Dance West Culminates With TOPOGRAPHY, A Concert Spotlighting Guest Artists

The inaugural Dance West Fest, a new summer workshop that combines the forces of Repertory Dance Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, and Salt Dance Fest at the University of Utah, is well underway at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center after a successful first week at the University of Utah. As part of the festival, the joined companies are excited to announce the performance of TOPOGRAPHY on June 27, 2019 at 7:30 pm in the Black Box Theatre.

Included on the program is work by the diverse faculty, guest artists, and resident companies including Ann Carlson, Dante Brown, Yin Yue, Katie Faulkner with Arletta Anderson and Molly Heller, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, and Repertory Dance Theatre. This performance highlights a wide range of artistic voices converging in Salt Lake City from around the world and marks the inaugural year of Dance West Fest.

Dante Brown began his dance training at Wesleyan University, which led him to Ohio State University to receive his MFA in Choreography. He is the Artistic Director of Warehouse Dance in New York City and will be performing a solo as well as presenting work created with students during the Dance West workshop.

Yin Yue is the Artistic Director of YY Dance Company in New York City. She is internationally recognized as a versatile performer and choreographer. Born and raised in Shanghai, China, she trained rigorously in technically-demanding and highly-structured Chinese classical and folk dance, as well as classical ballet technique at Shanghai Dance School. She is here as a guest artist sponsored by Ririe-Woodbury and will be performing a duet with her assistant Grace Whitworth titled, The Time Followed. The piece premiered in Europe in March 2019.

Katie Faulkner (Bay Area artist), Arletta Anderson (LA-based artist), and Molly Heller (Dance West faculty and SLC artist) have been working collaboratively in residency periods over the last year to create an evolving duet (performed by Anderson and Heller). This improvised work-in-progress performance moves through rigorously scored structures investigating themes of labor, devotion, and the shared personal history of a long, long-distance friendship.

Ann Carlson, known nation-wide for her dance-theatre work and choreography based on social issues, is a guest artist sponsored by the University of Utah's SaltDanceFest. She is working with students on a new piece of choreography throughout the workshop, along with a "Text & Voice" class. She will be performing a short solo during TOPOGRAPHY.

Repertory Dance Theatre will be performing Doris Humphrey's Invention (1949). RDT Company members, along with students from the workshop, have been working with Nina Watt from the Jose Limon foundation on this historical repertory. The completed work will premiere on RDT's fall show, INSIDE OUTSIDE, October 3-5, 2019.

Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company will perform an excerpt of the newly commissioned work by guest artist Yin Yue. This piece has been developed during Dance West and will premiere as part of Ririe-Woodbury's spring performance, CATALYST, April 9 - 11, 2020.

For festival details, concert tickets, and more go to www.dancewestfest.com.

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