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"The
Ugly Duckling and Other Sagas of Growing Up"
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----------------------------------- "Off
The Cuff"
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Expressive Movement by Amie Segal Published July 12, 2007
Page 43 www.shepherd-express.com Carving a unique path in
the dance world, Betty Salamun has been choreographing and presenting
dance-theater in the Milwaukee area for more than 30 years. Salamun started
dancing in high school, where modern dance was part of physical education for
women. As founder and director of the independent performance company
DanceCircus, she has spread her passion for expressive movement and
inner-connectedness thought dancing. While running a company that is an
impressive 80% financially self-sufficient, she has also succeeded in
creatively engaging many youth across the city, leaving them with an
impression of dance as an artistic tool How do your pieces start? My pieces could start with an idea or an image, movement or a poem,
test I’ve written or a dream I had. I find nature and environment very
engaging because [they are] a big part or our psyche. The lake is a constant
source of inspiration because of the different rhythms it produces. Once I
realize I have the beginning of an idea, a loose fragment, I explore it, I
tease it out. I invent movement and then get dancers and see what happens on
their body. I’m constantly trying to keep up with the rhythm of what’s
happening to tap into the rhythm of a piece. What are some things you consider when making a dance? There are two things I work with: creating the environment for
dance—or it creates itself—and figuring out who or what are the actors in the
environment or what are the interactions between the actors and the
environment. I think the environment of a dance is like a fish bowl; it has
its own atmosphere and attitude. And then adding sound; it takes me a
tremendous amount of time to find music. A lot of times, the movement is
dictated by a prop, like in my work about the melting artic and the loss of
polar bears. We had a huge chunk of Styrofoam that the dancers had to
navigate around. I also work with creating shifts in mood using lighting or
costume. What are some of the difficulties of being a dancer or dance company? Dancers are the least-paid artists in a field that doesn’t support
longevity. You have to make a name and a fortune early. Other arts, as you
may gain a body of work it allows to continue. Many dancers don’t make it to
a second phase of their career; it’s the nature of the discipline. How does an audience respond to your work? I love the stories people tell me about my dancers after the show.
They’re all so different. It’s nice when we do our school show about earth,
water, and air when we’re talking with kids about this dance….I make a point
of it, that we were all in the same room, we all saw the same dance, yet
everyone has engaged with it in a different way. That’s what constantly
amazes me about dance: The audience will come up to me after a performance
and describe what the saw, and their nuancing is usually profound. Click here to return to DanceCircus Home Page |
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----------------------------------- "Life’s a Beach"
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-------------------------------------------------------- March 18, 2007 Dear, Betty, After attending the DanceCircus performance of Life’s a Beach today I am writing to commend you for a most professional and well-planned production, which was truly thought provoking and moving. As an educator for many years in the public school system, I recommend this production as a must-see educational experience. If I were still in the classroom, I would encourage my school administrators to promote this program as a very important multi-sensory learning experience. Using this approach to effective learning, students become exposed to one of the most serious problems facing this and future generations, i.e., water and the increasing dangers to our Great lakes. Many areas of learning are introduced here in a visual and auditorily stimulating presentation. From every aspect, including the scientific content, vocabulary, information, casual factors and their consequences, along with lessons in creativity, staging and organization, deep learning ins taking place through music, dance, dialogue, humor and participation. These concepts were woven into a most entertaining presentation, sure to interested and motivate all; an opportunity to make education real and vital. Thank you for making this possible. Your performing artists are superbly talented. Sincerely, JoAnna Graves MPS Teacher (retired) Click here to return to
DanceCircus Home Page |
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--------------------------------- "The Ugly Duckling and Other Sagas of Growing Up"
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Published March 15, 2006 at 5:13 a.m.--OnMilwaukee.com "Ugly Duckling" offers spotty
performance Cool. Groovy even. I've always liked Betty
Salamun's approach to dance. Through her DanceCircus Company, she has a way
of combining theater, dance, music, narrative and multi-media visual effects,
and builds them around intriguing themes great and small, often times to
remarkable effect. Other times, to effect not so remarkable. DanceCircus' latest
offering, "The Ugly Duckling And Other Sagas Of Growing Up," is a
mixed success. It's a straightforward reworking of Hans Christian Andersen
stories in a brisk 40 minutes, with seven stories told, but only four of them
really work. The first story, "This Fable's Intended For You" is a
small tale about a dog going up a hill, which doesn't sound like much, but it
was made interesting by the participation of expert audience members age 4
through 8, which is always a crowd pleaser. Things get dull though,
with "The Swineherd," followed by "The Sweethearts or
"The Top And The Ball." Both pieces are long -- very long on
narrative, and short on dance and action. There are some interesting moments
-- the interaction between live performers and a Monty Python cartoon king on
the screen was well-thought out, but dance done to narrative instead of music
just isn't as emotionally satisfying as dance set to music. In fact, it
doesn't work at all, and even with the neat special effects and costumes, I
had great difficulty keeping my attention on the stage, a matter that wasn't
helped by the lifeless, intoned narration. The same problem pops up
with "The Emperor's New Clothes," but "The Little Match
Girl" saved the show. Cast members Lisa Moberly, Barbi Powers and Kim
Blanchard are excellent dancers, and set to a song by Celia, this piece was
lusciously lyrical. The same dancers, joined by Regi Bron, are just as good
in "The Ugly Duckling," and the finale, "The Princess And The
Pea" featured not only Betty Salamun herself as the Queen Mother, but
also very satisfying teamwork between the music, visual effects, and some
very well executed costuming. Still, the production could
definitely be faster paced. The choreography isn't much of a challenge to the
dancers -- the usual thrill of seeing dynamic athleticism mixed with
exquisite artistry, which you hope to see in a dance show, just wasn't there.
But on the whole, the show is worth your time, and well-suited for children,
though I'd put the age cut-off at six, this will not hold the attention of
kids younger than that. Click here to return to DanceCircus Home Page |
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--------------------------------- "To
Think of Time"
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