OMDC Update

omaha modern dance collective presents 45°Celsius

Important basics:

Notify us by July 9 that you want to audition – email 45celsius@omdcdance.org

Audition your work(s) July 16
at Robin Welch Dance Arts, 8801 F St, Omaha

Performance 6 pm Sunday, August 14, at the Stinson Park Amphitheater,
Aksarben Village

What We’re Doing:

OMDC is seeking talented area dancers and choreographers (both new and experienced) as well as other movement artists and collaborative performers, to submit a modern/contemporary dance work (or two!) for our first-ever summer movement arts festival.

Criteria:

• modern or contemporary works
• works between 45 seconds and 60 seconds in length (you read that right.)
• works able to be performed in an outdoor venue without a special dance floor (Stinson Amphitheater stage is poured concrete)
• we love collaborative and/or weird stuff!

UPDATE — Audition FAQ:

Q: What time will the auditions be on July 16?
A:  We’ll contact everyone between July 9 and July 16 and work out a schedule. (That’s why it’s important that you email us by July 9 to let us know you want to audition.)

Q: I’ve got an idea for a work, but I’m out of town on July 16. Is there any other way I can audition?
A: Yes! We also accept auditions via video. Email us by July 9 with a link to your video — or the video itself, if it’s small enough to attach to an email. The video doesn’t need to be fancy; just enough to give us an idea of what you want to perform.

Q: I’m not really a dancer; I do [fire baton/hoops/rhythmic gymnastics/chain-saw juggling/something else.] Can I still audition?
A: Yes! This is a “movement arts” festival, and we’re looking for a very broad range of creative, expressive movement art forms.

Q: Do I need to do anything to prepare for the audition BESIDES email you by July 9?
A: Yes, we do need a bit more. Before July 16, please email us a SHORT info statement: one paragraph about you and your background as a movement artist, and one paragraph about the work you intend to audition. The reason we need this is that we want to start publicizing the concert as soon as possible after July 16; we’ll need this info to send out media kits and press releases.

Here’s a sample info statement:

Jane Example of Bellevue is an independent circus-arts performer, specializing in balancing, juggling, and acrobatics. She has a degree in theater arts from Example State University and has performed in Kansas City’s Shakespeare on the Green and the Minneapolis Fringe Festival.

She will be auditioning Three Flats and a Sharp, a contemporary street-performance work based on the traditions of medieval “busking,” performed by a musician, a juggler, and two dancers. Performing with Example will be musician Joe Fiddle and dancers Connie Traction and Fallon Recovery, all of Omaha.

To sign up or ask questions, email 45celsius@omdcdance.org

Omaha Performing Arts and the Omaha Modern Dance Collective join forces this summer for DanceFest 2009, Nebraska’s first invitational contemporary dance festival. DanceFest 2009 will include several area dance groups.  

The festival is a weekend celebration of original modern dance works created by Omaha and Lincoln artists, including works inspired by visiting companies from Omaha Performing Arts’ 2008-09 touring dance series.

OMDC will perform two new site-specific works as part of the Bemis 08 Creativity Festival.

Click here for a press release about OMDC’s participation.

The performances, which are free to the public, will be Friday, June 27, at 7 pm and 7:30 pm at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, 12th and Leavenworth Streets in Omaha. [map]

Choreographers Susan Dickson-Matsunami and Amy Herrman have created their works as responses to Therman Statom’s installation Nascita. Both pieces will feature dancers moving throughout the installation space, interacting with the painted, transparent and mirrored surfaces of the gallery-filling artwork.

• Click here to see photos of Amy Hermann and dancers in the gallery space
• Click here to see photos of Susan Dickson-Matsunami and dancers in a studio rehearsal
• Click here to see photos of Susan Dickson-Matsunami and dancers in the gallery space

[Pictured: Dancer Amanda Schieler works with choreographer Susan Dickson-Matsunami in the Bemis gallery space.]