Webster University Dance Ensemble 2021 Online May 13-16
May 10, 2021
Webster University Dance Ensemble (WUDE), under the artistic direction of Xi Zhao, will present their 2021 Concert online from May 13 at 7 p.m. to May 16 at 9 p.m. CDT.
The concert features a variety of works performed by Webster students in a wide range of styles, from Aerial Dance to Contemporary. It showcases the dancers’ extensive technical training and their very eclectic performance abilities.
Choreographers are Webster faculty members Maggi Dueker, Monica Newsam, Michael Uthoff,
and Xi Zhao. The Department of Dance is fortunate during a world pandemic to still
have two guest artists join us: Kurt Douglas, formerly a Limón Dance Company dancer
and currently Associate Professor of Dance at Boston Conservatory; and Lara Elizabeth
Turek Alumna Fellowship recipient Ashley McQueen, the founder/artistic director of
Smashworks Dance based in NYC.
With the exception of a reconstruction of José Limón’s Psalm, all of this year’s performances will be premieres of original works.
Tickets and How to Watch
After purchasing your ticket(s), you will receive an email with the link to the recorded performance and program. The performance recordings took place on the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center at Webster University.
We welcome payment of any amount to view this special version of WUDE 2021 Concert. We hope the pay-what-you-can approach allows you to be part of our audience. Please share this event with others who might be interested.
As a suggested guide, our standard ticket prices are: $15 for adults $7 for seniors, Webster alumni, and non-Webster students $2 for children 12 and under Webster students, faculty, and staff: free with a valid Webster ID number.
For more information, contact the Fine Arts Hotline at 314-968-7128 for tickets, or dance@webster.edu with questions.
Excerpts of José Limón's 'Psalm'
Webster University Dance Ensemble is proud to be performing excerpts of Psalm, originally choreographed by José Limón in 1967, restaged by Carla Maxwell in 2002. The reconstructor and director of the work at Webster was Kurt Douglas, a past company member of the Limón Company and currently an Associate Professor of Dance at the Boston Conservatory. Webster University would like to credit José Limón as choreographer and the José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc. as the owner of the copyright in Psalm. ©1996, José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc.
This performance of Psalm, a Limón (SM) Dance, is presented by arrangement with The José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc. and has been produced in accordance with the Limón Stylesm and Limón Techniquesm service standards established by The José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc. Limón (SM), Limón Style (SM) and Limón Technique (SM) are trade and service marks of The José Limón Dance Foundation, Inc. (All rights reserved)
Psalm was first performed August 19, 1967, at the American Dance Festival, New London, Connecticut by the José Limón Dance Company. The first performance of the re-staged version choreographed by Carla Maxwell, with a newly commissioned score by Jon Magnussen, occurred Feb. 13, 2002, at Weber State University, Ogden, Utah. It was performed by the Limón Dance Company.
The Webster University Dance Ensemble performance of excerpts from Psalm is part of the José Limón Dance Foundation’s 75th Anniversary celebration.
Artist Statements
José Limón, who was born in Mexico, started out to pursue a career as a visual artist. Smitten with modern dance when he first saw it performed when he came to New York as a student, he shifted gears and worked with seminal American modern dancers Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman.
Psalm is one of Limón's last works and arguably one of his most powerful. "Because José was such a private person," recalled Carla Maxwell, previous artistic director of the Jose Limon Company, "no one knew that at the time he was choreographing Psalm in 1967, he had just been diagnosed with prostatic cancer. He may have thought this would be his final work, so he poured himself into the content and really packed it. I've had dancers who were learning it come up to me crying. Doesn't anything repeat? It was almost as if he were treading the brink between genius and madness. Limón finally succumbed to his illness in 1972."
