An evening of dance on print, film and stage featuring:
Gloria Trevino: Captured
Erica Wilson-Perkins (modacolab member): Portage Lane (choreo-film)

There will also be live dance performances and music by Rene Ford Jazz Ensemble. William B. McClellan, Principle Dancer with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, will also be appearing.

Radius Building
108 Auditorium Circle
San Antonio, TX 78205

For more information, call 210-315-3968.

If you are interested in the following, then join Modacolab Yahoo Group:
* networking with other contemporary dancers
* post info about your contemporary dance performance
* post info about your contemporary dance class
* looking for dancers? post info about modern dance auditions

To join go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/modacolab/
and sign up as a member.

Big Range Austin

Jayne King will be performing at Big Range Austin, in the Composer’s Challenge Program B.

Austin Venture Studio Theater: 501 W. 3rd. Austin, TX 78701
$12 General Admission, $6 child/senior, $10 per 5 or more, $30 Big Range Pass
Cash or check accepted at the door. No reservations.
Buy tickets online through brown paper tickets go to www.brownpaperticket.com/producer/8513

Modacolab was selected to perform at Luminaria, a city-wide celebration of art in San Antonio. The co-labbers choreographed & performed “Clique” with music composed by Barry Brake. Dancers included Jennifer Edmonds-Jones, Jayne King, Kristina Kuest Mistry, Amber Ortega-Perez, and Leslie Siegel.

http://www.luminariasa.org/

Mondays 7:30pm
Ballet Conservatory South Texas
5200 Broadway

For more information, contact the studio at 210.820.3400.

Classes by Amber Ortega-Perez

Modacolab created site specific choreography based on David Ruben’s exhibit “Playing with Time” in the Blue Star Art Gallery for Contemporary Art Month.

“PRINTDANCE” was a collaboration between Stone Metal Press and the Modern Dancers Co-Laboratory (MoDaCoLab) exploring the art of printmaking combined with the art of dance. The guideline of the work was to choreograph a performance where the weight of the dancing bodies acted as the press for making fine art prints. Each show produced two monotone 8’ x 4’ prints on canvas. Every two shows produced the full image (measuring 16′ by 8′) in a different color of ink (turquoise, royal blue, purple, and black). Kristina Mistry, Jayne King, and Leslie Siegel (representing MoDaCoLab) choreographed and performed the 30-minute structured improvisational printmaking dance. It was presented eight times at the Cody Library in San Antonio, Texas. In approximately one month, we learned printmaking techniques and skills, evolved a unified choreographic vision, resolved all technical issues related to the performance, and created and rehearsed the work. As choreographers, we were challenged to integrate both form and function. We explored ways to move that replicated the natural movement of our printmaking materials: rolling like the paint rollers, wafting like the fabric, sliding like ink, lifting each other like rollers lifting ink, and pressing against each other like fabric and ink becoming one. We explored what imagery we could produce to expand the viewer’s perception of the materials beyond the utilitarian. We issued the paint rollers like soldiers being issued weapons and marching off to their jobs. We used the giant sheets of Lexan as windows to frame each other dancing. We carried in a dancer, dressed in white, on our shoulders, the same way we had carried in the long white tubes of fabric. Musically, we chose different pieces of music to reflect the different energy of each stage of the printmaking process: the whimsical anticipation of beginning a new project, the mechanical, percussive “tick tock” of having only ten minutes to ink before the ink dried, and the languid, sensual bluesy feeling of merging ink and fabric into a print. Overall, we attempted to push the boundaries of the choreography while still achieving a solid printmaking result, and many audience members were engaged enough in the dancing to be surprised and reminded that our physical work of art had also produced a tangible visual work of art. The final surprise for the audience came after the prints were revealed: We culminated the piece by using each other as canvases, pressing our inky feet as footprints onto the pristine white of our costumes. Subsequently, we dived onto the plates and rolled the print’s imagery onto our bodies, in essence, becoming the prints inasmuch as the prints had become the dance. Print Design by Regina Saunders. Videography & Editing by James Saunders. Additional dancing by Christy Walsh for two of the eight performances.

Luminaria is San Antonio’s annual day- and evening-long celebration of the city’s artists, musicians, performers and cultural organizations. Initiated by Mayor Phil Hardberger in 2008 and overseen by San Antonio’s creative leaders, the event provides visitors and residents with a unique opportunity to revel in the city’s wealth of traditional and innovative cultural expression presented on stages, in theaters, galleries, and on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

Kristina Kuest Mistry, Luminaria, 2008

SADU was invited to create site specific choreography in the museum’s lobby.  As part of the museum’s Family Day program.

Dora Ruffner’s life overflowed with beauty, not just from dance but from the very kindness that defined her. She moved with grace throughout her all too brief life. As a dancer, choreographer, teacher, yoga instructor, friend, and mother, she was known to many as a truly compassionate person whose consideration touched many people.

Dora’s work is a cornerstone of dance in our city. She was a founding member of San Antonio Dance Umbrella and served on the Board of Directors for two terms. At Dance Umbrella, with Barbara McGee, Dora developed the Dance Partners Program, a curriculum-based dance in schools program. She was instrumental in the WIP (Works In Process / Wednesdays In Performance) series, bringing her students to participate frequently and contributing valuable comments in discussion. In October 2006, she was one of the inaugural recipients of the Center Stage Award for her vast contributions to the organization.

Dora received her undergraduate degree in Studio Art at Douglass College and her M.A. in Dance Education from New York University where she was Co-Director of Kaleidoscope Dancers. She was also an Instructor at the Milton Feher School of Dance and Relaxation. She completed studies and certifications in Craniosacral Therapy, Somato-Emotional Release, Massage Therapy, Yoga, Intergenerational Dance (Turning the Wheel Productions), Conflict Resolution / Mediation, and the Past is Prologue Native American Learning Program. At the end of her life, she was pursuing a Ph.D. in Dance at Texas Women’s University, with her thesis on Aztec Dance. She was Lead Dance Instructor at Palo Alto College and the Regional Director of Turning the Wheel Productions in San Antonio. She worked tirelessly to establish a Dance Minor at Alamo Community Colleges. Prior to her position at Palo Alto College, Dora was the Wellness Coordinator for ten years at the University of the Incarnate Word. She created the Community Wellness Program and also taught dance and yoga at UIW. Dora Ruffner was also a founding member of the Modern Dancers’ Co-Laboratory (MoDaCoLab).

On June 1, 2007, we celebrated Dora’s exceptional life through dance. The evening, coordinated by Kristina Kuest Mistry, included performances from Aztec Dancers, Erica Wilson-Perkins, Alamo Arts Ballet Theatre, Bana Ramanath’s Natyanjali Indian Dance, Karen Barbee Adkisson, MoDaCoLab, The Maymester Project of Palo Alto & Northwest Vista Colleges choreographed by Roseangela Silvestre, Amber Ortega-Perez, Arathi School of Indian Dance, Guadalupe Dance Company, Alejandra Diaz Berrio, and Dora’s students at Palo Alto. There were several restagings of Dora’s original choreography. The evening raised several thousand dollars- part of which went to assist Dora’s daughters and part which went to the funding of the Dora Ruffner Scholarship for Dance at Alamo Community Colleges. If you would like to donate, please send your checks to: Dora Ruffner Dance Scholarship at Alamo Community Colleges, ACCD Foundation, Inc., 201 W. Sheridan, Suite C-3, San Antonio, TX 78204.