DanceAspen takes creative steps towards its winter program | Culture & Leisure

It is rare for a company dancer to present their own choreography alongside external choreographers in a single showcase or program.

But DanceAspen is a rare breed. And the young company of six dancers continues to push industry barriers and explore possibilities.

The DanceAspens winter programme, taking place March 17-18 at Wheeler Opera House, will for the first time feature the works of international guest choreographers Penny Saunders, Sebastian Kloborg and Yin Yue alongside those of its own dancers.

This takes the business to the next level in terms of, we’re aligning these very top choreographers with our in-house choreographers who are preparing for a future like this,” said DanceAspen General Manager Laurel Jenny Winton. I would just say it’s kind of like we’re combining the distance between the really upcoming innovative work that’s, you know, on the other side of the world and what we’re doing here in Aspen.

Here in Aspen, Winton fosters a creative environment for her fellow artists in the company, she has given them the space to create work and explore their artistic talents beyond the performance aspect.

The upcoming winter program will feature new work from three DanceAspen in-house choreographers, including Matthew Gilmore, Blake Krapels and Madeline Scott, who developed an innovative dance film that was shot in the Jeromes Hotel Bad Harriet speakeasy.

Titled Paradise, Scotts’ artistic film embodies the complicated relationship between an unstable state of mental health associated with the revered way of life in the mountains. Winton said it was the biggest on-screen creation DanceAspen has ever presented in a showcase and the whole company is involved in the work under Scotts’ direction.

Although this is Gilmores’ fourth piece for DanceAspen, Krapels presents his first choreographic work for the company, which will be featured in the winter program.

Whenever a company gives you the space and they don’t tell you what to do, but they give you the space and the freedom to do what you want, it’s really nice to dive into your artistry and your choreographic voice,” said Krapels. And Laurel gave us all the space to create and she asks us for a lot of information, which is really good because that’s not often the case.

As the newest addition to the DanceAspen team, Krapels joined the company last summer. He moved to Aspen from Philadelphia, where he was previously a member of the BalletX company.

I came at a time when the business was growing, Krapels said. And I think from my experience, I feel like there’s more on-stage choreographers coming in, like we’re establishing the outside voices within DanceAspen, but then we also recognize and elevate choreographers who dance in the company and want to create in the company.

Krapels said his love for choreography sparked when he created his first duet for the YoungArts Fellowship Program at age 17. He then studied dance at the Juilliard School, during which many creative opportunities were presented to him.

After college, Krapels continued to explore choreographic projects and had several studio commissions, he said. The dancer opened up about living the struggling young independent lifestyle that many post-grad dancers experience.

Krapels’ piece on DanceAspen’s winter program, titled Where We Once Were, was first featured in the winter pop-up series the company presented in December. He said that for its debut in this March production, the play will be fully realized and suitable for a stage production.

Krapels collaborated with Gilmore and fellow dancer Sammy Altenau to develop Where We Once Were. When creating the piece, the choreographer said he was first inspired by the music, titled Snowstorm, wanting to encapsulate this idea of ​​the winds of a snowstorm, he said.

A lot of times when I’m creating, I don’t like to give the composition so much meaning at first, Krapels said. I just like to love, put it out there and then there’s always subconsciously some idea or theme within.

What came from Krapels’ choreography, and is expressed through the movement of the dancers, is an exploring narrative, nostalgic memories of where we once were, current ideas of where we are now and future dreams of where we will be, he said.

Krapels talked about how incredible and extremely humbling his piece sharing a first program with new works by established choreographers is, he said.

The artist went on to note how these opportunities are not only rare but essential when it comes to the natural trajectory of a career as a professional dancer which can often be cut short due to the intense physical demands.

It’s good to have people by your side who want you to be successful not just in the dance aspect, but also in the creative aspect, Krapels said. Because I have the impression that many dancers often go from being a dancer to being a choreographer, and there is this difference; So the more you can integrate those two ideas from the start, I think it’s just a little bit easier to then move on to the next phase of a dancer’s career: the career of a choreographer.

Choreographer Yin Yue, whose piece Ever After was created for DanceAspen and will premiere in the winter program, spoke about the impressive environment created within the young Aspen company.

There’s definitely something really impressive about the business, Yue said. First of all, it kind of grew out of the pandemic, and then it’s already grown to already have the ability to invite choreographers from different states and different countries, which is impressive to see.

Yue is the founder and artistic director of YY Dance Company in New York. She came to Aspen last fall to work with the DanceAspen artists for two weeks. It was his first experience working with artists and commissioning a piece for the company.

Yue has won numerous accolades and awards for her choreographic and educational efforts. Over the past decade, she has refined and expanded an original movement vocabulary, called FoCo Technique, which represents a dynamic fusion of Chinese dance, folk and contemporary movement. Yue incorporates this technique into her choreographic commissions, including her piece for DanceAspen.

The choreographer explained how her approach to creating and generating material involves a conversation between herself and the dancers. It is first of all a process of learning the language of [FoCo Technique] movement, she says, a movement that often seems new and unfamiliar to contemporary dancers.

Yue described DanceAspen dancers as having a particularly strong ballet background compared to other contemporary dancers she has worked with. She said it made a collaboration even more interesting; the movement exchange allowed them to learn, embody and soon present something new in front of their Aspen audience in the winter program.

I think in my process, I make an effort to introduce movement to them, I hope the dancers feel that too,” Yue said. And hopefully in the end, audiences will see the beloved DanceAspen doing what he does best, but seeing something different, seeing something that adds to you know, like something more to what they expected from a sort of ballet dance company.

DanceAspen’s Winter Program will take place March 17-18 at the Wheeler Opera House. Tickets range from $35 to $65, depending on seat selection and can be purchased at aspenshowtix.com.