Speaking of Dance

press releases

For immediate release September 14, 2000

Contacts: Deborah Reshotko, Artistic Director; Esther Gross, Program Director

303-722-0902

SPEAKING OF DANCE PRESENTS "HOME WISDOM"

Modern dance company and guest artist present special site-specific performance events.

Denver, Colorado - SPEAKING OF DANCE and Martha Bowers are pleased to present "Home Wisdom," a site-specific performance/house tour with live music, inspired by the rich history of the Grant-Humphreys Mansion. The performances will take place on October 18 and 19, 2000, at the Grant-Humphreys Mansion, 770 Pennsylvania Street. Audience members will be guided through the Mansion to view performances in selected rooms. Tours leave from the front of the Mansion every half-hour starting at 5:30 p.m.; the last tour starts at 8:30 p.m. Each tour lasts 1 1/2 hours. Admission is free; however, reservations are required.

"Home Wisdom" is the culmination of New York choreographer Martha Bowers' residency with SPEAKING OF DANCE, funded by a special National Endowment for the Arts grant entitled "Artists & Communities: America Creates for the Millennium." The project, conceived and directed by Ms. Bowers in collaboration with SPEAKING OF DANCE's Artistic Director Deborah Reshotko and Denver composer Mark McCoin, will feature appearances by over 40 members of Denver's performing arts community, including SOD company dancers. Through a series of mini-performances that blend dance, music and theatre, "Home Wisdom" explores the Grant-Humphreys Mansion as a metaphor for changing values in the West.

Featured events include "Brides Ascending a Staircase" on the Main Floor; "Denver Families Dine" in the Dining Room; "Colorado Now and Then--A Checkers Game" in the Sun Room; "Lullaby and Bedtime Story" in the Nanny's Room; "Outdoor Colorado Inside" in Humphreys' Office; "Denver Dreamers" in the Second Floor Bedroom; "Bowling Dance" in the Shooting Gallery; and "Finale with Live Music" in the Ballroom. Mark McCoin is the project's composer, sound designer and musical director; Sheree Goecke is lighting designer.

For more information and to make reservations, call 303-722-0902. The performance is partially accessible to the physically challenged. Please notify the box office to arrange for wheel chair accommodations.

The funding for "Home Wisdom" comes in part from Artists and Communities: America Creates for the Millennium. Artists and Communities: America Creates for the Millennium, a program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, is made possible by major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Charles E. Culpepper Foundation/Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Prudential Foundation, The Earle I. Mack Foundation, and the Brimstone Fund.

Additional support for the project in Colorado is provided by the Colorado Historical Society, the Denver Foundation, KTVD-UPN Channel 20, U.S. Bank, the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado, Zupkus & Angell, P.C., Anderson Mason Dale, Architects, Safeco Insurance, and Target Stores.