Fort Wayne Dance Collective 2022 Show, Aug. 13 & 14
Organization will kick off the 2022-2023 season with annual contemporary dance performance.
Experience original dance works by compelling choreographic voices of Fort Wayne Dance Collective (FWDC) in Collective Expressions on August 13th at 7:30pm and August 14th at 2:30pm. These two performances will take place at Purdue Fort Wayne’s Williams Theatre. The annual performance showcases the athleticism and artistry of FWDC’s Touring Company and Pineapple Dance Project.
For over 30 years, FWDC artists have inspired and entertained audiences all over Indiana through both expressive movement and storytelling. Originating with just seven members, multiple concerts were performed for the Fort Wayne community each year under the organization’s name. In the late 1980s, a program entitled Plus One More was created and performed by four traveling members of FWDC for elementary schools, both local and throughout Indiana. As this group continued to perform throughout the state, the term “Touring Company” was used to separate the identity from those who only performed at local venues.
Liz Monnier, FWDC Co-Founder, teaching artist, and former Artistic Director, describes the origins of the Touring Company as follows, “In the late 90’s, we created the program Dancing through the Pages, using children’s books for a school touring program. Only four dancers traveled because that is about all you can fit in a van with all the props. We got on the Young Audiences roster and identified ourselves as the “Fort Wayne Dance Collective Touring Company.” We did a lot of touring around Indiana and actually did a residency in Oklahoma! In 2009, we added another program, A Village Beyond, that highlighted Asian culture with taiko drumming, haiku poetry, and T’ai Chi Chuan. This was also on the Young Audiences roster that is presently known as Arts for Learning.”
For two decades, the FWDC Touring Company has continued to travel around the tri-state area for public performances and private bookings. In the summer of 2017, FWDC recognized the community’s need for a space to engage artists. Thus, Collective Expressions was created, giving the current Touring Company members and other local movement artists the opportunity to create riveting works. This year, audiences will be captivated by cutting edge choreography, the incorporation of large props, and the inclusion of a new dance genre to Collective Expressions, jazz funk performed in high heels. FWDC is collaborating with local florist, Aimee McClure of Fleur to Gather, to create striking arrangements to help carry out the theme.
The 2022 performances of Collective Expressions will be live at the Ernest E. Williams Theatre on the Purdue Fort Wayne Campus located at 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd, Fort Wayne, IN 46805. All tickets are $17 and can be purchased at fwdc.org or by calling 260.424.6574. Collective Expressions is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts with additional contributions from Indiana Arts Commission, Foellinger Foundation, and Purdue University Fort Wayne.
Fort Wayne Dance Collective is a non-profit arts organization located in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. FWDC’s mission is to inspire and empower people of all identities, abilities, and stages of life through movement arts. In the 2022 fiscal year, FWDC served 36,727 people throughout Northeast Indiana and has provided scholarships, community programming, classes, and performances for the past 43 years.
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