Dance Magazine spotlights Carl Flink and his Black Label Movement

"I never want to lose that passion to move, to be alive in my skin," says Carl Flink, founder/ Artistic director of Black Label Movement (BLM) in Dance Magazine's January issue. Flink, who also heads Theatre Arts and Dance department, is interviewed in a feature story titled "Flying through Space." Onstage and in TED Talks, Flink's Black Label Movement stretches the boundaries of physical possibility, according to this national arts publication.

Dance Magazine's article by Linda Shaprio is excerpted here:

Black Label Movement gives new meaning to risky behavior. Coming from a serious soccer background, founder Carl Flink has what he describes as "a commitment to flying into space without being worried about the impact." Onstage, his dances explore wildly physical action and dramatic subjects, such as the fate of people trapped in an airtight compartment of a sinking ship. Offstage, his collaborations with scientists have used dance to simulate molecular processes and navigate zero-gravity environments--and have become a sensation at TED Talks, the global big ideas conferences.

"When I was young, movement was about running, jumping, falling, catching," Flink says. "I never want to lose that passion to move, to be alive in my skin."

That full-throttle approach has made Flink into a dream choreographer for a certain kind of adrenaline-junkie dancer. "I'd never seen movement done that way--so visceral, dynamic, big," says Lauren Baker, who studied under Flink at the University of Minnesota before joining BLM in 2011. "It tore my world apart."
Presenters are also taking notice: Flink has recently gotten several commissions, and his Twin Cities-based company is increasingly touring beyond Minnesota's borders. His wide-ranging vision has brought BLM from the concert stage to science laboratories and the viral upper echelons of YouTube.

Flink, who holds a law degree from Stanford University, sees his work as an attempt to "manifest political statements in the work of the body." He first began taking dance classes at the University of Minnesota while majoring in political science and women's studies. After graduating in 1990, he performed with the Limón Dance Company in New York for six years, eventually moving back home to Minneapolis to work with the Farmers' Legal Action Group. He began teaching men's and partnering classes at the U of M, and in 2004, he left his career in law to become director of the dance program and later chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance.

When Flink launched BLM in 2005, he named the company after generic food brands because of their no-nonsense way of communicating: "I liked those unrelenting black and yellow labels saying exactly what's inside--like 'peas.' "

Flink also calls his 10 dancers (many of whom are U of M graduates), "movers." He likens them to surfers trying to find ease riding natural forces they can't control.

This approach is part of why Flink has become an appealing collaborator for scientists. Biomedical engineer David Odde worked with Flink to develop "bodystorming," a technique where dancers model scientific theories, such as the tumultuous function of particles in a cell. That led to a dance entitled HIT that explores the impact of bodies colliding and finding, as the Minneapolis Star Tribune put it, "the unexpected poetry within aggression."

In 2011, BLM and John Bohannon, a Science magazine correspondent and the founder of the annual Dance Your Ph.D. contest, performed A Modest Proposal during TEDx Brussels. The 11-minute presentation examined ways that dance, science and communication could intersect to become an alternative to the dominant medium of PowerPoint. When posted on the main TED website, the video went viral. (Play Video of BLM in A Modest Proposal at ted.com/talks)

That success led to BLM working with Bohannon and the Minneapolis band Jelloslave to create a new presentation for the 2012 TED: Full Spectrum conference. Called "Let's Talk About Sex," it discusses how to explain the evolutionary nature of sex to young people. (Ed. note: Minneapolis showing March 27-29, 2014 at Cowles Center) Later that year, Flink's award-winning choreography for a Twin Cities production of Spring Awakening took some of those ideas to embody adolescent passion and pain, with dancers literally bouncing off of the walls.

- See more at: http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/January-2014/Flying-Through-Space#sthash.LRDlHdQU.dpuf

Scott Rink joins Dance faculty as Visiting Professor; starts Spring '14

University of Minnesota's Theatre Arts & Dance Department (UMTAD) is pleased to announce the Dance Program has hired New York based dance artist Scott Rink as a contracted Faculty Assistant Professor. Beginning in the upcoming spring semester of 2014, Mr. Rink will be teaching a combination of Modern Dance and Dance Composition courses. "We are delighted to welcome four -time Sage Cowles Land Grant guest artist Scott Rink back to the our department," commented Ananya Chatterjea, Dance Program Coordinator. "Scott brings a rich wealth of professional experience as a choreographer/director to share with our students. His energy, vision and artistry are highly regarded both on stage and in the studio classroom."

