Spring Dance Concert 2016: Awake

April 29-30, 2016
Main Stage Theater

Brian Evans is a principle dancer and musical director for Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater. He teaches in public and private institutions, works with healthcare providers in the U.S. and abroad, and performs as a singer, actor, and dancer. Having had most of his training out in the ‘arts field’ of the Twin Cities, Evans has worked with over 50 artistic directors on more than 200 projects.  Evans continues to investigate the idea that connections exist between us all, and it’s the responsibility of the arts to rediscover those connections.

Evans has collaborated with Macalester students on his piece, Sorry for Your Loss, a snapshot of when ten artists dive into loss for ten days and grapple with the tensions between what is expected when a loss occurs and what is actually felt.

Student works include Maya Swope’s ’18 (Harrisville, N.H.) Forward, Still. Laura Einerson’s ’16 (Middleton, Wis.) piece explores the toxic relationship dynamics in the interconnected relationships amount a group of people. Kyoko Sakai’s ’16 (Tokyo, Japan) piece sheds light on the emergency and enormousness of environmental issues and explores how the earth might look in a few decades. Holley Carlson-Riddle’s ’18 (Portland, Ore.) work is titled The Background Force. Julia Gay ’16(Cleveland Heights, Ohio) and John Stark’s ’16 (Grinnell, Iowa) work is a duet, is called Brink. Peace Madimutsa ’17 (Harare, Zimbabwe) and Jonathan Van Arneman’s ’16(Sint Maarten, Dutch Caribbean) piece is an exploration of Madimutsa’s and Van Arneman’s experiences in the U.S. as men of color and their version of constructing a narrative of diasporic empowerment. Nora Spellane’s ’16 piece is called  (Washington, D.C.) Lazarus. Rose Allen’s ’16 (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is titled Catch. And Hannah Silverman’s ’18 (Nashville, Tenn.) piece is about art and passion and what happens when we either let it fill us with joy or tear us apart.