Fall Studio Series: Wevers/Spaeth/Byrd
ALL SHOWS SOLD OUT!
Call 206-325-4161 for info about the waiting list.
Nov. 30-Dec. 2 & Dec. 7-9, 2012
Fridays-Saturdays, 8pm
Sundays, 6pm
Spectrum Dance Studio Theater
800 Lake Washington Blvd, Seattle
Tickets $25 general, $20 students, $5 Teen Tix (at the door only)
*LIVE MUSIC
Spectrum performs three works by three choreographers, Olivier Wevers, Crispin Spaeth, and Donald Byrd. This evening of world premieres and acclaimed works rekindles Spectrum’s longtime support of local choreographers.
PROGRAM
Back, sack and crack (World Premiere) by Olivier Wevers
This new work by the artistic director of W*him Whim is an examination of sexuality, gender identity and politics. Nominated by Donald Byrd, Wevers was selected in 2011 for a Princess Grace Award the result of which is this world premiere dance. Wevers received his first commission as a choreographer in 2006 from Spectrum, and this premiere will mark his third creation for Spectrum.
Only You (2011) by Crispin Spaeth
Only You springs from new passion. The dance tumbles forward, a cavalcade of coupling, and when partnerships change, it is quickly and with no looking back. Original music by Dale Sather. Original Lighting by Jon Harmon. Only You premiered in a slightly different form in Break a Heart at On the Boards in 2010. Spaeth choreographed Only You as a Valentine for Sather. The two have since married.
A Meeting Place (World Premiere) by Donald Byrd
Inspired by the music of “A Meeting Place,” a CD of medieval and Renaissance instrumental music (more than half of which composers are anonymous) by Gus Denhard (lute) and Munir Nurettin Beken (ud), Donald Byrd uses the lute, an instrument associated with European music, and the oud, the lute’s Middle Eastern cousin, as metaphors for cultures, weapons, and ideologies. In this new work, Byrd’s meeting place is a negotiation where the uneasy task of resolving conflict without violence is communicated in Byrd’s signature dance language.
A Meeting Place is co-sponsored by the Early Music Guild of Seattle and Jack Straw Productions.
CHOREOGRAPHERS
Olivier Wevers
Originally from Brussels, Belgium, Olivier Wevers received his training at the Karys Dance Center with Nicole Karys, a former dancer with Béjart’s Ballet du XXième Siecle. Prior to becoming a Principal Dancer with Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet in 1997, he was a Principal at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, regularly performing with Evelyn Hart. Olivier retired from PNB in June 2011 and is now full-time Artistic Director of Whim W’Him. Olivier’s versatility as a dancer and actor accounted for his vast repertory and also informs his choreography. He performed lead roles in all the major full-length classical ballets, as well as an extensive list of contemporary works by the world’s most noted choreographers. He stands out in roles that require character development and intense emotional color. Olivier has choreographed works for numerous companies in Canada, Japan, and the United States, including: Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theater, Seattle Dance Project, and Cornish Dance Theater.
Crispin Spaeth
Crispin Spaeth has been choreographing in Seattle since 1990, and led Crispin Spaeth Dance Group from 1992 – 2007. Her work has been commissioned by Western Bridge, Consolidated Works, On the Boards, and Velocity Dance Center, among others. Her work has been supported by 4 Culture, the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Artist Trust, Arts International, National Performance Network, Washington Composers Forum, Allied Arts Foundation, Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation, Horizons Foundation and Safeco, among others. Spaeth is honored to have been named Emerging Choreographer in Residence at the Bates Dance Festival in 1996, Artist Trust Fellow in 1998, Seattle’s most innovative choreographer by Seattle Magazine in 2006 and the first Choreographer in Residence at Velocity Dance Center in 2007. She is also an active producer of collaborative art events, and has been producing the seattle editions of Ten Tiny Dances in Seattle since 2007. Spaeth is currently working in technology and film and, with Team Horchata, recently won an award via the International Documentary Film Challenge.
Donald Byrd
Bessie Award winner Donald Byrd became Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater in December 2002. From 1978-2002, he was Artistic Director of Donald Byrd/The Group, a critically acclaimed contemporary dance company that toured extensively, both nationally and internationally. He has created more than 80 modern dance works for his owngroups as well as for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and The Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), among others. He has choreographed for classical companies, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Aterballetto, Maggio Danza diFirenze, and Oregon Ballet Theater. He has worked with some of the most prestigious theater and opera companies in the U.S., including The New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, San Francisco Opera, and New York City Opera. In 2005, Donald Byrd was honored by the Kennedy Center with a Master of Choreography Award, and in 2006, he received a TONY nomination for his choreography for The Color Purple. In 2011, Byrd was selected among the first group of Fellows to the American Academy in Jerusalem and received the James Baldwin Fellowship Award from United States Artists.
