It will take some time for me to absorb all that has transpired in our five day Dancing at 100 events. Right now, however I want to express my particular thanks to the many generous souls at the center of all the planning and productions.
BEHIND THE SCENES HEROES, A Special Thanks:
To Mary Cole:
Mary Cole, as our Lighting and Staging Supervisor, was central to the planning, orchestration and production aspects of all the performances, lectures, screenings, scheduling, and general logistics. She was responsible for the exquisite lighting for all the concerts, except for one, and for the stage-managing and organization of crew members. She was also responsible for supervising Nadia Tykulsker, who did a wonderful job lighting and stage-managing the Alumni 1 Concert on Friday afternoon. In truth we could not have embarked upon or realized a multi-stranded project of this ambitious scale without Mary’s enormous expertise, superb organizational abilities, humor and good will. For me personally, she is a significant sounding board in my creative process; I have come to count on and thoroughly trust her eye, her sense of theatrical pacing, her ingenuity, her ability to problem solve, and more. She is an extraordinary colleague, a wonderful collaborator, an endlessly inventive lighting designer and a very generous soul. My deepest appreciation and thanks go to Mary, and I hope that all involved will join me in thanking her heartily.
To Kasia Mrowzewska:
As set designer for the site-specific performances, Kasia was a key member of the creative team. I was very excited about her ideas for bringing forward the features of each setting in the site-specific works. Her sense of theater is always rich and insightful and her solutions for sets and props are brilliant and beautifully realized. She truly elevated the level of the production. Tracking down and finessing each prop and set piece, not to mention seating for the audience, required some amount of ingenuity, bartering, and no small amount of lifting. That Kasia did this in such short order, with such grace, while weathering a fierce case of Asian/Swine flu, is very much appreciated.
To Suzanne Young:
Suzanne Young, with whom I have worked on several occasions, was another key member of the collaborative team as costume designer for the site-specific work. Her ability to think through the costume changes for the principal cast members as they progressed from one decade to the next in abrupt stylistic changes, was brilliantly conceived and realized. She and her construction assistant Laurie Kantner did a beautiful job of realizing the designs, not only for the central cast of eight, but for the expanded cast members. Many thanks to Suzanne for her wonderful work.
To Brett Finley:
As stage manager of the site-specific performances, Brett was indispensable, always on top of the myriad details, always posing the right questions and finding ingenious solutions. It has been a real pleasure to reconnect with her and to have had her expert help in the performances, which posed logistical problems I had never before experienced. I am very appreciative too of the lovely crew she rounded up, including her husband Henry Reynolds, her daughter Alexandra, as well as Betsy and Craig.
To Joe Yunkman, Lyndsey, Kaely, and Austin Selden:
As videographer for our many Dancing at 100 projects, Joseph Yunkman has been another key member of the behind the scenes creative team. Tireless and generous in capturing the process all along the way, Joe is a superb video artist with a wonderful ear and eye. His editing skills are topnotch, and his vision for preserving these artistic productions in a truly dimensional and comprehensive way is a gift. Joe’s assistants Lyndsey and Kealy, and more recently Austin Selden, are to be heartily thanked as well for their long hours traipsing after our traveling site-specific crew of performers, interviewing alumni, faculty and students, and literally doing a lot of legwork to figure out how best to capture this process and performance. I especially appreciate Joe’s willingness to carry through with these projects without dropping a beat despite the profound personal loss he experienced this month in the unexpected death of his step-father.
To Jacques Mersereau, Ryan Wilcox, Jeff, Glenda Radine, Kathi Reister, Dave Greenspan, and the Digital Media Commons Team:
Many thanks for all the terrific support in the Duderstadt Video and Performance Studio for our Ann Arbor Dance Works Concerts and the Alumni Concert. We are very appreciative of the Digital Media Commons team and all that they do to make the Video and Performance Studio such a treasured venue for us. Many thanks to Jacques for coordinating the video shoot and for doing once again such a sensational job of on the fly editing with a ”hot switch." Many thanks too for the loan of the screen for the Chemistry Building performances—it really enhanced the quality of the projections.
To House Manager Amanda Rutishauser, and production assistants Andrea Mathias, GingerAnn Neslund, and Sophie Torok for their excellent crew work on the productions.
COMMEMORATIVE BOOKLET AND MORE:
To Kerianne M. Tupac: I am particularly indebted to Kerianne for her generous and tireless work on the design and layout of the commemorative booklet and of the substantial program book. She took on these tasks with grace and impressive expertise. She was very generous in all her work on these aspects, working under a tight deadline, and I truly appreciated her great skills and her ability to get the jobs done so beautifully, burning the candle at both ends to get it done on time.
To Betsy Goolian: For her enthusiastic support of the booklet project, for graciously agreeing to take it on as editor, and for her expert and generous work in that task. With great appreciation too for her lovely essay included in the booklet, and for her wonderful preview article in the Spring 2009 Michigan Muse.
