This event will take place in person in CTAC-Petoskey's Theatre but will also be available to watch online.
Participate via Zoom Webinar.
Watch via Facebook.
The dancing body has been a prime catalyst for cooperative creations between artists and art forms since well before the beginning of recorded history. Colorfully costumed tribal dancers moved in intricate patterns to drummers, court dancers performed the first ballets to composers' orchestral scores or a court gamelan amidst elaborate sets, and in the past century, choreographers Vaslav Njinsky, Martha Graham and George Balanchine collaborated with composers such as Stravinsky and Aaron Copland, or artists like Picasso and Isamu Noguchi to lay the foundations for contemporary dance/theater as we know it today.
A dancer on stage or screen embodies the intersection of figure and its landscape, and becomes a living metaphor for humans in relation to their world. Dancers move freely between the narrative and the abstract, capable of telling their stories in expressive motion and gesture while also drawing dynamic moving pictures in space. In a world emerging from the pandemic and more dependent upon digital screens than ever, bodies on screens of all shapes and sizes stand in for the "real" or "live". Dance has emerged as a vital global presence on these screens, proof to the world that life goes on and we all strive to be seen in full force.
Renowned dancer/choreographer, video artist and U-M professor emeritus Peter Sparling has moved seamlessly from music to dance, to writing to video and, most recently, to painting. This fall, he has been sharing via video and a weeklong visit his love of dance and the music of baroque composer J. S. Bach with 14 dancers of the CTAC School of Ballet. For today's presentation, he guides us through his interdisciplinary explorations and the making of "The Goldberg Suite", to be performed by the dancers at Harbor Springs High School on Sunday, Nov. 14.
About the Artist:
Peter Sparling is Rudolf Arnheim Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Dance at University of Michigan. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and The Julliard School, Sparling danced with the companies of José Limón and Martha Graham and directed Peter Sparling Dance Company. His videos have been screened globally, including festivals in New York City, Lisbon, and Paris. He is a published poet/essayist and has shown his paintings in three solo exhibits.
