Dance in the Mitten classes, concerts coming to Ypsilanti
Kyra Hauck and Amy Hutchison, who are featured in a new duet, "Tarnish," in Dance in the Mitten.
courtesy of People Dancing
That’s mitten as in Dance in the Mitten, the new dance festival, May 9-11, spearheaded by Ann Arbor’s People Dancing, the dance cooperative Sears-Etter leads as artistic director.
The festival comprises three days of master classes, Thursday through Saturday, at Eastern Michigan University (hosting the festival in its inaugural year) and two concerts of dance and music, Friday and Saturday evening, at Ypsilanti’s Riverside Arts Center.
The concerts bring together 16 choreographers, selected through a juried process; dancer/choreographers from a wide swath of the tri-state area - the festival targets Michigan, Ohio and Indiana; and musicians from Ann Arbor (Ken Kozora and Robert Spalding Newcomb) and Lansing (the band Wisaal). In addition to People Dancing and several individual choreographers, companies presenting work include: DancingStrong; ArtLabJ Dance Company; More Dances Contemporary Dance Company; Equilibrium Dance Company; Lisa LaMarre and Dancers; Kristi Faulker Dance; Pure Existence Dance Company; Action Dance Company; and Western Michigan Dance Collaborative. Other companies, like Factory Dance Company (Ann Arbor) and Michigan Dance Project (Brighton), have made in-kind or other contributions to the festival, such as assisting with classes.
The master classes cover a wide variety of styles, from modern and ballet to jazz, hip hop, tribal fusion, improvisation, physical theater and musical theater. The concert repertoire is similarly diverse.
“We are a multi-genre festival,” said festival co-ordinator Sears-Etter in a recent phone call. “This new festival comes out of our desire (at People Dancing) to realize our mission further, to make community programming broad for both artist and audiences.”
The idea for the festival was born with a visit Sears-Etter made to Miami early last year, when she talked with Delma Iles, a key player in Momentum Dance Company and the Miami Dance Festival.
“The spark went off,” Sears-Etter said. “She pointed out the benefits of having a regional dance festival—including better audience development for artists working in the region, a shared opportunity to get more media attention, and regular performing opportunities.”
Sears-Etter took off running with the idea, and Dance in the Mitten is the result; this year’s festival is the first iteration of what she hopes will be an annual event.
Tickets for the concerts ($17 general admission, $12 youth, with discounts for any combo of two tickets) and masterclasses (from individual classes, $18, to a package that includes all classes for $155) are available through the festival website, mittendanceworks.com. Concert tickets are also available at the door. For more information, contact mittendancefest@gmail.com or call (734) 368-7573 for questions. The Riverside Arts Center is located at 76 N. Huron St., Ypsilanti. The EMU dance studios are located in 106 and 110 Warner on the EMU campus.