As a teacher Mr. Rink has held visiting professorship positions at Harvard University, The Ailey School, UNCSA, University of Minnesota (Cowles Chair 2013, 2003, 2000, 1996), University of Utah, among others and taught master classes throughout the US, Europe and South America. Scott Rink has performed in the companies of Eliot Feld, Elisa Monte, Karole Armitage and Lar Lubovitch.

As a director/choreographer, Rink's work has been praised as "an unusual hybrid genre in which dance is part of a larger theatrical whole" (The Village Voice) using the dramatic text as a musical score where "patches of pure dance heighten dramas like light shining from beneath colored glass" (New York Times). For this fall's Dance Revolutions at the Barker Center for Dance, Rink re-created Here We Are based on a short story by Dorothy Parker, in which he links a duet and quartet with dancers and speakers. Premiered in 2003 at the University of Minnesota, the work performed by University students was selected to be presented the following spring at the 2004 American College Dance Festival national performances at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center. Mr. Rink is a returning Cowles Visiting Artist who first was in residence re-staging a work by Lar Lubovitch in 1996.

Rink's Off-Broadway choreography credits include, Queen of The Mist (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cumming III), Hello Again (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Being Audrey (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Crossing Brooklyn (Transport Group,Dir. Jack Cummings III) Songs For a New World (George St. Playhouse, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Nor'mal (Transport Group, Dir. Jack Cummings III), Minimum Wage (45 Bleeker, Dir. Guy Stroman).

His commissioned works include dances for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre II, American Ballet Theatre II, Oakland Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Repertory Dance Theatre, The Ailey School, Harvard University, and UNCSA. Mr. Rink has created a number of works for danceRINK performed in NYC most notably at Joyce Soho, Symphony Space, American Theatre of Actors, HERE, The Kitchen and Tribeca Performing Arts Center as well as other national and international dates. He has adapted, directed and choreographed three dance films from the works of Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut.

Department Chair Carl Flink commented, "Scott is a multi-faceted artist who brings nationally recognized depth as a performer, dance maker and instructor into our dance program's research and learning community."

Mr. Rink's assistant choreography credits include: BROADWAY The King & I (Dir. Christopher Renshaw), Allegro Encore Production (Dir. Susan Schulman); REGIONAL What The World Needs Now ,Roundabout Production (Dir. Gillian Lynne); TV World Music Awards (Chor. Lar Lubovitch); CONCERT DANCE American Ballet Theater, Royal Danish Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (Chor. Lar Lubbovitch).

Theatre Department Alums Shine in Guthire's Born Yesterday and A Christmas Carol

This month Guthrie stages brim with holiday fun-- Garson Kanin's classic comedy Born Yesterday and Charles Dickens' perennial favorite A Christmas Carol now in its 39th season. Both companies shine with U of M alums -- talented actors who learned their craft through the Theatre Arts & Dance Department.

Nearly half of the professional actors in this year's A Christmas Carol cast trained and graduated from the U of M's theatre program earning B.A., B.F.A, and M.F.A. degrees. All have appeared on the Rarig Center's stages during their student days. Several gained invaluable experience performing on the University of Minnesota Centennial Showboat. Those in the U of M/Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program have studied in London for a semester.

From Young Scrooge (Paris Hunter Paul) and Belle (Eleonore S. Dendy), to Mrs. Crachit (Virginia S. Burke), to nephew Fred (Hugh Kennedy), to Mrs. Fezziwig (Suzanne Warmanen) and her daughter Dora (Virginia S. Burke), Deirdre (Anna Reichert), and the Ghost of Christmas Future (Torsten Johnson) all are former students strutting their stuff on the Guthrie's thrust stage.

