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Guest Instructors Help Dance Students Stretch Skills
Choreographers Visiting From Berlin to Conclude Residency With Performance

Coming to UT Dallas for an extensive residency program, Birgitt Bodingbauer and Simone Grindel will work closely with students to share insights on their artistic method.

Birgitt Bodingbauer

Birgitt Bodingbauer

These two award-winning choreographers from Berlin will perform some of their own works as well as choreograph pieces for UT Dallas dance students.

“This is a new experience – working with this number of students in a new language is a challenge, but I’m feeding off the student’s energy – they’re shaping the performance themselves,” said Bodingbauer, who started a dance company in 2007 named Nightmare Before Valentine. The company aims to “push the agenda on dance and how it can communicate in a clear and straight forward fashion.”

The residency will culminate in final performances scheduled for 8 p.m.  Oct. 27-29 in the University Theatre. The visiting artists will perform alongside UT Dallas student dancers in a work titled V.I.P.

“As a dancer it’s great to experience a new vocabulary and language through movement,” said Danielle Georgiou, a PhD student. “It’s special to work with emerging artists like Birgitt and Simone.”

Simone

Simone Grindel

While working on the dance performance, the visiting artists are staying at CentralTrak, UT Dallas’ artist residency and gallery in Deep Ellum.

“CentralTrak is a great place for artists to live and work as the community supports the exploration and practice of different forms of art,” said Grindel.

The dancers were brought to UT Dallas by Arts and Humanities faculty member Michele Hanlon. Hanlon was one of seven finalists featured in the 2009 SideBySide international online dance festival. Bodingbauer won the competition.

Hanlon and the other finalists introduced their work in Dusseldorf, Germany. Each performed a three-minute modern dance piece expressing his or her choreographic style.

“Our students are finding that there is nothing like an intense residency to make them reach beyond their experiences toward self discovery. When you can bring them into something that’s not common to their experiences as a dancer, it creates a great environment to grow,” Hanlon said.

“A Shot in the Dark,” choreographed by Birgitt Bodingbauer, won the 2009 SidebySide international online dance festival.

 

Above and below:  Dance students receive instruction from two award-winning choreographers from Berlin who are visiting and teaching at UT Dallas this semester.

 

Media Contact: The Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, [email protected].

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