Fifty years ago, a group of performers danced along the banks of the Red Cedar River on the Michigan State University campus. That performance launched what would become Michigan’s longest-running professional contemporary dance company.
At 7 p.m. on July 31 and Aug. 1, several of those dancers will join the artists who have carried the company forward for two free outdoor concerts celebrating Happendance’s golden anniversary. The performances will take place on the MSU floodplain south of the MSU Auditorium, the site of the company’s first performance in 1976.
Rachel Miller now leads the company, but the founding director, Diane Newman, will perform alongside the company in a collection of old and new dances. Miller said they will have six to seven original dancers from that first event performing in their intergenerational concert.
The works will include works revived from the Happendance archives as well as new and commissioned pieces created for the anniversary.
Miller choreographed a new piece specifically for the founders and senior dancers. It was her first time creating a work solely for older bodies, and she said seeing the dancers perform it together was moving.
“The way they interpret the movement is just so embodied, so much more than you would see in a younger dancer,” Miller said. “They may not get their legs up to their ears like the younger ones do, but the way they present movement made me emotional during rehearsals.”
The piece celebrates what Miller considers central to Happendance’s history.
“I went into choreographing this piece thinking about legacy and how legacy isn’t something that’s in the past,” Miller said. “It’s also current. It is a trusting process that the legacy and wisdom are going to continue to evolve.”
In preparation for this event, Happendance issued a national call for choreographers to submit works. After a panel narrowed submissions from the U.S., Canada and Mexico down to three, the public voted online.
The winner was Olivia Schaefer from Oakland, California, who created an intergenerational dance piece featuring 17 dancers ranging in age from 22 to 77.
Some younger dancers were initially skeptical about performing barefoot in the grass at a site known for its flooding and mosquitoes, but Miller said they came to embrace the spot for its legacy and history.
“There’s something about that connection to the earth that makes the movement that much richer,” Miller said.
Miller, who took the helm at Happendance in 2022 after a 22-year professional dance career, said Happendance is unique in her experience because of how close and supportive the founders are.
“That is phenomenal,” Miller said. “The professional company is a very collaborative company. It’s non-competitive, which is rare for a dance company. Everyone’s ideas are welcomed. Everyone gets a chance to choreograph.”
If rain or air quality conditions interfere with the performance, it will move inside to the Fairchild Theatre. After the Saturday evening performance, all are welcome to a reception inside the MSU Auditorium.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Happendance returns to where it began for 50th anniversary concerts
Reporting by Bridgette M. Redman, For the Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Bridgette M. Redman, For the Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
