Saturday, March 25 & Sunday, March 26, 12:00-3:00pm
Auditioning for two project ensembles, ARENA DANCES seeks experienced dancers with strong technical, artistic, and creative abilities for Erased Steps, and choreographers Taja Will and Mathew Janczewski seek artists for a new Merge collaboration. These works focus on a blend of modern, contemporary, and improvisational skills:
ERASED STEPS
ARENA DANCES seeks experienced dancers with strong technical, artistic, and creative abilities for new work Erased Steps.
ARENA DANCES’ artistic director, Mathew Janczewski, and fellow collaborators Dustin Haug, Leslie O’Neill, and Laura Selle Virtucio seek dancers for a new ensemble work of 12-15 dancers that will premiere August 24 + 25 at Union Depot in St. Paul and tour to Rochester, MN to perform August 26 at the Rochester Civic Center. Professional dancers of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences are encouraged to apply. Applicants will be asked to improvise, as well as learn phrase work. We are looking for diverse performers who are creative, collaborative, and expressive.
**Erased Steps Call Back: Tuesday, March 28, 6:00-8:00pm**
Erased Steps rehearsal times to be determined amongst the ensemble. Must be available May-August, 2023.
MERGE
Choreographer’s Mathew Janczewski and Taja Will seek dancers for a new ensemble work that will premiere in March 2024 on the Goodale Stage, at the Cowles Center. Taja (they/them), is a QTBIPOC, disabled artist who’s process is rooted in a restorative justice pedagogy, healing and disability justice foundations and proposes structured improvisation as performance modality in a collaboratively authored process. Their studio ethos is one of emergence and carework, focus and rigor, ritual and magic. Will and Janczewski meet at their shared passion for witnessing one’s self expression through movement and their longtime friendship for the creation of this new work.
Participants will be asked to engage with rigorous attention to improvisation as a technique and performance modality as well as to work collaboratively on spontaneous choreographic choice making.
**No call back required – choreographers will follow up with conversations via email**
Merge rehearsal times to be determined amongst the ensemble. Must be available for an intensive 3 week rehearsal process September-November, 2023 and again February-March, 2024.
You may audition for one or both projects. We encourage attending both the Saturday & Sunday auditions, but it is not required.
Auditions will be held at The Arena School in South Minneapolis:
The Arena
711 W. Lake Street, Studio 308
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408
RSVP is appreciated – please do so by 5:00pm, Thursday, March 23
In-person auditions are given priority. If you are unable to audition in person, you may submit a short video (under 5 minutes) in your registration form. Please include improvisation as well as performance footage.
Dancers are paid $20/hour for rehearsals and a flat performance run of $500.
Questions about Erased Steps? Please contact Mathew at arenadances@gmail.com
Questions about Merge? Please contact Mathew at arenadances@gmail.com and/or Taja at tajawill@gmail.com