Dancer in residence prepares for performance

An artist usually known for deeply personal solo works will depart from her usual mode during a two-week residency in the UW–Madison dance program.

Molissa Fenley began her residency Monday by auditioning students for a new work she will create for them. The chosen dancers will perform the new piece in the dance program’s Faculty Dance Concert Dec. 3-5.

Fenley says she expects the experience to enrich both her own artistic growth as well as the students’.

“Everyone involved suddenly is met with a different way of working,” Fenley says. “The students will be introduced to a new style, a new choreographic vision they will have to respond to quickly — the two-week residency will demand that. And I’ll have to meet the challenge of translating the new work to a group of dancers I have no personal history with, unlike my own troupe. I won’t know how these dancers work, their strengths and weaknesses. We’ll have to develop a work of art that fulfills my needs and the students’ needs.”

The students will be in good company: Fenley also has choreographed pieces for the Deutsche Oper Ballet of Berlin, the Australian Dance Theater, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the National Ballet School of Canada and the Ohio Ballet. The Public Broadcasting Service commissioned a collaborative work from Fenley for the PBS series Alive from Off Center. She also has done a music video for VH-1.

As artist-in-residence for the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, she choreographed “Latitudes,” a work done specifically for the Dia web site (www.diacenter.org/fenley). Immediately before coming to UW–Madison, Fenley was in Oakland, Calif., choreographing new works for their dance program.

In addition to creating the new piece, Fenley will teach several classes. She predicts the development of the new work and the teaching will result in a memorable experience for all concerned.

“When an artist is in residence for two weeks a very special occurrence can take place,” she says. “At the end of the period, both the artist and the students can be changed by the meeting. In some cases, the meeting changes the student’s direction and in other cases, the meeting can solidify the student’s chosen direction.”

A highlight of Fenley’s residence will be a performance Oct. 30 at the Wisconsin Union Theater. Tickets, at $22 for the general public and $12 for UW- Madison students, are available through the Union Theater Box Office, 262-2201.