The 940 Dance Company (formerly the Prairie Wind Dancers) is a professional contemporary dance company dedicated to exploring and communicating the commonality of human experience through dance theatre. Under the direction of award-winning choreographer Susan Rieger, the company presents an innovative and accessible repertory that has delighted and moved audiences of all ages.
The five-member company, based in Lawrence, Kansas, has been touring in the Midwest for the past 20 years, sharing dance through concerts, lecture/demonstrations, workshops and master classes.
This year’s dynamic company is composed of returning members Katie Brennan, Non Edwards and Bobbi Foudree. And the company welcomes new dancers Vance Baldwin and Elizabeth Schafer.
940 Dance Company can be booked through the Mid-America Arts Alliance, the Kansas Touring Program, KC Young Audiences or email 940dance@sunflower.com
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New Works in Mexico and in Lawrence
940 Dance Company presents
New Works in Mexico and in Lawrence
Friday, April 24th and Saturday April 25th at 7:30pm
Tickets: $13.50 Adults; $7.50 Students and Seniors
Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence, KS 66044
Contact: Susan Rieger 940dance@sunflower.com or Candi Baker lacdance@sunflower.com or call (785)843-2787.
In April, the 940 Dance Company the resident company at the Lawrence Arts Center, will present new works in both Mexico and Lawrence. On April 12th-17th, the company will travel to Puebla, Mexico, to participate in Perfomatica, an international dance festival. Then on April 24th and 25th, at 7:30pm, the company will present Nuevas Obras(New Works) at the Lawrence Arts Center, a concert that will include new dances by Artistic Director Susan Rieger, and company members Non Edwards, R. Vance Baldwin and Bobbi Foudree. Performers will include the above dancer/choreographers along with Katie Brennan and Elizabeth Schafer.
This is the third year for the Performatica Festival. Last year, 70 groups were invited to perform in the ten-day international festival which includes concerts, workshops, papers and forums in the area of movement studies. Rieger’s work “Elusive Memory”, choreographed in the fall of 2008, was chosen to be included in a performance on April 14th. This work includes use of Jennifer Holt’s ceramic funnels, which she created while an artist-in-residence at the Lawrence Arts Center. Rieger and the five dancers will all travel to Mexico to perform and attend events with international master teachers.
A week after they return, “Elusive Memory” will also be presented at the Nuevas Obras(New Works) concert in Lawrence on April 24th and 25th. In addition, Rieger will premiere “The Gleaners”, a trio that begins in the famous pose of the Millet painting, with three peasant women picking up stray stalks of wheat. The dance of gathering increases in intensity to arrive at a look at present day gleaners, gathering food from dumpsters and recycled materials for art.
Non Edwards will present a new quintet that bounds across the stage and then retreats just as vigorously. Set to a 15/16 meter, the dancers hold themselves and each other back while striving to reach the other side of the stage. R. Vance Baldwin will present “Without You,” a gripping remembrance of a loved one lost to death and the aftermath. The dancers attack and retreat as if the truth is too painful to touch. Bobbi Foudree will present her spoof on the fashion industry, “Demode,” to Cha Cha Heels, as part of the larger piece Wardrobe.
Several pieces from the company’s repertoire will fill out the energetic concert, including “Resilience,” “Classic” and “Wardrobe.”
Tickets are $13.00 for adults and $7.50 for students/seniors and are available at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence, KS, 785-843-2787.
