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Event
From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
For the first time in twelve years, Wade Madsen presents an evening-length production, which includes the following two works:
From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
Reactions to the universe, our place in it and other quandaries
Mandy and Bebe: This is It
Mandy and Bebe are two characters created in 1983 by Wade Madsen and Nancy Cranbourne.
Nancy Cranbourne is Mandy, a self-absorbed classic Hollywood celebrity who talks about seemingly random, disconnected events while also posing her deep questioning existential thoughts. Assisted by Wade Madsen as her sidekick Bebe, she connects her grand statements and mental escapades into sometimes absurd, sometimes astute points of view.
Bebe speaks directly to Mandy in a made up, French-inflected gibberish that only Mandy can interpret and will perhaps translate. Bebe may also speak directly to the audience on a wide range of topics. Together they inform through highly choreographed monologues, illustrating philosophies of life and death, of multi-dimensions, art and human experience, revealing an insightful allegory and nothing less than the purpose for all existence.
Looking Back at Itself'
Created for the original premiere of the Seattle International Dance Festival in 2016.
A group of performers will explore their way through life, accompanied by a sound score of selected text by Allen Watts. The Big Question is asked: who, what and where are we on a macro scale? Observing the family of humanity in all its fragility, joy, pain, struggle and contentment, this is an examination of ourselves amidst and within the universe as a whole. A sister work to Mandy and Bebe and evolving to a level only hinted at in its original production, the re-set piece has found new life through various workshops, re-staging, and theatrical reimagining. The cast of accomplished dancers includes Jamie Karlovich, Sean Tomerlin, Amy Ross, Chloe Albin, Nahshon Marsden, Nicole Leung, and Calie Swedberg.
WADE MADSEN is from Albuquerque New Mexico where he graduated from the University of New Mexico. Wade has been in Seattle teaching, performing, and choreographing since 1977. He has toured nationally with the Bill Evans Dance Company, with Tandy Beal & Company and with Dayna Hanson and Company. In the fall of 2017, Madsen performed with Peggy Piacenza in her premiere work, The Event. Since 1980 thru the present Wade has been collaborating with Nancy Cranbourne in dance works and the theatrical duo Mandy and Bebe. Wade also continues producing work with his own company, Wade Madsen & Dancers, and is currently a professor of dance at Cornish College of the Arts, where he has been on faculty since 1984, and is a senior faculty member at Velocity Dance Center, in Seattle
Madsen has received grants and fellowships for choreography from King County and Seattle Arts Commissions, Bossak Heilbron Foundation, and Allied Arts. Madsen has three times been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts in Choreography, along with a choreography fellowship from Artist Trust in 1998. Wade has over 190 works of choreography, ranging from shorter dance gems like The Red Shoes", "Dress", "Flame" and "Unlucky to several full evening suites including the acclaimed works "Vampire" "Salon" Dons Party, In Search of Dulcinea", "The Waiting Line", and The Four Elements.
Madsen's choreography has been commissioned by Spectrum Dance, Arc Dance Company, Dance Gallery, Forty Women over Forty, Co-Motion Dance, Rockhopper Dance Company, Third Avenue Dance Company, D-9 Dance Collective, Lehua dance Theatre, Interweave dance company, and Bill Evans Dance Company, His work has been seen at On the Boards, the Seattle Repertory Theater, Act Theater, and Intiman Theater, Seattle Opera along with Cornish College of the Arts, the University of Washington, Riverside Community College, Bellevue Community College, Newcomb College, Cabrillo College, Mt Holyoke College, University of California/Fresno, Cal Poly, and Boulder Colorado
Of The Waiting Line Mary Murfin Bayley in the Seattle Times wrote, (the work) is a beautifully realized vision of what it means to be human and vulnerable...The Waiting Line is the work of a choreographer in complete control of his art.
And Gigi Berardi of Dance Magazine offered: Madsen makes good use of the burgeoning dance talent in Seattle, and showed that his dancers can act ---with tremendous focus...he showed his talent for highlighting the vulnerability of the human character be it embarrassingly inane (Dons Party) or tragically beautiful (Dulcinea)
Madsen was also a contributing cast member of the Hanson film, The Improvement Club, and a cast member of the Event production by Peggy Piacenza. Most recently Wade premiered three works in 2016 and 2017, Garden, Looking Back in Itself and Cannot be Undone based in the story of Macbeth. In the spring of 2017 Madsen premiered two other works, 'Alice (Where is there always?)' and People at On the Boards. In the Fall of 2018, Madsen premiered Being between for OTBs Solo Festival, 'Faeries', and 'The Journey'.
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LocationPONCHO Concert Hall (Kerry Hall, Cornish College of the Arts) (View)
710 E. Roy Street
Seattle, WA 98102
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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