Year: 2017-2018
DanceForce Member: Gregory Cary
Artists: Kimberly Bartosik; Nathan Griswold; Joan Laage; Anna Maria Lucacia; Paul Matteson; Morgan McEwen; Jennifer Nugent; Tamara LaDonna Williams
Community Partners: Bard College Lifetime Learning Institute; Kaatsbaan International Dance Center; Marist College Lifetime Learning Institute; Tivoli Merchants and Artists Assoication; Tivoli Public Library
Audience: 1,400
County: Dutchess
Kaatsbaan UpStream® Residency Awards are designed to support all stages of professional dance development through week-long residencies at the Kaatsbaan facility for choreographers and company directors and their dancers. Residencies are recognized as an effective ways to build the art form by providing time and space for creating new choreography, rehearsing repertory, building productions, showcasing works in progress, and presenting finished performances. Primary goals of UpStream® are:
1. to support the creative process of professional dance arts;
2. to provide performance opportunities to professional dancers and choreographers;
3. to provide diversified and new dance experiences to regional and community audiences;
4. to form working relationships for future collaborations between Kaatsbaan’s artistic management and the dance artists selected to participate in the program.
Due to demand and the high quality of applicants the, 6 dance artists /companies were selected from 32 applications in the 2017-2018 season. 42 professional dancers, choreographers and designers participated during 6 weeks of on-site residencies in the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018.
6 on stage performances, 1 street performance, and 2 open rehearsals reached audiences of over 1,400 children, students, special groups and regional and community residents of the mid-Hudson Valley. Increased numbers of dance artists and audience expanded the UpStream® program by over 400% in this season. Choreography and productions created and developed during the UpStream® residencies will reach tens-of-thousands of people as they are performed in the future.
The primary artists and companies involved were: Joan Laage/Kogut Butoh based in Seattle, WA; Kimberly Bartosik, a former Kaatsbaan resident artist; Nathan Griswold and Anna Maria Lucacia; Mordance, Morgan McEwen artistic director; Tamara Williams Moving Spirits; and Jennifer Nugent and Paul Matteson. Rehearsals and creative time took place in the Kaasbaan dance studios. On site housing for all artists was available in the Dancers’ Inn. Most performance and open rehearsals took place in the 160-seat Kaatsbaan theater that was specifically designed to accommodate artists’ need for large space.
In addition to the 6 theater performances in the UpStream® series, Joan Laage and the 10 dancers of Kogut Butoh performed on Saturday, September 23, 2017 moving slowly in the Butoh style, down Broadway, the main street of the Village of Tivoli. This was a featured event of ‘Tivoli Day 2017’ and was presented in partnership with the Village, The Tivoli Public Library and the Tivoli Merchant and Artists Association. Over 700 residents and visitors viewed the site-specific event with an estimated 300 children in attendance.
The Marist College and Bard College Lifetime Leaning Institutes also attended performances and special open rehearsals by contemporary dancers Nathan Griswold & Anna Maria Lucacia and by Mordance, a ballet company. As part of 3 lectures by Kaatsbaan’s artistic director on consecutive Spring Thursdays, the companies presented works in progress followed by moderated questions and open discussion with the dancers and choreographers. 42 seniors attended each lecture. One senior commented on the evaluation form, “Before the LLI classes at Kaatsbaan, I had no idea of the diversity of dance nor the complexity in developing dance performances.”
Tickets for the Kaatsbaan UpStream® series are subsidized by the organization’s program and operations fund in an effort to bring economically challenged audiences to open rehearsals and performances. All open rehearsals are presented at no charge to the public and performances are $10 for adults and $5 for children. The Tivoli Public Library is given up to 20 free tickets to each performance that they distribute for a $5 donation to the library. No charge tickets are also distributed to DayTop residents and regional community youth groups.