Contemporary Dance is alive and well in Oklahoma and these three very individual and amazing dance companies prove it!
Perpetual Motion: Michelle Dexter is a co-founder of Perpetual Motion/Modern Dance Oklahoma, Inc and is adjunct faculty at the University of Central Oklahoma. She completed her Master of Fine Arts in Dance at Texas Woman's University in May 2005 and her BA in Dance at the University of Central Oklahoma in 2001. Michelle has studied professionally at various institutions such as the Bill Evans summer intensives, the Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago and Dance New Amsterdam in New York City.
During her tenure at TWU, Michelle was awarded the Excellence in Choreography scholarship. Michelle has choreographed and performed for numerous concerts and festivals, including four American College Dance Festivals, where her piece “Echoes” was selected for the 2007 ACDFA Gala concert and as well as her piece "In the Wake" in 2004. She was also commissioned to choreograph a work that was performed at the National Mental Health Association's Annual Conference in Washington D.C. in 2000.
Hartel Dance Group: is a newly formed and emerging Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Company. The company is driven to create accessible work that pushes the boundaries of the human body with exciting and physical dance works that reach their audiences on a visceral level. Artistic Director Austin Hartel has been creating works for over 20 years, in New York City and around the world. He has won awards for his commercial choreography and his theatrical work has been critically acclaimed throughout the world and was a soloist for 5 years with Pilobolus Dance Theater. He is currently on the Faculty of the University of Oklahoma School of Dance where he coordinates the Modern Dance Program.
The Bell House Arts, Inc: is a collaborative dance and art cooperative dedicated to creating opportunity for artistic exchange. In the true spirit of collaboration that The Bell House was founded on, this group's works will be presented with independent and company dance artists from Out On a Limb Dance Company (Waco, TX) and Living Water Dance Company (Tulsa. OK). In particular, local company, Living Water Dance Company, shares a vision to work collaboratively with artists and organizations to dialogue about and create art that embraces community in order to break down barriers. Overlapping play with the absurd and provocation with the elusive, these works aim to scrap the docile places of the imagination making indelible the designed movement of the body.
RESERVATIONS SUGGESTED by calling 596-7111 or for tickets on line, go to www.MyTicketOffice.com Festival pass holders still have to make reservations and pick up tickets, but show their pass to the ticket office.