Experienced and beginning dancers alike are invited to learn improvisational dance movements through “Making Autobiographical Dances.”
Guest artist and choreographer Allison Orr, artistic director of Forklift Danceworks Inc. will be instructing the dancers. The class will take place Wednesday, April 18 from 12:30-2 p.m. in the Dance Studio in Kinesiology Building Room 153.
“I loved her approach to choreography and found her work unique and interesting,” said Dana Brewer-Plazinic, Southeastern dance instructor. “I decided to ask her to be a guest artist for a project I planned to do this spring.”
The class will teach dancers to pull movement from life, memories and stories, which are unique to individual abilities and circumstances.
Orr will also hold a lecture and demonstration on her work called, “So I Think You Can Dance,” in Southeastern’s Contemporary Art Gallery on Thursday, April 19 from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m.
Brewer-Plazinic and Orr met two years ago when Southeastern attended the American College Dance Festival at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. The two discovered they had both graduated from Mills College in California and have stayed in touch ever since.
While Orr will be teaching the “Making Autobiographical Dances” mixed-ability class, her primary reason for coming to Hammond is to help Brewer-Plazinic prepare for the first Moxie Performance Art Festival.
The art festival will be held in conjunction with the Hammond Downtown Development District’s Art in April and will consist of several dance and performance art pieces, taking place throughout shops in downtown Hammond.
“I want to have artists of different mediums work together to create an original work that incorporates a variety of art forms,” said Brewer-Plazinic. “The goal of this project is to enlighten the public’s perception of art and showcase the artistic potential of the space and places around us.”
The production will be performed on Friday, April 20 in a variety of locations in the Columbia Theatre Lobby from 6-9 p.m. and changing every 15 minutes. The other locations include places such as Hammond Regional Arts Center, Post Office steps and La Carretta’s Restaurant.
While this may be the first time Brewer-Plazinic has hosted a dance art festival on her own, her dance company, Izzy Moving Dance Theatre, a nonprofit organization, has participated in many similar events.
“We have performed in art galleries, museums, restaurants, parks and abandoned buildings to name a few,” said Brewer-Plazinic. “I like to choreograph for non-traditional spaces and love the challenge of varied environments and uncontrollable elements.”
For more information on upcoming dance events, call Brewer-Plazinic at 985-549-5254 or email at dbrewer@selu.edu.