Production Managing, Producing, Choreographing for and Performing in:
Rhythmically Speaking presents . . . 2015
When: August 20-22 @ 8pm
Where: Bedlam Lowertown, St. Paul, MN
For More Info: Rhythmically Speaking Website
It’s my biggest project of the year; I hope you can join me for an evening of dance exploring how rhythm-driven styles co-mingle, preserving, propagating and pushing forward their abilities to connect people through the pulse of shared experiences. Rhythmically Speaking 2015 features forward-thinking local choreographers/ groups Rush Benson and Brian Evans, Jennifer Glaws, Sarah Jabar, Keane Sense of Rhythm, and RS Artistic Director Erinn Liebhard. The show will also spotlight a work by revered jazz choreographer Clarence Teeters (reconstructed by Karla Grotting) and visitors Emily Oleson from West Virginia and Kwame Opare from Washington D.C. If you wish to support the show beyond the purchase of a ticket, visit this site for more information!
Additionally, I’d like to report back on my experience this past week attending American Vernacular Dance Week at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. This annual event is put on by Emily Oleson, Director of the Dance Program at the college, the first in the country to offer a track in American Vernacular Dance. EXCITING. Both their program and this event put into physical and vocal conversation forms like flatfooting and clogging, tap, jazz, house, breaking, Irish dance styles, and Latin American styles. This is exactly what I am talking about! I met some incredible artists including Matthew Olwell of Good Foot Dance Company, Junious Brickhouse and LaTasha Barnes of Urban Artistry, Melanie George of American University, Karen Hubbard of UNC-Charlotte and many, MANY other accomplished like-minds. Here are some visuals of the experience that I captured;
Davis & Elkins Campus
Dance Pavilion (where we had square, contra or swing dances every night!)
My buddy Michele Dunleavy square dancing!
The backdrop of the stage where we caught awesome concerts Tu and Th
And, the “Postmodern Urban Square Dance Experiment” with Will Mentor and Kwame Opare. If this title does’t scream ‘Dance Nerd,’ I don’t know what does!:
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUDi8GZlBZ8
This is just a little evidence of what an incredible week I had in West Virginia. I look forward to seeing how the new information I’ve gathered and connections I’ve made continue to flourish as I mingle with these efforts to preserve, propagate and progress our unique American traditions.
Erinn Liebhard: Dance Artist 