Anna Reichert, who plays several characters and sings as a chorister identified training for the stage as one of her most valuable lessons. "You can always take [it] with you. When I feel I'm a bit too tired, I have come to depend on my physical training. I learned to be alive and present on the stage. Through training I can always rely on being there." The movement classes taught in the BFA program "with the dance and physical warm-ups, keep me physically fit ...yes, training and technique carry you through," especially on multiple show days. With the large number of characters in Dickens' tale, the play's production requires many actors to perform multiple roles making lightning-quick costumes changes and instant character transformations.

Another connection to the Guthrie is the costume design by award-winning U of M faculty member Mathew J. LeFebvre, creator of both the evocative Victorian costumes for A Christmas Carol and the elegant 40's look (described as "amazing" by the StarTrib) for Born Yesterday. Reflecting on that experience and the theatre program's Guthrie association, LeFebvre, said, "It's so gratifying to see all that work on stage--amazing to me because all those artists--the tailors, drapers, the dyers, technicians make me look better than I deserve. They invest so much of themselves into making them, so the result is always richer...I grew up in the profession working in this theatre, I learned so much in my sixteen years at the Guthrie. In a way, it's been my alma mater."

Behind the scenes, alums Jason Clusman (Assistant Stage Manager) and Joseph Stodola (Assistant Director) keep the large cast of 20 professional players, 11 non-speaking performers-- Party Guests, Pallbearers and Carolers, plus 14 children right on cue for every entrance. A Christmas Carol continues on the Wurtele Thrust Stage through December 29, 2013.

Asked about the most valued lessons learned, theatre arts alum Stuart Gates was quick to answer, "Interaction with local artists. Artists who had lectured, or taught as us as professionals, or people I had workshopped with, who I had seen on stage that was powerful...As someone starting out, you can say 'I speak the same language' because you were there (at the U)... A few years ago I had a class on the nuts and bolts of auditioning taught by director John Miller- Stephany, working with someone in the profession makes you rise to the challenge." Little did Gates know five years ago that he would be in the Born Yesterday company at the Guthrie directed by John Miller-Stephany.

The Born Yesterday company boasts five U of M theatre grads including Jennifer Blagen as Mrs. Hedges (BA), Stuart Gates as Hotel Manager (BFA), Miriam Schwartz as Manicurist (BFA), Michael Hanna as Bellhop (BFA) and Warren C. Bowels (MA and Ph.D). Calling the cues in the control booth, you'll find BA alum, Karen K. Wegner (Stage Manager) from the Duluth campus and Noah Bremer (Assistant Director ) trained at the U of M-Twin Cities helped with rehearsals notes and staging.
Two current seniors, Ryan Colbert as Waiter and Michael Fell as Bellhop, just 5 months shy of completing their Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training requirements, take stage complementing the Gopher contingent. Born Yesterday continues through January 5, 2014 on the McGuire Proscenium Stage.

In addition, Theatre Arts faculty/ associate faculty members made artistic contributions to the productions. Marcus Dilliard (Lighting Designer), Lucinda Holshue (Voice & Dialect), and Marcela Lorca (Movement) helped to bring Born Yesterday to life on stage, while Ryan Connealy (Recreated Lighting Design) and D'Arcy Smith (Voice & Dialect) added to the the success of this season's A Christmas Carol.
To paraphrase Tiny Tim, "God bless 'em everyone!"

Theatre Faculty Member Marcus Dilliard's work broadcast on PBS World Premiere of "Silent Night" by Minnesota Opera

On Friday, December 13, 8pm CST, as spotlights bring the stage to life for the national PBS broadcast of Minnesota Opera's Silent Night, the production's lighting designer Marcus Dilliard, who also heads U of M's Theatre Arts graduate program in Theatre Design and Technology, can smile with a sense of accomplishment.

"Silent Night has been quite the journey--starting in St. Paul, then on to Philadelphia, and now sharing it nationwide," said Dilliard, who has designed for opera, theatre and dance across North America and in Europe. His numerous Minnesota productions include work for the Guthrie Theater, Theatre Latte Da, Children's Theater Company, Minnesota Dance Theater and Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Recent designs include Born Yesterday for The Guthrie Theater, The Tempest and Metamorphoses for PlayMakers Repertory Company, Steerage Song for Theatre Latte Da, The Mikado for Lyric Opera Kansas City and Cosi fan Tutte for Boston Lyric Opera.

