Contact: Camille LeFevre

camillelefevre@comcast.net

O: 651-646-2098

C: 651-285-2287

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 5, 2013

30 Years of Moving Dance

Zenon Dance Companys 30^th Anniversary

Spring Season: May 3-12, 2013

Two Weekends, Two Different Programs of Experimental Work and Signature Repertory

Featuring Vanguard New York Choreographers

luciana achugar, Faye Driscoll, Netta Yerushalmy

Live percussion scores composed/performed by JT Bates and Peter OGorman

Final performances by veteran company member Greg Waletski

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTAZenon Dance Company fulfills its landmark 30^th Anniversary Spring Season May 3-12 at the Cowles Center in Minneapolis with two weekends and two different programs featuring downtown New York choreographers luciana achugar, Faye Driscoll and Netta Yerushalmy. Both programs include original percussion scores performed live by the composers.

The 30^th Spring Season also marks the final performances of Greg Waletski, much-loved Zenon company member, Hipshaker dj and salmon fisherman. Waletski will retire from Zenon after 22 years of outstanding performances.

The Spring Season

Who: Zenon Dance Company, 30^th Anniversary Spring Season

When: 8 p.m. May 3-4, 10-11; 7 p.m. May 5*, 12 *ASL interpreted

Where: The Cowles Center, Minneapolis

Tickets: $34 (includes fees), $54 for both weekends (includes fees) 612.206.3600

Program

Week 1 (May 3-5)

World Premiere: Molten Substance luciana achugar, with live percussion by JT Bates

Hard Bargain Seán Curran [wittily explores aspects of masculinity in a filigree of movement where Baroque arm gestures become slap fests and fluid athleticism unfolds with courtly grace Pioneer Press]

Hotel Tango Mariusz Olszewski [deftly combines three distinct tango styles dance[d] with discipline and desire Star Tribune]

Hello, My Name is Catherine Netta Yerushalmy [like a Jackson Pollock painting sprung to life Pioneer Press]

Week 2 (May 10-12)

World Premiere: Mariana Faye Driscoll

Wine Dark Sea Wynn Fricke, with live percussion by Peter OGorman [movement undulates and flows . dancers are often suspended and upended as if by a storm-tossed current Star Tribune]

Hotel Tango Mariusz Olszewski [deftly combines three distinct tango styles dance[d] with discipline and desire Star Tribune]

Storm Daniel Charon [urgent athleticism grafted onto sweeping modern dance moves Dance Magazine]

The first weekend only, Zenon premieres achugars rich, visceral, theatrical womens quartet, Molten Substance, with a score by Minneapolis drummer JT Bates. The surreal, collage-like workin which the womens faces are largely obscuredis a smart, many-layered investigation of womens bodies, objectification, blue jeans, getting dressed, and the art of crafting movement. Jazz Police has written that Bates at times push[es] a hard swinging grooveat other times polyrhythmic and cerebral.

Also, the first weekend only, Zenon reprises Yerushalmys Hello, My Name is Catherine. The Star Tribune called the work an oddly delightful amalgam of court and folk dancing all wrapped up in a singular postmodern sensibility, with Tristan Koepke kicking things off in the sort of gown any monarch might have coveted, his hand waving regally.

The second weekend only, Zenon premieres Mariana by Bessie-award winning choreographer and director Faye Driscoll. The full-company work, featuring Mary Ann Bradley, explores the depths of memory, as emotions percolate and rise to the fore. Driscoll has been called "a startlingly original talent" by the New York Times and "the most promising performing artist of her generation" by the Weekly Standard.

Zenon History

Linda Z. Andrews, founding artistic director, studied at the Martha Graham School, Alvin Ailey Dance Center, Julliard School, and with Alvin Nikolais, Lynn Simonson and Merce Cunningham before moving to Minneapolis. She formed Ozone Dance School in 1979, which today is the Zenon Dance School, a nationally recognized training center for vocational and professional dancers. In 1983, she formed the professional Zenon Dance Company from her two dance groups: Rezone Dancers (modern) and Just Jazz Dancers (jazz).

Through the years, Zenon has performed a unique function in the region, and throughout the United States: assembling an extensive modern, jazz and post-modern dance repertory by commissioning work from more the 60 of the worlds most intriguing, emerging choreographers. Zenon is also the repository of jazz choreographer Danny Buraczeskis works, which the company performs with regularity. In 1989, Buraczeski moved his New York company JAZZDANCE to Minneapolis to merge with Zenon, a fruitful relationship for many years. Andrews has also supported local choreographers through three decades, commissioning works from Wynn Fricke, Uri Sands, Joe Chvala, Myron Johnson and Mariusz Olszewski.

For immediate assistance with interviews and/or archival information on Zenons 30^th Anniversary Season, contact Camille LeFevre at 651-646-2098; camillelefevre@comcast.net.