By K.D. Norris
The Grand Rapids Ballet will present the second of its two-part MOVEMEDIA: Diversity dance contemporary dance series March 23-25, with three additional diverse works by a diverse group of choreographers on the subject of diversity.
MOVEMEDIA provides emerging “choreographers an outlet to create new works and make a mark on the dance world, so we’re very excited to see what they bring to the stage,” Patricia Barker, Grand Rapids Ballet’s soon-to-depart artistic director, said in supplied material.
The three-dance program will be presented at the ballet’s Peter Martin Wege Theatre in Grand Rapids. Tickets are still available.
MOVEMEDIA: Diversity features six new world premiere works by young choreographers, this program will offer works by Olivier Wevers, Uri Sands and Danielle Rowe. Jennifer Archibald, Norbert De La Cruz III and Loughlan Prior presented works in the first program, last month.
The second weekend of MOVEMEDIA will feature three completely new, world-premiere works which will feature messages of “appreciation, positivity, and acceptance,” according to supplied material.
Sands is co-founder (in 2004) and co-artistic director of TU Dance. His choreography has received national recognition for the fusion of classical elegance with edgy contemporary action, for pulsating intensity with poetic lyricism, according to MN Artists (Minnesota Artists). He was a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for five years, he also danced with Philadanco, Miami’s Fredrick Bratcher Contemporary Dance Theater, Minnesota Dance Theatre, and with North Carolina Dance Theatre.
Rowe was born in Adelaide, Australia, and trained at the Australian Ballet School before joining the Australian Ballet in 2001, where she danced for ten years as a Principal. In 2011, she left Australia to join Houston Ballet and in 2012 joined the prestigious Nederlands Dans Theater. According to SF DanceWorks, Rowe has performed in a large variety of works and worked intimately with many acclaimed choreographers, notably Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor, Paul Lightfoot, Sol Leon and Alexander Eckman. In early 2015, she made her choreographic debut with Margarie & Thomas for Nederlands Dans Theater’s SWITCH program.
Wevers is originally from Brussels, Belgium, and is the founder (in 2009) and artistic director of Seattle’s critically acclaimed contemporary dance company Whim W’Him. In 2012 Olivier was honored with the City of Seattle’s Mayor’s Arts Award and in 2011 he received the Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship. He has also been named by Dance Magazine as one of their 25 to watch, according to Whim W’Him’s website. Olivier first began exploring choreography in 2002 while still a principal dancer at Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet. He founded Whim W’Him to create a “platform, centered around choreography and dance, for artists to explore their craft through innovation and collaboration.”
Tickets for MOVEMEDIA: Diversity can be purchased at the Grand Rapids Ballet box office at 341 Ellsworth Avenue SW, online at grballet.com or Ticketmaster.com, or by calling 616-454-4771 x10.