To Dean Paul Boylan: For his lively, articulate and ever supportive essay about the formation of the Department of Dance, for his continuous support for our department over the years, and for his enthusiastic presence at our Dancing at 100 events. We were very honored by his presence.
To Elizabeth Bergmann: For her wonderful essay on her years at UM for the booklet, for her touching choreography and remarkable performance in the alumni concert, for her photos and information all along the way, and for her warm presence and support, for creating and leading our wonderful department back in the day, and for her continuous support of our endeavors.
To Cecile Keith Brown: For her generous contribution of a loving and articulate tribute to Vera Embree, included in the booklet.
To Peter Sparling: For his lively and informative essay on his years as chair. For his kind and generous support throughout the planning, his oversight and hosting of the alumni concerts, his organization and hosting of the video screenings, and for his assistance with the Walgreen exhibit. His gracious gift of time and work on these events was most appreciated, and an enormous help.
To Chair Angela Kane: For her beautifully written essay on her arrival at UM and the most recent department history, and for her generous departmental support of the booklet and program production. For her enthusiastic support of all the projects and all her behind the scenes work on it; for her insightful ideas about the site-specific structure and choice of locations; for her in-progress showing of the exciting video project she is creating with Joe Yunkmany; for her strong leadership of our department.
To Charlotte Fogel, Beth Genne and Jeffrey Kuras for their insightful and helpful editorial comments on the booklet.
To Alumni who submitted lovely statements and beautiful pictures--many thanks for your unique perspectives.
To Jeannine Galetti, Susan Harrigan, and Sally Lanius, for their generous time and information as alumni interviewees.
ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT AND LEADERSHIP:
To Samantha Strayer: For her tireless work as a superb administrative assistant, for the daunting task of updating a contact list of alumni; for her numerous communications with alumni; for organizing the alumni luncheon; for her planning and oversight of the beautiful Afterglow Reception; for her expert job of mounting the Walgreen exhibit; for her creation of a wonderful bulletin board of alumni photos and biographies; for her creation of the save the date card; and for overseeing other administrative and creative tasks too numerous to name. We could not have done these events without her.
To Dean Christopher Kendall for his enthusiasm for the projects and for his warm support and presence at our events; for his wonderful leadership as dean.
To Aidan Feldman, Betsy Busald, Tara Sheena, Kathleen Wright, Gretchen Platt-Koch: For their expert help with web design, publicity, guest artist support, scanning, research, erranding, and many administrative tasks too numerous to list.
To Carla Mickler-Konz: For her expert and prompt oversight of budget and finances for these projects.
To Karen Zobel, Jenny Graf, and the MI League Box Office: For providing box office oversight at a greatly reduced rate and for their responsiveness to our myriad requests.
To Jeffrey Kuras: For allowing us to use the UProd apartment for guest artist Carol Teitelbaum and especially for freeing up Kerianne Tupac to work on the commemorative booklet and program; special thanks for his editorial comments on the booklet. His constant and sumptuous support over the long years has been truly invaluable to our department.
To Amanda Mengden: For her generous help with the UProd apartment logistics and her longtime support of the department.
To Mary Simoni, Ron Torella: For all their generous help with funding applications for the site-specific work.
To Bernadette Foerster and University Catering: For catering the beautiful and delicious reception.
To Scott Currington: For his help with preparing the Walgreen spaces.
To Bonnie Kerschbaum and Shannon Rice: For their help with securing the Walgreen spaces.
To Brent Wagner: For his offer of the Towsley Auditorium in case of rain.
To Melissa Smith: For her help securing the Chemistry Building for rehearsals and performances.
To Max Bajcz: For his thoughtful oversight of the bus chartering details.
FACULTY COLLEAGUES:
To Robin Wilson: For her beautiful restaging of Gay Delanghe’s work; for her assistance with AADW tasks and logistics; for providing guest artist housing; for her hours of scanning and identifying dozens of photos; for her help as an editor of the commemorative booklet; for her help with the Walgreen exhibit; for her organization and oversight of the Saturday lecture presentations.
To Christian Matjias: For his evocative music in the AADW concerts; for his beautiful performance as pianist for the Alumni concert; for his generous assistance with numerous music resources for the site-specific work and for the concerts at large.
ANN ARBOR DANCE WORKS CONTRIBUTORS:
To UM faculty Melissa Beck-Matjias, Amy Chavasse, Bill DeYoung, Peter Sparling, Sandra Torijano: For the beautiful dance works they contributed to the AADW concerts, and for making those concerts such a strong and rich representation of the faculty’s creative work. And an added thanks to Amy for her two weeks of teaching in the AADW technique course.
To Dana Reitz: For gracing us with her exquisite and inspiring solo performances and her resonant masterclass as a part of the AADW offerings.
To Leyya Tawil: For setting yet another sleek and lovely work on our UM dance majors for the AADW concerts, and for her two-week teaching residency as a part of AADW coursework.