In the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winning opera Silent Night, composer Kevin Puts recalls an incident during World War I in which Scottish, French and German soldiers negotiate a Christmas truce and share their provisions and personal stories. The opera's libretto, by Mark Campbell, is in English, German, French, Italian and Latin. It was commissioned, and then developed through the Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative with the Philadelphia Opera Company.

While press notices were very enthusiastic for Silent Night as a whole, one reporter commented that Dillard created "a vibrant lighting display... capable of shifting from the chaos of battle to the tranquility of evening" (examiner.com). Another remarked the production was "evocatively lit by Dilliard" (Lorenzo Bassi, GB Opera).

"Theatre -- but especially opera -- is always a rich collaboration of artists," noted Mr. Dilliard. "Every production is a unique experience, but giving life to a new work like Silent Night is particularly challenging and rewarding. Each production element needs to be in harmony, working together, always telling the story."

In a related item, Mr. Dillard's lighting design supports Theatre Latte Da's production All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, in another portrayal of the ceasefire, at Minneapolis' PantagesTheater this holiday season.

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Sage Cowles, pivotal supporter of University's Theatre Arts & Dance Department, Dies at 88

Artist, thoughtful advisor, understanding friend and visionary philanthropist, Sage Cowles passed away peacefully November 21, 2013. "Sage along with her husband John Cowles, who died last year, were pivotal supporters of dance and theatre in this community, across Minnesota, and the United States," stated Carl Flink, U of M's Theatre Arts & Dance Department chair. "Together they have left an enduring legacy within our department that will likely touch it as long as it exists through the Sage Cowles Land Grant Guest Artist Chair program, their support of the Barker Center for Dance, the new Guthrie Theater building, the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA Actor Training Program, and so much more."

Sage Cowles' passionate support of the U of M's Dance Program literally rescued it from being eliminated in the mid-1980s and transformed it into the nationally regarded program it is today. When a conventional block-style building on the University campus was being proposed to house the dance program, benefactors Sage and John Cowles stepped forward and suggested that new building should "leap skyward," and donated the necessary funds to create today's soaring Barker Center for Dance. Opened in 1999, the Center located at 500 21st Ave on the West Bank of the Twin Cities campus, provides much-needed classroom and studio space.

In 1987, she established the Sage Cowles Land Grant Chair connecting nationally and internationally recognized artists and scholars with dance students, exposing them to contemporary artistry, masterwork and new thinking in dance studies. University of Minnesota Dance is unique for its extensive use of renowned professional artists in the education and training of students. There have been many notable artists and scholars on campus over the years, as well as licensing of masterworks including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Jose Limon, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Bill T. Jones, Lar Lubovitch, Trisha Brown, Lin Hwai-min, Donald Byrd, and others.

The program has also commissioned of new work through the Cowles Land Grant Chair including artists such as David Dorfman, Zvi Gotheiner, Bebe Miller, Tere O'Connor, Doug Varone, Sardono Kusumo, Nora Chipaumire, and many more. Notable dance scholars have also been invited to speak on campus and interact with performances and symposia, including Thomas DeFrantz, Susan Foster, and Brenda Dixon Gottschild to name a few.

"Her gift has helped to make us one of the most cherished and respectable dance programs in the country," commented Ananya Chatterjea, Director of Dance. "Our students have benefited from the exposure and opportunities to train with wide ranging artists, explore historical to contemporary works, techniques and approaches."

UMTAD Chair Carl Flink recalled "Sage and John Cowles enthusiastically attended student performances of Dance Revolutions by University Dance Theatre each year to nurture and support the next generation of performing artists. They will be greatly missed."

Kristin Linklater,Theatre Artist & Creator of JOAN:Voices in the Fire joins Talk-Back November 15, Rarig Center

Author, vocal coach, gifted teacher and theatre artist Kristin Linklater, one of the original creators of Joan: Voices in the Fire, joins the cast for a post-show discussion at the Rarig Center Friday, November 15th as part of her University of Minnesota residency. The public is invited to this free post -performance event in the Stoll Thrust Theatre. Linklater's visit to the University of Minnesota and this post-performance dialogue is made possible by a generous gift from Professor Andreas and Elisabeth Rosenberg.

