Choreo Kitchen - Session 2

Three choreographers have a single rehearsal to make a new dance in response to a box of mystery prompts. Prompts can range from a piece of writing, an image, an object, or song as limitations and unexpected connections become the springboard for making dance. The evening also includes live music and improvisation.

Choreographers: Cuauhtli Ramirez Castro, Gina Laurenzi , Nicole Spence

Dancers: Katelyn Altmann, Ashley Ray Garcia, Ida Lucchesi, Jessica Lueck, Jasmine Uras

Musician: Tim Russell

Program Order…

Welcome

Improvisation Set 1 - Group

Dance 1 - Treading a Path

Nicole Spence (choreographer), Ida Lucchesi, Jessica Lueck

Music Improvisation

Improvisation Set 2 - Scores

Dance 2 - Untitled

Cuauhtli Ramirez Castro (choreography and performance)

Dance 3 - seven principles

Gina Laurenzi (choreographer), Ashley Ray Garcia, Jasmine Uras

Improvisation Set 3 - Closing

Informal Q & A

Meet the Choreographers & Musician

Cuauhtli Ramirez Castro (he/they) is a Mexican performing artist and dancer. He studied Performing Arts at the University of Guanajuato having a multidisciplinary approach, combining contemporary dance and acting techniques in his training. They have performed at the International Cervantino Festival (2016), as well as the Guanajuato International Film Festival (2015). They graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance and Choreography (2021). During his last year he was part of UWM´s Undergraduate Research Fellowship program as a teaching and research assistant for the project Parts of The Whole: The Body is Home under the mentorship of Maria Gillespie. During their time in Milwaukee, they have performed and collaborated in works by Maria Gillespie, Emma Draves, Bernard Brown, Caitlin Mahon, Joe Goode, Mair Culbreth, Amanda Lee, Cedar Becher, etc. And worked in companies such as Danceworks DPMKE, Wild Space, and Li Chiao-Ping Dance.

Gina Laurenzi graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM) with a BFA in Dance: Choreography & Performance and is currently pursuing her MFA. Before beginning her chapter in Milwaukee, Gina was awarded a full merit scholarship to train at Giordano Dance Chicago and later performed with Giordano II and Inaside Chicago Dance. For seven years, Laurenzi owned and operated Laurenzi Dance, presenting community dance concerts and arts events (Kenosha, WI). Since living in Milwaukee, Laurenzi has been able to perform the works of Daniel Burkholder, Simone Ferro, Marie Gillespie, Dani Kuepper, Deb Loewen, Dawn Springer, Christal Wagner, and Morgan Williams, among many others. Laurenzi continues to set work on the Gina Laurenzi Dance Project and has created works for Danceworks Performance MKE (DPMKE), Danceworks Youth Performance Company, Makaroff Youth Ballet (Appleton, WI), the Milwaukee Ballet’s Pre-Professional Program students,  Milwaukee's High School of the Arts, UWM Dance Dept., and Water Street Dance Milwaukee. Laurenzi has had the opportunity to perform with Wild Space Dance Company since 2022.

Nicole Spence is a movement artist in the Milwaukee community. She studied modern dance at UWM and has collaborated with many dance artists such as Daniel Burkholder, Dani Kuepper, Kym McDaniel, Amanda Lee, Katy Pyle, Ari Christopher and many more wonderful artists. She channels her passion for dance into her career leading music and movement classes for the elderly at the Milwaukee Catholic Home. She has interned and performed with Wild Space periodically since 2016. She is excited to be back dancing with Wildspace continuing her movement exploration.

Tim Russell lives at the confluence of the aural and the visual. He currently serves as Music Director for the University of Wisconsin’s Dance Department. In 2019, Tim was selected as one of the Cowles Visiting Artists at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, a first for a Musician in the field of Dance. He has a vast catalogue of works specifically for choreography, most of which exist live, in collaboration with movement. His 2022 album: “Selected Works For Movement v . 1”, was included in Tone Madison’s top 20 records of 2022. His commitment to the nowness in performance led him to co-create/curate, along with choreographer Maria Gillespie, Hyperlocal MKE, a Music and Dance improvisation series that exists to this day in Milwaukee. His current curatorial project: Common Sage Arts, promotes multidisciplinary artists through carefully curated performances. Along with Tim’s long time collaboration with the Gerald Casel Dance Company, his audio shares the stage with a vast array of choreographic artists bringing Tim and his music across the world from Dock 11 in Berlin to YBCA in San Francisco. He holds an MFA in Music Improvisation from Mills College in Oakland, California, where he studied improvisation, electronic music and composition with the likes of Fred Frith, Roscoe Mitchell and Zeena Parkins. www.avoidancepolicy.com

Thank you to MARN and all their staff for hosting and supporting this event.