Carla Maxwell also shares, “Limón's inspiration for Psalm came from a book by Andre Schwartz-Bart called The Last of the Just that uses as its inspiration the ancient Jewish tradition of the Lamed-Vov. According to the legend, there are at any given time 36 Just Ones on earth who take to themselves the suffering of the world; were it not for their sacrifice in assuming this suffering, the world would be so poisoned it would cease to exist. To honor their suffering, which may be so great it immures them to the joys of Paradise when they leave this world, God periodically turns back the clock and delays the Day of Judgment. The Just Ones may not even be aware of their station. José took this legend and wove from it a dance about the evocation of the heroic power of the human spirit.”
Ashley McQueen, the Lara Elizabeth Turek Alumna Recipient Guest Artist for WUDE this year, speaks of her work, “A commentary on the isolation obscured by artificial digital interactions, this piece reveals an unexpected solitude that persists despite near constant digital bombardment in an online-only environment. Chaotic and kaleidoscopic video projection elements join live dancers on stage, first as complementary characters, but soon overpower and subsume the live performance revealing the outsized role of today’s digital doubles.”
Maggi Dueker, chair of Webster Dance, comments on her contemporary piece: “Finding a sense of connection within an ensemble is a priority for me but challenging during a pandemic that requires dancers to remain distanced for their safety. In approaching this piece, I knew that I needed to be creative in choosing a concept that would allow the dancers to relate to one another from a distance. I decided to consider memories, both real and imagined, and have developed a work that relies heavily on an exploration of space and time to convey the sense of past and present.”
Monica Newsam, adjunct faculty member at Webster, has created an aerial work for the students. She said, “To uphold the social responsibility of mask mandates, we have had to alter how we walk about outside of our own space. This national change has created a daily experience of physical discomfort, challenges with breathing, and limits on how we interact with others. Because out in the world we have to be tough and brave, it has been a challenge to relax into our vulnerabilities, fully embody our own space, and find comfort in these limitations. And yet we find ways to allow ourselves to relax into our authentic vulnerability, and to feel like ourselves again for short periods of time.
“Reborn to Change” begins with the dancers wearing masks and expressing discomfort. Aerial hammocks become their personal space where they adapt to restrictions and find ways to connect to others in spite of the distance. The equipment circles round and round, creating a comfortable merge between the dancers and their space. Join us as we take a deep dive into the vulnerability of the body as we adapt to challenges and limitations and find ways to continue doing what we love.”
Michael Uthoff, lecturer at Webster University, has created a contemporary piece in collaboration with composer, Son Phan. He mentions, “While a student at the School of Dance of the University of Chile around 1962, my composition teacher, Sigurd Leeder, made several of us work on the images of the Rodin sculpture and create a small work that carried the 6 individuals from upstage left to downstage right. Inspired by the Rodin sculpture and the exercise from my University training, I endeavored to create an original work for Wet Ink.
Wet Ink is a marvelous project at Webster University that during the Spring of 2019 paired several student composers in the percussion department, in the Department of Music, with Dance faculty and student choreographers. I was fortunate to work with composer, Son Phan and through our discussions and his participation in rehearsals he created a haunting score that captures and enhances the essence of the work. Together we set out to create a piece that reflected the agony and strength of those six individuals in Rodin’s statue. We agreed that we wanted to bring that to life with today’s dancers.
"With the participation of all six dancers, we conceived of this short work. The dancers found some qualities of the character (statue) assigned to them to bring to their interpretation and we built from there. The piece takes the characters from the moment they are chosen to die to save Calais to the moment that--unbeknownst to them--they are forgiven and set free at their journey’s end. Today’s version is slightly different because of Social Distancing (not an issue in early 2020 when our collaboration began) as we refrain from lifts and physical contact amongst the dancers. The choreography has been reworked accordingly and we hope it pleases you.”
Xi Zhao, adjunct faculty member at Webster, describes the process for her piece, “We have been consciously keeping the social distancing for a year. However, we have unconsciously kept the distance between races, genders, cultures for too long. The dancers and I have spent a lot of time exploring the under-relationships and dynamics of the duet being kept at a distance. We can’t see them apart as both sides have constituted the whole picture. The image of Tai Chi often reminds me that the white and black are so contradictory to each other, yet, they are the basic elements which have built the whole logic. The pandemic has pushed us to be aware how to keep the distance. How should we push ourselves to break the boundaries in order to close the distance?”
