Contact: Dana Munson

612.206.3630

dmunson@thecowlescenter.org

Minneapolis, April 26, 2016 – After 15 years with Zenon Dance Company, Stephen Schroeder will perform for the last time as a company member when Zenon presents its 33rd Spring Concert at The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts.

Stephen’s journey with Zenon began after working with choreographer Mark Haim at the American College Dance Festival. Haim urged Stephen to consider dance companies in the northern region of the US after completing his studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Stephen sent in a tape, received a call for an audition, flew to Minneapolis to complete the Zenon audition, and soon began a 15 year journey with the company.

Over the course of his tenure with Zenon, Stephen has worked with many renowned choreographers, including Minnesota favorites Wynn Fricke, Uri Sands, Mariusz Olszewski, and former Zenon Co-Artistic Director, Danny Buraczeski, “Dancing many different choreographers’ works has opened up many facets of my being that may have gone untapped”, says Schroeder, and has “opened many new doors into my life and dance experience.”

This experience is one that has taken him around the world on tours with Zenon, most recently to France and Cuba, and around the state for the company’s many teaching residencies in Minnesota schools. Children, Stephen says, “are often our best and most honest and enthusiastic of audiences” and have provided some of the most memorable highlights of his time with Zenon.

After the curtain closes on his final performance with Zenon, Stephen plans to spend much of his time and energy with his family, including his wife Stephanie, 4-year-old daughter, Paityn, and twins Rylan and Beckett, who make up the newest addition to the Schroeder family. Stephen will continue to dance when time allows, but with 15 years of performance under his belt, he has certainly given us a lot of time already.

“Stephen has been a true pillar of Zenon Dance Company,” says Artistic Director, Linda Z. Andrews, “and [he] is certainly a ‘Renaissance Man’ in his abilities as a wonderful dancer, lighting designer, and solver of all technical and production problems. He is one of those dancers that cannot be replaced. We will all miss him greatly. ”

About Zenon Dance Company

One of the nation’s premier repertory dance companies, Zenon Dance Company captivates audiences with a rare and dynamic blend of modern and jazz. Working with talented emerging choreographers as well as internationally renowned masters, Zenon continually redefines and pushes dance standards in Minnesota. Since its first performance in 1983, Zenon Dance Company has become one of the nation’s premier contemporary dance repertory companies.

Through the years, Zenon has performed a unique function in the region and throughout the United States: Andrews has created an extensive modern, jazz and post-modern dance repertory by commissioning new works from more than 60 of the world’s most intriguing emerging choreographers.

The repertory includes works by such now-iconic choreographers as Bill T. Jones, David Dorfman, Doug Varone, Bebe Miller, Joe Goode, Tere O’Connor, Sean Curran, Wil Swanson, and Bill Young, Andrea Miller and Kyle Abraham. International choreographers who’ve worked with Zenon include Susanna Tambutti, Johannes Wieland, and Osnel Delgado.

From post-modern choreographers, Zenon has repertory works by Tere O’Connor, Morgan Thorson, luciana achugar, Netta Yerushalmy, Jeanine Durning, Faye Driscoll, Vanessa Anspaugh, Chris Schlichting, Joanna Kotze, Colleen Thomas, Daniel Charon and Stefanie Batten Bland. Zenon is also an important repository of jazz choreographer Danny Buraczeski’s 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 throughout three decades, commissioning works from Wynn Fricke, Cathy Young, Robin Stiehm, Linda Shapiro, Uri Sands, Joe Chvala, Myron Johnson, Mariusz Olszewski, Daniel Stark and Chris Schlichting.

About The Cowles Center

The Cowles Center for Dance & The Performing Arts is the Twin Cities’ flagship for dance in Minnesota. Centrally located in downtown Minneapolis, The Cowles Center includes the refurbished 500-seat Goodale Theater; the former Hennepin Center for the Arts, home to 20 leading dance and performing arts organizations; the state-of-the-art Target Education Studio, housing The Cowles Center’s innovative distance learning program; and the U.S. Bank Atrium. The Cowles Center is a catalyst for the creation, presentation, education, enjoyment and celebration of dance and the performing arts in the Twin Cities.

Zenon Dance Company

33rd Spring Season

The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts // Tickets: $34

May 6 @ 8:00pm

May 7 @ 8:00pm

May 13 @ 8:00pm

May 14 @ 8:00pm

May 15 @ 2:00pm

###