This Fall, I have been commissioned to create a new work for the University of Kansas Dance Department‘s University Dance Company. It is a joy to be back in the KU studios, and I can hardly believe that it has been twelve years since I was a student there myself. Here is my beautiful cast preparing to work one of our new phrases:
The piece will premiere at the UDC concert on November 17–18th at the Lied Center.
Here I am rehearsing for a new solo, commissioned by the Lawrence Ballet Theater for their annual Emergence Concert. The concert also features three guest artist works, Tarantella, and the original Firebird Ballet.
Returning is the first contemporary ballet solo that I have made for myself in many years. It is concerned with the cyclical nature of the decisions we make, the ability to adapt, and also to return…
Stone Depot’s Eleanor Goudie-Averill, in her post as artist-in-residence at the Lawrence Arts Center, has choreographed the musical extravaganza Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (and makes a cameo in each performance). Get tickets for the final weekend HERE.
The performance of Chitty follows an extremely successful remount of Peter and the Wolf, seen by every second grade student in Lawrence, KS, at the end of January.
Featuring new choreography by Eleanor Goudie-Averill with Juliet Remmers &
Dance Films by Tori Lawrence + Co.
Cider Gallery, Lawrence, KS + January 16th, 2016
Scenarios is a new duet by Eleanor Goudie-Averill that is comprised of simultaneous solos. The two dancers, Goudie-Averill and Lawrence native Juliet Remmers, move between the Cider’s two gallery spaces and their characters are reminiscent of Harlequin from commedia dell’arte. Music will be played live by Adrian Rees. The audience, free to wander about the space to watch one or both performers, can watch the duet at 7 pm, 8 pm, or twice in one evening.
The evening will also feature four dance films by Tori Lawrence + Co.: Man and Woman with Plants, Toughting, Driving Figure, & Husk. All four works were filmed in the rural landscapes of the Midwest and will be screened throughout the evening. Husk and Driving Figure will be showcased at 6:45 and 7:45 pm.
An Evening of Dance Performance and Film, presented by Stone Depot, will appear at the Cider Gallery (810 Pennsylvania St, 66044) on Saturday, January 16th. Doors and bar open at 6:30 pm and the live performances are at 7 and 8 pm with film screenings throughout the evening. Suggested donation of $5 at the door and drinks for sale at the Cider’s bar.
Stone Depot’s collaboration with filmmaker Tori Lawrence and artist 
Marguerite Perret resulted in two new film projects this summer. One film was shot in urban Vienna near the Danube, during the week that Tori and Ellie were attending ImPulsTanz, and the second (pictured here) was made in further collaboration with dancer Judit Szamosi in rural Hungary.
In other news, Ellie will be an artist-in-residence and Dance Education Specialist at the Lawrence Arts Center for the next nine months. LAC was awarded a grant to conduct dance outreach throughout the year and Peter and the Wolf will be back by popular demand on January 28-31, 2016.
SDDL’s “Ladies of the Lake” collaboration with visual artist Marguerite Perret will continue this summer with a series of vignettes by filmmaker Tori Lawrence. The first film was shot in rural Iowa and, according to Lawrence, “serves as an entrance and foundation to that which is beautiful and sublime …
Seen is a woman in white against the backdrop of her green source. Her cap also white. A landscape of plenty (perhaps a flashback to what was and what is no longer). Solitary, journeying somewhere unknown. She, a pure spirit.”
We will create the next vignettes while traveling across Europe this summer. Our travels also include studying improvisation at Ponderosa in Germany and at Impulstanz in Vienna, Austria.
University of Iowa Students will perform Ellie Goudie-Averill’s new piece “Baroquean Selfie” (finally, a baroque ballet about cell phone documentation and social media) on June 7th as a part of the Summer of the Arts Festival.
The performance is FREE and open to the public, see you there (in front of the Sheraton Hotel downtown)!
