Choreographer, performer Sally Gross presents free programs

Legendary choreographer and performer Sally Gross will offer a half-dozen free public events as part of her visit to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as the fall 2012 Artist in Residence.

Gross was an original member of New York’s highly influential Judson Dance Theater, a group of artists in the early 1960s who collectively rejected the confines of modern dance practice and theory in favor of a more democratic and egalitarian process and practice.

Developing out of that experimental spirit, her work is also deeply autobiographical, drawing on her experiences as the daughter of Jewish immigrants on New York’s Lower East Side.

Village Voice dance critic Deborah Jowitt wrote, “Every moment in a work by Sally Gross appears to be immaculate, chosen with care.” New York Times dance critic Jennifer Dunning described Gross as “a choreographer with a sharp sense of visual effect, one who can indicate complex atmospheres and personal histories with the most minimal of brush strokes and the simplest of props.”

Gross appeared in Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie’s Beat Generation masterpiece, “Pull My Daisy” (1959). She was also featured in the work of Meredith Monk and avant-garde director Robert Wilson.

Gross is the subject of the 2007 documentary “Sally Gross: The Pleasure of Stillness,” directed by Albert Maysles and Kristen Nutile. The title echoes Gross’s work of the same name, which emerged from a Buddhist practice and her quiet center.

She has been awarded numerous prestigious fellowships and grants, including six NEA grants and a Guggenheim Foundation Choreography Fellowship.

Her residency is hosted by the Dance Department and the Center for Jewish Studies, and cosponsored by the Art Department and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

For more information and the current schedule of events, see http://go.wisc.edu/gross.

Here is a rundown of the free public events scheduled as part of her residency:

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 7 p.m.
SCREENINGS: “Sally Gross: The Pleasure of Stillness” (2007) and “Circling” (2012)
The Marquee, Union South, 1308 Dayton St.
Co-Presented by the WUD Film Committee
Filmmaker and professor Douglas Rosenberg presents two films about Gross, including his own recently completed work “Circling.”

Friday, Oct. 5, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Sally Gross: Choreographic Inspiration and Process
H’Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Ave.
Co-Presented by the Dance Department and the Center for Jewish Studies
Gross discusses her creative inspiration and processes, illustrated with video excerpts of some of her recent choreographic works.

Saturday, Oct. 6, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
WORKSHOP: Interdisciplinary Improvisation
5973 Purcell Road, Oregon, Wis.
Registration (free, but required): 608-263-9290
Taught by Gross, this workshop combines elements of dance, music, voice, and the literary and visual arts, with an emphasis on experimental composition techniques as a process and method for designing interdisciplinary collaborative structures and performance.

Sunday, Nov. 11, 5:15-6:45 p.m.
“Screendance: Inscribing the Ephemeral Image” and “Circling” (2012)
Presented by the Wisconsin Book Festival
Location information: http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.org/
Focusing on the idea that the ephemera of dance becomes material for a new form of art-the screendance-author Douglas Rosenberg and Gross will discuss the translation of dance to film, present pertinent passages from the book, and screen their recent collaboration, a project that also addresses loss and the cyclical nature of life.

Monday, Nov. 12, 1-2 p.m.
Sally Gross: A Life in Dance (Lechayim Lights series)
Presented by Jewish Social Services of Madison as part of the Lechayim Lights
Beth Israel Center, 1406 Mound St.
Information: 608-278-1808 ext 227
Gross speaks about her early life in New York’s Lower East Side and her subsequent illustrious career as a dancer and choreographer.

Friday, Dec. 7, 6-8 p.m.
PERFORMANCE: Here and Now with Leo Villareal (MMoCA Nights series)
Presented by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Reception to follow.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St.
Information: 608-257-0158
Students from Sally Gross’s Interdisciplinary Improvisation class present a site-specific performance in response to Leo Villareal’s light installations, on show at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Sept. 9-Dec. 30.

– By Kate Hewson