Year: 2024-2025
DanceForce Member: Robin Collen
Artists: Zachary Frazee, Zoe Walders
Community Partner: SUNY Potsdam
Audience: 83
County: St. Lawrence
The primary goal of this project was to provide Zoe Walders with creative time and space for developing new choreographic work. She requested that Zachary Frazee join her as a partner in the creative process. She had complete access to studio space and received financial support for travel, housing, and food to enable her to take time away from her graduate program and employment. A secondary goal was to serve the students of SUNY Potsdam and the wider North Country community through Ms. Walders’ modern dance class, lecture on career trajectories post-college, and a public performance. The principal artists were Zoe Walders and Zachary Frazee. The planning involved coordinating with Ms. Walders’ schedule so she could travel from Maryland at an opportune time for her and for the SUNY Potsdam Department of Theatre and Dance. I hired Todd Canedy to design lights and serve as technical director for the performance and he solicited and coached students to participate with design and technical work. I hired Kerri Canedy to design the poster.
Zoe and Zachary’s schedule was as follows:
Sunday March 23
1:00-6:00: Creative work
Monday March 24
9:00-12:30: Creative work.
1:00-2:45: Zoe taught modern dance.
3:30-5:30 Creative work.
6:00-9:00: Technical Rehearsal.
Tuesday March 25
9:30-10:45: Zoe spoke with students about her dance studies and employment over the past 9 years (since graduating from SUNY Potsdam), including her current status and an MFA student at the University of Maryland. She also showed excerpts of her choreography and discussed it.
11:00-3:00: Creative Work
6:00-9:00: Tech/dress rehearsal
Wednesday March 26
10:00-4:00: Creative Work
6:00 Call; 7:30 Performance
For marketing, I wrote a press release and a notice appeared in the newspaper North Country This Week. The concert poster was distributed around the campus and the community. I contacted the local public radio station inquiring if they would like to do a story, but the station was not interested.
The sole partner in this event was the SUNY Potsdam Department of Theatre and Dance which provided studio and theater space, as well as students in technical theatre positions for the performance; students worked under the tutelage of Todd Canedy, who served as technical director and lighting designer.
Because this is the final semester for the existence of the dance and theatre programs on the campus, the population of participants has substantially diminished. I was, however, gratified to see community members attend the performance.