Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater Presents PLACE/SETTINGS At The Southern Theater

After a season of touring throughout Minnesota and nationally, SPDT will return to the Twin Cities to present place/settings. The performance will highlight SPDT's critically-acclaimed repertory from the past 40 years. Inspired by SPDT's tradition of creating work situated in real worlds, place/settings will reimagine past works including House/Home, Swimming to Cecile, Total Surrender, The Marys, and others. These signature works showcase SPDT's singular blend of emotionally-packed physicality with intellectual wit. The evening will also include videos of the company's extensive work in Arts & Health and Arts & Education and feature 12 guest artists from the Twin Cities dance community.

"Stuart Pimsler Dance and Theater will be mining the rich veins of its past, a repertory of dance theater that encompasses a range of styles and emotional registers. Their commitment to the lives of others gives SPDT's performance work a poignancy and heart that few other companies can match." -Linda Shaprio, Minneapolis

One of the evening's works, House/Home, begins with reflections on first memories of home. The storytelling evolves from an innocent, childhood lyricism to adolescent longing to an adult proclamation of home ownership. In its journey, House/Home uncovers touching, witty, protective, and possessive moments associated with human shelter.

Pimsler's piece, Swimming to Cecile, is a personal lamentation inspired by the loss of a deceased parent. A solo figure at a microphone recites a monologue to that lost person--"Where are you? I don't know where you're hiding. I just want to talk with you." Dedicated to Pimsler's mother, who died when he was 15, this trio for three women is a bittersweet tribute.

"In its acknowledgement of loss, its existential questioning and its search for comfort where it can be found, Swimming to Cecile is a profoundly moving work." -The Washington Post

Created in the aftermath of September 11th, 2001, Pimsler's Total Surrender borrows its title from a poem by the Sufi writer Rumi (1207-1273 C.E.). The piece evolved as a daily journal, chronicling Pimsler's response to a changed world. The accompanying musical score, Peaceable Kingdom, was created by nationally-recognized composer Ingram Marshall.

Suzanne Costello's The Marys offers a witty and light-hearted reflection on the choreographer's family of origin. The Marys provides the audience with a glimpse into Costello's Catholic, Minnesota childhood, in which nearly every female relative had a Mary in her name. The cast of four women explore both the camaraderie and competition embedded in this web of female relationships through rhythmic text and movement set on a stage of AstroTurf.

SPDT will welcome She Climbs Mountains, a non-profit organization serving women who have experienced mother loss, in the audience on Friday, April 3rd. The company is partnering with She Climbs Mountains, along with other local grief centers, to further explore the themes of loss prevalent in place/settings. Through this partnership, community members will view Swimming to Cecile and participate in a follow-up workshop with SPDT company artists to voice their own stories of loss.

The company will also partner with Union Park District Council to raise awareness about housing justice within Twin Cities neighborhoods. Several staff and board members from local housing organizations will attend place/settings. The staff will engage in a community discussion with SPDT on April 5th, using House/Home as a basis for reflecting on issues of displacement and low-income housing. The discussion will address topics such as--What is our shared definition of affordable housing? and How do we balance the housing shortage with negative consequences of gentrification?

About Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater (SPDT) is an internationally recognized performance company founded by Stuart Pimsler in 1979 and co-directed with Suzanne Costello since 1984. Since its founding, SPDT has continued to engage populations worldwide through its performance works and community inclusive programs. SPDT's interdisciplinary vision weaves movement, spoken text, song, and visual imagery that provokes and comments on the personal and political.

In the U.S., SPDT has been presented in hundreds of cities across more than 35 states including The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Civil Rights Museum, Jacob's Pillow, the American Dance Festival, and Dance Theater Workshop, among many others. Based in Minneapolis since 2000, SPDT has toured to Europe, Israel, Taiwan, Russia, Canada, Bermuda, China, and Mexico, including presentations at the Beijing Modern Dance Festival, International Tanzmesse, Dusseldorf, the Bermuda Ministry of Culture and the National Center for the Arts, UNAM and American Embassy in Mexico City.

In the Twin Cities, SPDT has been commissioned and presented twice by the Guthrie Theater for The Ends of Love (2007) and Tales from the Book of Longing (2009). The company has also toured extensively throughout Minnesota with major support from the Minnesota State Arts Board through the Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

SPDT is a leader in Arts & Education programs and has been at the forefront of the Arts & Health field since introducing its signature program, Caring for the CaregiverSM in 1992. SPDT's Community Connections programs are significant components of the company's mission and have been cited as a "National Model" by The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and recognized for "Best Practices" by the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information visit https://southerntheater.org/.

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