The Spring Dance ComplexApril 23, 2021 at 7:30–9 p.m.

The Spring Dance Complex 

April 22-25, 2021 | Times TBD
[In case of rain, the performances will move to the following weekend]
Directed by Melissa Rolnick and Michele Rusinko
Live free performances outdoors; due to Covid, tickets are only available to the campus community - registration required (gustavus.edu/theatre-dance)
Video of performance will be available in the future for the public (info at website above)

Throughout this year of enormous loss and adaptation, our sense of normalcy has evolved. What at first seemed bizarre and untenable is now part of daily life. We have reconsidered what is important to sustain ourselves while finding ways to ground ourselves during the upheaval. For dancers and dance makers, movement has been an essential lifeline. Throughout the world dancers have continued to hone their craft using Zoom as a platform for training from their living rooms. We have delved into different ways to present our art form to the world including screen dance and outdoor site work. It has become clear that art and art making is not a luxury, but a necessity for survival. May Sarton wrote, “If you are a writer or an artist, it is work that fulfills and makes you into wholeness, and that goes on through a lifetime. Whatever the wounds that have to heal, the moment of creation assures that all is well, that one is still in tune with the universe, that the inner chaos can be probed and distilled into order and beauty.” During this year of adaptation, we are meeting the challenges of live performance by presenting work (both site specific and filmed) in outdoor spaces south and north of the Schaeffer Fine Arts Theatre building. We invite you to the Spring Dance Complex with works by faculty Jill Patterson, Michele Rusinko, Melissa Rolnick, Sarah Hauss, and selected student work.