Cornish Dance Department Announces 2018/19 Season

Special Residency In Honor Of Merce Cunningham’s 100th Anniversary

Seattle, WA– The Dance Department of Cornish College of the Arts will present a number of shows in 2018/19 featuring student performances, student choreography, faculty work, and special guest artists. In the spring, the Dance Department will mark the 100th anniversary of its famous alumnus Merce Cunningham in collaboration with the Department of Dance at the University of Washington and the Merce Cunningham Trust.

“We are preparing for another historic year for dance at Cornish.  In honor of the centenary of Merce Cunningham’s birthday, and acknowledging his roots in Washington State and his formative training in our studios, we are co-hosting a two-week residency by Silas Riener in April focusing on creative process and chance procedures,” said chair of Dance Victoria Watts.

Part of this residency will focus on allowing “students from across the college—filmmakers, musicians, designers, sculptors, and so forth—to work with our guest artist, learn more about Merce’s iconoclasm, and experiment with chance methods in their own creative process,” said Watts. “I love the fact that this centenary gives us a chance to manifest in the present the very real connections between past and future that an arts education at Cornish makes possible.”

Silas Riener is a former dancer with Merce Cunningham Dance Company and an exciting dance artist in his own right.  Advanced choreography students from Cornish and UW will work together with Reiner to generate new work as part of this residency, with a showing scheduled at the Henry Art Gallery for the afternoon of April 13.

Cornish’s Dance season opens with the Fall Cornish Dance Theater at the Cornish Playhouse on Nov. 16. Additional events include New Moves Concert at Velocity Dance Center, BFA Dance Concerts in February, Terpsichore’s Landing 2019, and Spring Cornish Dance Theater. For more information on all events, see cornish.edu.  Tickets are available through brownpapertickets.com.

Cornish College of the Arts Dance Season 2018/19

Cornish Dance Theater Fall 2018 Concert
November 16 at 8 p.m. and November 17 at 2 p.m. (includes a post-performance Q&A) and 8 p.m.
Cornish Playhouse, Seattle Center, 201 Mercer Street, Seattle
Admission $15 general, $7 seniors, $5 students, Cornish alumni, and Cornish Faculty/Staff

Cornish Dance Theater, the performing ensemble of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, will feature choreography by faculty and guest choreographers Alana Isiguen, Wade Madsen, Michele Miller, and Alicia Mullikin in its Fall 2018 concert.

New Moves Concert
November 30 at 8 p.m. and December 1 at 4 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Velocity Dance Center
Admission $10 general, $5 seniors, students, Cornish faculty/staff, and Cornish alumni

The New Moves Concert 2018 features original choreography and performances by current students of Cornish’s Dance Department.

BFA Dance Concerts 2019
February 16 at 8 p.m. and February 17 at 5 p.m.
Cornish Playhouse, Seattle Center, 201 Mercer Street, Seattle
Admission free (ticket required for entry).

The 2019 BFA Dance Concerts showcase the choreography and performance work of Cornish Dance Department’s class of 2019. An eclectic array of dance styles and viewpoints will be represented and the concert series will include performances of works commissioned from professional guest choreographers.

Terpsichore’s Landing 2019
March 31
PONCHO Concert Hall, 710 East Roy Street, Seattle
Admission Free (ticket required for entry)

An annual event, Terpsichore’s Landing is a showcase of new dance works featuring an eclectic variety of movement styles choreographed and performed by students in the Cornish College of the Arts Dance Department. The performance runs for one day only!

Cornish Dance Theater Spring 2019 Concert
April 19 at 8 p.m. and April 20 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center, 201 Mercer Street, Seattle
Admission $15 general, $7 seniors, $5 students, Cornish alumni, and Cornish Faculty/Staff

Cornish Dance Theater, the performing ensemble of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, will feature choreography by faculty and guest choreographers in the Spring 2019 concert.

Tickets for all events available through Brown Paper Tickets.

More About 2019 Silas Reiner Residency

To celebrate Merce Cunningham’s legacy of iconoclasm the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, in collaboration with the Department of Dance at the University of Washington, will be hosting former Merce Cunningham Dance Company member Silas Riener for a two-week residency that focuses on the creative process.  The residency will look to the future, asking young artists from across the creative disciplines taught at Cornish to investigate and experiment with Cunningham’s use of chance operations as a choreographic tool, and to apply this approach to making new work that sets its sights on contemporary institutions and values. Students from Cornish and UW’s composition courses will be working together for a significant portion of the residency. This will culminate in a showing of work in April 2019.