fall 2005 Events:

Wallie Wolfgruber

Dancer/Choreographer

October 28 and 29, 2005

The Program of Movement and Dance at the U of R presents New York dancer/choreographer Wallie Wolfgruber in an evening of unique, exceptional and thought provoking solos and duets. Mesmerizing images, dramatic surprises and exquisite performances promise to make this event an experience that will resonate in your heart, uplift your spirit and fuel your courage.
The program features Ms. Wolfgruber in her signature solo “Hatch” set to Franz Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A Major D 664 in which a bizarrely beautiful birth is occurring. Wrapped in its own mesmerizing stillness, a figure barely human, awkwardly, hauntingly, exhilaratingly, brings itself into being, experimenting and ultimately transforming into something of its own making. The New York Times writer Jack Anderson noted “Hatch” as a “striking” solo, and Phyllis Goldman of Backstage magazine wrote: “Placing herself stage
center and never moving...A difficult task but she accomplished it beautifully...With her shoulders lifted and arms dangling listlessly, her final image remained imprinted long after the lights went out.”
Ms. Wolfgruber will be joined by David Grenke (Artistic Director of Thingsezisee’m Dance Theater, former principal member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company) in “Vespers,” a most challenging duet choreographed by Grenke to Tom Wait’s “Tom Traubert’s Blues.” “Vespers” is an emotionally and physically highly charged piece that requires Wolfgruber to appear “limp” while staying very active and remaining liked to Grenke at all times in this
“tour de force of choreographic ingenuity” (Anna Kisselgoff, New YorkTimes). Deborah Jowitt depicts Ms. Wolfgruber in “Vespers” as a gorgeous ghost” which Grenke slings around “in sensationally desperate maneuvers.”
The evening also includes the screening of the video dance “A Hands-On Affair,” created and performed by Wallie Wolfgruber and British photographer Alvin Booth. “A Hands-On Affair” is centered on the familiar tale of love lost and found and performed by hands. It’s the sexiest two fingers you ever saw and was screened at the 2005 Lincoln Center Dance on Camera Festival as well as at the Dance Camera West International Festival in Los Angeles.
“Cross-Over,” a solo choreographed by Wolfgruber to an original musical score composed and performed by Michael Wall, will be performed by Rochester native and SUNY Brockport graduate Janet Forward. “Allegro,” a duet originally choreographed by Wolfgruber to Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos for a concert with the RPO, is also scheduled to be performed in a revised version.
The concert will be completed by “American Blessings” a duet choreographed by Wolfgruber to a selection of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in Summer 2004 and performed in a revised version by Wallie Wolfgruber and Janet Forward. “American Blessings” is composed as a series of vignettes and emulates elegance and grace in a simple, every day kind of way that celebrates beauty, freedom and interconnectedness of our lives. This elegance and beauty is juxtaposed by harsh images of last year’s Abu Ghraib prison scandal provoking many questions about the beauty as well as the pain of our shared human condition.

past events:

2007-2008 Events

2006-2007 Events

2005-2006 Events

2004-2005 Events

2003-2004 Events