CDP Summer Gallery Series Program
INSPIRING INNOVATION THROUGH COLLABORATION.
Committed to accessibility and growth within the dance community.
Thank you for joining us to view dance from a different perspective.
For this performance we’ve partnered with (SCENE) Metrospace to provide this unique experience for choreographers, dancers, and the audience. You are invited to stay after the performance for an informal talkback and share or listen to feedback from the audience and performers.
We are dedicated to making art accessible by offering all performances free of charge.
Clara Martinez
Co-Artistic Director / Summer Coordinator
Matt Bebermeyer
Founder / Artistic Director
Partners & Sponsors
(SCENE) Metrospace
IGiving, recieving, Acceptance
Choreography by Clara Martinez
Performed by Sarah Wallace
Music: Hope We Can Again (Nine Inch Nails)
This piece is the beginning of an homage to and inquiry of the Community Dance Project experience: past, present, and future. It was developed from experimentation and collaboration with the lovely and brave Sarah Wallace in the studio, in June 2024. While the fulfillment of this piece as a large group is a long term goal, the intention this summer is for it to have you pause, wonder, question, and consider how you are connecting to others, what impact you may have on them, and how you can receive and accept them, so that they can do the same for you.
Clara Martinez, Dance Director at Everett High School in the Lansing School District, is a lifelong dancer with a passion for community building. She views her role as arts educator, advocate, and community leader.
Black Velvet
Choreography by Kat McAllister
Performed by Sarah Wallace & Jessica Livingston
Music: Black Velvet (Alanna Myles)
About Kat:
Kat McAllister began her dance career at the age of 4 primarily studying Cecchetti ballet and Jazz technique. She graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2016 with a BA in dance and a BFA in Studio Art. She has taught Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Contemporary for ages 5-13, and was a co-creator of Hotties in Heels, a Heels dance class and community in Grand Rapids for women 18+ and has been teaching Heels in the Lansing Community since 2021. Kat performed with the Grand Rapids Modern dance collective, DITA and in Grand Rapids Community projects from 2014-2020 and with Dance Lansing Community Dance Project since 2022.
Emerging Company: (re)spire
Cycles: action Potential
Choreography by Laura Spitzfaden
Performed by Laura Spitzfaden, Chloe Gonzales, Sophie Parks, Rose Albrecht, Amanda Green, Emily Scott, August Doerr (understudy)
Music: Cycles (Alexander Panos)
About Laura:
Laura Spitzfaden has been performing in Community Dance Project’s Summer Showcase since 2007, making it one of her annual traditions. In 2024 Laura was invited to join CDP’s Leadership Team, providing insight from her years of experience being part of the evolution of the project.
Laura has found opportunities for growth and has made long lasting friendships through dance, bringing her to a new venture, dancing with the emerging local dance company (re)spire. Laura’s choreography is touching and insightful, creating a personal experience for the dancers she works with and audiences she shares with.
If I could (I would be anybody else)
Choreography by August Doerr
Performed by Sarah Wallace & Rose Albrecht
Music: Luna Moth (Maya Hawke)
About August:
August Doerr has been dancing since she was 2 year old and began choreographing at age 12. She was a member of a modern-contemporary pre-professional company for 10 years, and is currently in the Collegiate section of the Greater Lansing Ballet Company. August is returning for a 4th season in Community Dance Project’s Summer Showcase, with her last appearance in 2019.
August shares this of her choreographic process:
“As a choreographer (and a person in general), I like to plan ahead. My process often involves giving myself deadlines, carving out specific times to work on my dance, and lots and lots of consideration and wandering thoughts.” August says that she “Also likes to think about what the movement will look like on the dancers, and how it will feel in their bodies. It's important to me that my choreography not only looks good, but also feels good to do, because that is just as important as the finished product.”
Emerging Company: (re)spire
reinvested, recommitted, respired, (re)spired dance
They Don’t Let Your Do This In Space
Choreography by Sophie Parks
Performed by Emily Scott, Chloe Gonzales, Amanda Green, Laura Spitzfaden & August Doerr
Music: Goes (Ibi)
(re)spire is a Lansing-based group of humans who want to make the world a better place through art.
Guest Company: Terpsichore Collective
In Trust (excerpt)
Choreography by Aimee McDonald
Performed by Stephanie Harvey & Mackenzie Malinowski
Music by Hauschka (City Slang 2023)
Costumes by Aimee McDonald
About Aimee:
Aimee McDonald is Artistic Director of Terpsichore Collective, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She headed Terpsichore's Kitchen from 1998-2009, producing the annual Dancing in Summer choreographic showcase, as well as a series of showings and performances. Her work has been shown in the United States, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Montreal. After an extended hiatus from the stage due to motherhood and recovery from an auto accident, she returned as both choreographer and dancer for live stage work and screendance projects. Since relaunching the re-imagined company in 2023, her stage works have been shown at the Ambrosia Theatre in Grand Rapids, at the Detroit Collage Dance Festival, Shape//Matter, and Detroit Dance City Festival Choreographers Showcase, and her dance films have been shown in numerous festivals and screenings. She is also a founding member of Ann Arbor Dance Network, which supports professional contemporary dance performance, collaboration, and higher level class opportunities for the Ann Arbor area. Aimee received her BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan.
About the Collective
Terpsichore Collective presents professional contemporary dance works for stage, site specific, multimedia, and film projects. It is a re-imagination of Artistic Director, Aimee McDonald's previous projects, Terpsichore's Kitchen, and Terpsichore's Kitchen Dance Theatre, which produced the annual choreographers' showcase Dancing in Summer, from 1998-2009, as well as regular choreographic showings and touring works.
In this new incarnation of Terpsichore we operate on a performance cycle, rather than a traditional season, with an autumn stage performance of works by Aimee McDonald alongside a couple of works by guest artists or other company members, and a summer dance festival with professional showcases of works by choreographers from Michigan, and across the nation. Throughout the year are our site specific, multimedia, and film projects.
The company is launching the new dance festival, starting June 2024. Dancing in Summer, the Festival will feature two nights of professional choreographers showcases, master classes, an open showing where anyone is welcome to show work and exchange feedback with other dance makers, and a dance film screening.