Joan: Voices in the Fire reinvigorates the Joan of Arc story, seamlessly weaving together movement, rap, and hip-hop with excerpts from works by Shakespeare, Shaw, Anouilh, Voltaire, Twain, plus contemporary material. Exploring the narrative from a 21st century point of view, Joan: Voices in the Fire was originally devised by MFA students at Columbia University, together with renowned theatre artist Kristin Linklater, Rebecca Wright, and Stacy Davidowitz. This unique tale with music is directed and choreographed by Austene Van will be performed November 14-24, 2013 by the BFA/Guthrie Theater Actor Training program senior class on the Stoll Thrust Stage in the Rarig Center. For Joan: Voices in the Fire tickets and information visit: theatre.umn.edu or call 612 624-2345.

Trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Kristin Linklater developed her own innovative vocal methods to become major influence within the theatre over the past five decades. She has coached voice at the Stratford Festival, the Guthrie Theater, the first Lincoln Center Repertory Company, the Open Theater, the Negro Ensemble Company , the Manhattan Project, and NYU's Graduate Theatre Program (now Tisch School of the Arts). Kristin Linklater currently teaches in the graduate program at Columbia University. (see http://www.kristinlinklater.com/linklater.htm)

She has authored two ground-breaking books Freeing the Natural Voice ( published 1976 Drama Publishers) now revised and expanded in a new format, and Freeing Shakespeare's Voice (published 1992 Theatre Communications Group). She has written articles and presented workshops in the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Russia. Moreover, she has trained teachers in her methods who now teach in the majority of actor-training programs in the US, and in Australia, England, Germany, Italy, Belgium , Finland, Spain and Russia.

In 1978 Linklater co-founded, with Tina Packer, Shakespeare & Company, in Lennox, Massachusetts, and later in the 1990s she created and co-directed with Carol Gillgan the Company of Women, an all-female Shakespeare company.

Dance Faculty Women Recognized For Leadership in Diversity

Minneapolis/St. Paul -- University of Minnesota Dance Theatre (UDT) faculty member Rachmi Diyah Larasati teams up with Dag Yngvesson of the Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature Department to present "Poetics of Labor: Citizenship and Invisibility," this Thursday, October 31st at 4:00pm for a film screening and discussion. Lasarati who authored, The Dance That Makes You Vanish, published by the University of Minnesota Press published earlier this year, has just been nominated for the Erving Goffman Award for Outstanding Scholarship in the Ecology of Social Interaction, presented by the Media Ecology Association. Her book describes the intricate irony between the tranquil style of dance and the violent government of mid-1960s Indonesia. Her background as an Indonesian national troupe dancer informs her work as both an author and UDT instructor.

On October 12, another UDT faculty member, Toni Pierce-Sands, was recognized for
her "lifetime of service to the community" through the arts at the Emerald Service
Awards, Inc., founded by The Links, a group of African American female leaders supporting culture in communities around the country. Pierce-Sands is a fitting recipient of such an award, as co-founder of TU Dance Company and School and as a UDT instructor. TU Dance performs a fusion of dance styles to celebrate and promote diversity, and teaches classes for all ages to encourage public involvement in the arts. She is an involved UDT faculty member, contributing most recently as the director of "Dance Revolutions."

A TU Dance colleague, UDT instructor Kenna Cottman was also recently awarded for her contribution to the local arts scene. She won Outstanding Performer at the SAGE Awards on October 15th for Pramila Vasudevan's "F6" and Angharad Davies' "Pretend." Cottman, like Pierce -Sands, explores and communicates her identity as an African American woman through dance. In addition to her work at TU Dance, she studies traditional and contemporary drumming, and the oral tradition of storytelling. Her company, Voice of Culture Drum and Dance, strives towards social change by performing and hosting workshops in schools.

The SAGE awards, first presented in 2005 to provide recognition amongst the Minnesota dance community, are named for Sage Cowles, who performed on Broadway and TV and founded the Minnesota Independent Choreographers' Alliance. Amirah Sackett (U of M '98) was also honored at the SAGE Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in "We're Muslim Don't Panic."

Warm congratulations to these dedicated UDT instructors whose passion influences the community every day!