Artist Biographies
Kurt Douglas joined the Boston Conservatory faculty in 2015 and is an associate professor of dance, specializing in technique, repertory, and pedagogy for modern dance. Douglas also serves as artistic director for Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Summer Dance Intensive (SDI).
A graduate of New York’s LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts and originally from Guyana, Douglas earned a B.F.A. in dance from Boston Conservatory and an M.F.A. in dance from Hollins University.
After graduating from the Conservatory in 2001, he joined the Limón Dance Company, where he performed in many of Limón’s most influential works. He received a 2002 Princess Grace Award and was honored by an invitation to perform for the royal family of Monaco. In 2007, Douglas became the first African American to portray Iago in The Moor's Pavane, José Limón's most famous work. Douglas was named one of Dance Magazine’s "Top 25 to Watch” in the January 2006 issue. He danced from 2002 to 2007 in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and joined Ballet Hispanico from 2005 to 2006 under the direction of Tina Ramirez. In 2009, he joined the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company during their 40th anniversary season, touring throughout the United States and Asia. In 2011, he began touring with the Tony Award-winning musical A Chorus Line throughout the United States, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. Guest artist credits include the Thang Dao Dance Company, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Dzul Dance, and the Sean Curran Dance Company.
Douglas remains invested in his teaching practices, conducting Limón Dance workshops in Massachusetts, South Dakota, New York, Oregon, Texas, Pennsylvania, Haiti, France, England, Australia, and at prestigious institutions such as Harvard University, Southern Methodist University, the Juilliard School, SUNY Purchase, SUNY Brockport, Skidmore College, Festival Ballet Providence, and Boston Conservatory. Douglas is currently a reconstructor with the Limón Foundation. In 2017, Douglas restaged Jose Limón’s “A Choreographic Offering” for the Limón Company's 71st anniversary season. Douglas continues to serve as faculty with the Limón for Kids Program and the Limón Institute in New York City, the official school of the Limón Dance Foundation.
Ashley McQueen (New York) holds a BFA in Dance from Webster University and an MFA in Dance from Hollins University. She is the founder/artistic director of Smashworks Dance, a non-profit dance company advocating for human rights issues and women’s empowerment through performing arts, educational programming, and community outreach; and leads the Smashworks Education Outreach partnership with Girl Scouts of Greater New York. She currently performs as a company member with Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre while teaching for Notes In Motion Outreach Dance; and has worked as a company member for ShawnBibleDanceCo, Common Thread Contemporary Dance, and Arova Contemporary Ballet.
Her choreography has been commissioned by Peridance Youth Ensemble, Hamilton College, Webster University, Minnesota Ballet, London Climate Change Festival, Lake Arts Project Milwaukee, Kranzberg Exhibition Series, ANNONYArts, and Big Muddy Dance Company; and presented at festivals such as Dance St. Louis Spring to Dance, Westfest: All Over Westbeth, Midwest RADFest, and NYC Transit Museum. Smashworks Dance was named a Village Voice “Voice Choices'' for their performance of City Stories at CPR-Brooklyn, and their political satire For Which It Stands was featured in Time Out NY and Brokelyn Magazine. They were awarded the Theaterlab Hotel New Work residency in collaboration with Hope Salas and Justin Cimino, where they spent 40 hours exploring the fusion of dance and clown. Smashworks was invited as a local community group to hear Michelle Obama speak on her Becoming tour at the Barclays Center, and recently partnered with Rebel Girls Productions to write movement activities for their newest chapter book, “Alicia Alonso Takes The Stage,” published worldwide August 2020.
Maggi Dueker is a Visiting Assistant Professor and the Chair for the Department of Dance at Webster University. She founded and is the Director of Webster’s Summer Dance Intensives. Her choreography has been performed by the Webster University Dance Ensemble, Convergence, and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, American College Dance Festival, Dancing in the Streets, and National Dance Day among others.