To Carol Teitelbaum: For her rigorous and challenging teaching as a guest artist for AADW, offering technique classes and setting a Cunningham mini-event within the AADW repertory class, and for eliciting impressive performances of the mini- event from those involved.
PERFORMERS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS:
To the current dance majors Betsy Busald, Aidan Feldman, Julie Meehan, GingerAnn Neslund, Gretchen Platt-Koch, Tara Sheena, Sophie Torok, Nadia Tykulsker, and Sadie Yarrington: who performed so generously and beautifully in the AADW concerts, the Cunningham mini-event informal showing, and the site-specific performances, liberally contributing not only their fine dancing, but their creativity as choreographers and improvisers, dancing on sprung floors, concrete, amidst mosquitoes, in mud, on buses, troopers all the way…once in one hundred years.
To the beautiful alumni performers and choreographers Jodi Leigh Allen, Noonie Anderson, Alana H. Barter, Patricia Beaman, Elizabeth Weil Bergmann, Emily Berry, Melissa Bloch, Ellen Brown Bogart, Jeanne Parsons Bostian, Lisa Catrett-Belrose, Amy Cova, Christine Dakin, Krislyn Tony Frazier, Angela Gallo, Holly Hobbs, Corinne Imberski, Maureen Janson, Thayer Jonutz, Ayako Kato, Lizzie Leopold, Sarah Martens, Aimee McDonald-Anderson, Anna McGarry, Rachel Mckinstry, Michelle Millman, Gregory Patterson, Linda Perry, Michael Spencer Phillips, Eva Powers, Beverly Robinson, Christina Sears Etter, Marly Spieser-Schneider, Erika Stowall, Susannah Windell, who generously enriched us with their diverse and richly textured works in the alumni concerts, AADW performances, and the site-specific performances—they gave us windows into so much of our history, past and present—a huge thanks for their truly moving artistry, inspiring dances and stunning dancing.
To Barbara Neri for her nuanced and moving Studio B installation inspired by photos of early UM dancers, and to Ralph Neri for his generous assistance with that installation.
To colleague Susan Filipiak, for her wonderful clogging choreography in the site-specific performance.
To Aaron Gold and his band of musicians, Tomek Miernowski, Mark Dover, Dan Winnick: For their excellent musicianship and artistry as travelling musicians in the site-specific work For Aaron’s wonderful and sensitive skills as a band leader.
To Thomas Roltsch and Austin Selden for their cheerful cameo appearances in the site-specific performances.
To Gregory Grube, Lauren Guttormsen, and Jacqueline Boucard who traveled in to perform in alumni works by Maureen Janson and Gregory Patterson.
To alumni Lily Baldwin, Alexandra (Xan) Burley, Heidi Durning, Lynette Kessler, Ricki Mason, Melissa Mallinson, Meg Mertaugh, Deniz Oktay,and Alex Springer for their wonderful videodances and/or appearances as a performer in the videodances.
BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY ARCHIVISTS AND STAFF:
Special Thanks To Bentley archivist Nancy Bartlett for providing generous support for invaluable research assistance from graduate students and staff members Bette Shifman, Cassie Schmidt, Rachel Lwin and Emily Sanford. Bette, Cassie and Rachel did a phenomenal job of gathering a huge amount of information and resources. Rachel was also instrumental in mounting the Bentley exhibit, and Emily Sanford stepped in at the end to help put the final touches on the exhibit. Karen Jania was a very helpful resource throughout the process as well. Finally, it was graduate reference assistant Christie Peterson’s first pithy email about UM’s dance history, sent to me back in 2005, that got the whole ball rolling.
PUBLICITY:
To Frank Provenzola, Emiliana Sandoval and Susan Nisbett: For their wonderful publicity articles and podcasts in the Ann Arbor News, University Record, UM Gateway and websites, and the Detroit Free Press. To Kerianne Tupac and Rachel Francisco for their electronic postings. To Betsy Goolian for her preview article and announcements in the Michigan Muse. To Aidan Feldman and Betsy Busald for their web designs. Many thanks for getting the word out and bringing in our audiences.
To Jane Larson: For her diligent and wonderful work on the beautiful poster and flyer design, and to Goetzcraft Printers for their production of the flyer/poster.
AND MORE THANKS
To Selma Odom: For her fascinating lecture on the web of influences that led her into the field of dance and dance scholarship, eventually to the UM, and thence to her long career at York University.
To alumni attendees: Many of whom travelled from afar, supporting us with their warm presence as audience members.
To alumni who could not attend but who sent us messages of support, blurbs and photos for our commemorative booklet and for our spectacular bulletin board of alumni in our Dance Bldg. hallway—your spirit was and is with us.
To Maureen Schaefer and Anna Sampson: For all their behind the scenes support for our events in the Development Office.
To our Friends of Dance: For their continuous support as generous and engaged audience members, for making so many projects possible for us.
To the Office of the Vice President for Research, to the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, and to the Department of Dance: For their generous funding support, without which none of this would have been possible.
THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!!! Jessica Fogel
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