| On the University of Calgary’s 40th anniversary, the Faculty of Fine Arts Dance department has stepped up with a lively and community-engaged season. Creating a season entails fulfilling a variety of purposes: teaching full-time students aiming for careers in dance as well as beginner students trying out their tentative tap skills, engaging faculty and graduate students in a continuing learning process and appealing to an audience. This is a tricky tightrope to walk, indeed, but department head Anne Flynn is passionately confident that they manage to pull it off.
"One of the questions that energizes me is, how does art connect to daily life?" she says. "One of the hurdles we run into on a daily basis as dance teachers is convincing people how necessary dance is to us as human beings. Dance is necessary for spirit, for health, for community. Everywhere you go in the world, dance is an intrinsic part of community. It’s a thing we should all have access to."
The dance season is developed with this belief in mind. One of the longest-running and most ambitious season events is Dance Montage, a 37-year-old initiative that involves dancers from the entire spectrum of experience.
"We’ve been running this program so long that there are now generational connections within it," says Flynn. "Individuals who participated years ago now have children who are participating. It’s an amazing event: we showcase the full range of performers, from absolute beginners to professional dancers.
"There are 10 short pieces developed, all no longer than 12 minutes. This event is often sold out, and it’s a great way to experience dance performance if you’re new to it. It’s absolutely unpretentious and just a joyous celebration of dance."
There is also the relatively new (entering its fifth year) Professional Series, created to challenge and develop the talents and interests of faculty.
"In any area of study, the faculty is constantly being challenged to explore and grow, to research different areas of interest. If the faculty member is a choreographer, that research manifests itself as a dance. There never used to be a place for faculty to show their work and to develop it with professional dancers, so we developed this as an opportunity to showcase the great talents within our faculty, or, on some occasions, invited guests."
Last year Michelle Moss staged Why Dance?, that was essentially her thesis piece. This year’s professional presentation is Secret Moments, developed by Melissa Monteros, who has been choreographing for decades.
Mainstage is the main student production of the year, providing an opportunity for undergraduate students to work with professional choreographers. While Mainstage usually stages four or five separate pieces, this year Melissa Monteros and Michelle Moss have undertaken the ambitious project of a full evening work, with live music.
One of the most interesting and unusual initiatives of the dance department, however, is the master’s-level concert.
"This has been one of our most ambitious projects. These students represent the first masters’ degrees in dance in Alberta," says Flynn. "There are five students completing MFAs in choreography and performance, and all are creating major works as their graduate theses.
"In an attempt to make that connection to community that I was talking about, and to hone their skills in being able to impart what they know, we’ve started a dance program for seniors in the East Village. It’s been an absolutely inspirational program to watch and be part of. It answers that question of how do we join in the circle of community. Grad students teach beginners as well as doing their high-level thing, and this way they remain connected.
"As artists, we want art and dance to be accessible to everybody, as a way of experiencing their lives." |
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