Mountain Dance Festival July 21-22 in Missoula

Dance company GERALDCASELDANCE will present two performances open to the public during the final nights of this summer’s Mountain Dance Festival July 21-22, at The Open Space in UM’s Performing Arts and Radio/TV Center.

GERALDCASELDANCE, led by acclaimed modern dancer Gerald Casel, creates and presents dances that ask questions about human beings – who they are, what they do and how their actions affect the world in which they live. For Missoula audiences, Casel’s company will share a sneak preview of choreography they are currently generating for the company’s 20th anniversary performance, scheduled to premiere in San Francisco in June 2018.

Tickets, which cost $10 for general admission and $8 for students or professional dancers, will be available for purchase at the door for cash or check only.

GERALDCASELDANCE supports collaboration and music to enhance the transformative experience of live performance art. Missoula audiences will be treated to a sensational concert, heightened through the exquisite composition and performance of the company’s composer and collaborator, Tim Russell.
Through this work-in-progress, Casel features the prominent truths of power and racial ideologies embedded in postmodern dance structures and contends with assumptions about what “postmodern dance” means to our culture. Issues deeply affecting Casel’s creative process for this and other work include assimilation, mimicry, migration, memory and melancholia relative to Asian-American identities. In a time when our culture grapples with realities associated with control, privilege, resistance and identity, this work will likely strike a relevant chord for many viewers.
Known for producing work that leaves audiences knowing and wanting more, Casel will again provide that opportunity in this performance. The company will perform an improvisational score to prelude the feature choreography and provide a glimpse into how the work is being developed. The performance will end with a Q-and-A session inviting the audience to join the conversation about the issues fueling the choreography.
For more information or to request an interview with any of the coordinators or featured artists, email Laurel Sears, UM School of Theatre & Dance, at laurel.sears@umontana.edu or Casel at gerald@geraldcasel.com.