Maggi is an MFA Candidate in Dance at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and received her BFA in Dance from Webster (Summa cum laude). She performed professionally with Giordano Dance Chicago II, Royal Caribbean International, the MUNY and as a freelance performer with Melissa Thodos and Dancers and Chicago Arts Project. She has previously taught at Northwestern University, Giordano Dance Center and currently teaches for the Big Muddy Dance Company. For her work at Webster, Maggi has been nominated for the Kemper Excellence in Teaching Award.
Monica Newsam, president of NEWSAM AERIAL DANCE, discovered at age five her passion for movement and dance, marking the beginning of a life-long journey to define her singular artistic vision.
Monica’s internationally acclaimed body of work in dance and choreography stretches across four continents. She received her BFA at the National School of Dance and Folklore in Havana. Monica continued her exploration of international movement styles in India. She received a Post-Graduate Diploma in Indian Classical Dance at Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra and Yoga at the Sivananda Yoga Center of Kerala.
With her 2003 master’s degree in Education from Lindenwood University, Monica began exploring aerial circus techniques, lending new perspectives to her artistic work. Currently, Monica teaches aerial dance at Webster University and choreographs for its dance ensembles. Since 2008, Monica has worked with artist Tom Brady and non-profit ANNONYArts in performance installations. Since 2017, Monica and Graciela have been releasing books in the pioneering curriculum Aerial Dance for Dancers, which they use to teach workshops and master classes.
In 2020, Monica was awarded a Fellowship grant from the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis. Both sisters are grateful for this vital support, as it enables them to continue fulfilling their dream of introducing performers of all ages to the excitement of aerial dance. Throughout her extensive creative output, Monica seeks to expand global awareness of aerial dance as an exciting, expressive movement discipline.
Born in Chile to the founders of the Chilean National Ballet, Michael Uthoff journeyed to NYC to study dance at School of American Ballet, Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, and Juilliard. He became a soloist with the José Limón Dance Company, an original member of the American Dance Company, a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, and a member of the First Chamber Dance Company of NY. Michael founded the Hartford Ballet, taking it to national prominence. He then became Artistic Director of Ballet Arizona and the Ballet Estable del Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2006 Uthoff returned to the USA to become the Executive Director of Dance St. Louis. Uthoff’s choreography has been seen around the world garnering accolades and awards.
Uthoff has received grants from the NEA, local and state agencies, and major foundations. Michael has been a faculty member at Webster University since 2010. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Missouri--St. Louis. Michael is a citizen of the USA and Chile and a resident of Mexico.
Xi Zhao received her MFA in Performance and Choreography from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and her MA in Dance Choreography at the School of Dance, Minzu University of China. She is the founder and artistic director of The NEW-Beijing New Dance Festival. The festival has successfully invited over 100 international artists from more than 20 countries to perform and to teach in Beijing, introducing many contemporary dance artists and companies from central and Eastern Europe to China for the first time. It has hosted over 10,000 participants and spectators from all over China. Zhao was working as a tenured lecturer at the School of Dance, Minzu University of China for 11 years.
She has worked as a Visiting Guest Artist at Webster University and has been working as an independent choreographer worldwide. She is a member of China Dancers Association, the leading association of dance professionals in China. Currently Zhao is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Dance at Webster University in St. Louis, while supporting the Chinese Community through her teaching and service.
In view of Zhao's contributions to the contemporary dance scene in China, she was commissioned by China's Ministry of Culture as the dance expert assisting the visit of the CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) Dance Festivals and Choreographers delegation in 2014. In 2016 she was invited to be a keynote speaker at the Chinese Government's "16+1" initiative, the China-CEEC Arts Cooperation Forum. She has been invited to many international festivals giving keynotes and panel discussions about Chinese contemporary dance development. Zhao's most recent award was given in April of 2019, the "Award MENADA for Extraordinary Achievement in the Field of Contemporary Dance" from the Dance Fest Skopje in Macedonia.
Photo Credits
All photos by Gerry Love