a frequent collaborator with Galasso. It premiered at New York’s Danspace Project in 2015, making it the youngest piece in the bunch. Get Wreck and Fan Dance, both choreographed by de Groat, made their debuts in 1978. In the Dec. 13 program, they will feature Sheboygan-area actors, dancers, performers and musicians, all of whom auditioned for a spot in the show.

Get Wreck is a 16-minute piece set to spoken text, written by Christopher Knowles. (Knowles also wrote the libretto for the Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach.) Fan Dance, a five-minute piece, is performed to music written by Michael Galasso, who is Catherine Galasso’s father. Rope Dance Translations, a film by John Meaney and Andrew Horn, premiered in 1974.

The Dec. 13 event is part of the Arts Center’s larger tribute to fiber artist Lenore Tawney (1907-2007). “Lenore Tawney: Mirror of the Universe” is a four-exhibition series currently on view, and one that explores Tawney’s life as well as her work. Galasso wants all four dances to put a new lens on Tawney’s work. “I believe that dance has the power to transform our perception of space and time, and this can be a very powerful thing,” she said. The inclusion of local performers adds a layer of meaning to the pieces. “Get Dancing is as much about the community that is built in the process of making the pieces, as it is about the pieces themselves,” she said.

Get dancing will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 608 New York Avenue, Sheboygan, Wis. The program is suitable for all ages. Tickets are $15/$10 for JMKAC members. For tickets and more info, click here.