In Situ Dance Residencies

July 28 through August 24, artist Karl Burkheimer’s In Situ, an 1,800 square foot sculptural installation, becomes a base for a series of four, one week-long dance residencies with the following artists: Velocity Dance/SFDI (with Michael Schumacher, Alia Swersky and Tahni Holt) Vanessa DeWolf, Tahni Holt and Salt Horse.

Each project is self-directed within a framework of improvisation, a guiding interest of ALL RISE. Audiences may expect to view the artists and collaborators, students and others in research and workshop during the week, culminating in a free public event with performance and improvisational tactics. Limited straw bale seating is available. Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs on event nights.

JULY 28-AUGUST 3 (IMPROVISATIONAL IN-PROGRESS VIEWINGS FRI AUG 1, 6-8pm and SAT AUG 2, 3:15-4:45pm): Velocity Dance/SFDI (Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation) with artists Michael Schumacher (Amsterdam, NL), Tahni Holt (Portland, Ore.) and Alia Swersky (Seattle, Wash.)

AUGUST 4- 10 (PERFORMANCE SAT AUG 9, 7-10pm): Vanessa DeWolf (Seattle, Wash.)

AUGUST 11-17 (PERFORMANCE SAT AUG 16, 7-9pm): Tahni Holt (Portland, Ore.)

AUGUST 18-24 (PERFORMANCE SAT AUG 23, 7-10pm): Salt Horse (Seattle, Wash.)

In Situ is the continuation of Burkheimer's In Site, created for Disjecta Contemporary Art Center in Portland, Oregon in 2011 and curated by Jenene Nagy. The 2011 work filled the center's 3,500 square foot exhibition space. Interested in mining the performative innuendo of the piece, Burkheimer partnered with Portland choreographer Tahni Holt, who in turn invited choreographers Kathleen Keogh and Linda Austin. Each of the three directed improvisational dance pieces performed on the sculpture. ALL RISE invited Burkheimer and Holt to reconceive the work within the nearly oppositional setting of an open, yet often physically inaccessible, public space. In the 90,000 square foot ALL RISE campus. Biographies for In Situ artists follow the slideshow below.

The international Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI), produced by Velocity Dance, is a world-renowned festival that provides the perfect opportunity to learn and share experiences with some of the most highly regarded artists working in the field of dance today. SFDI is a week of intensives, classes, jams, somatic labs, site-specific workshops, performances and discussions focused on fostering the study and practice of dance improvisation.

Michael Schumacher (Amsterdam, NL) has been a member of several groundbreaking companies, including Ballet Frankfurt, Twyla Tharp Dance, Feld Ballet, Pretty Ugly Dance Company, and Katie Duck's Magpie Music Dance Company. Working as dancer, choreographer, and teacher Schumacher developed a unique approach to the discipline of improvisation. He resides in Amsterdam and conducts workshops in movement analysis and improvisation worldwide.

Tahni Holt (Portland, Ore.) is a choreographer, performer, teacher and organizer, based in Portland OR. Her work and teachings have been presented all over the United States. She has had the pleasure of being an Artist in Residence in Alaska, France, Greece and most recently in Romania. She is honored to be a NDP Touring Award recipient for her current work, DUET LOVE and is Executive Director of Portland's new dance center: FLOCK. FLOCK is a dance center for movement exploration, creation and artistic practice. All of Holt's endeavors are shaped by her beliefs and convictions, which invigorate proactive projects of artist-driven empowerment.

Alia Swersky (Seattle, Wash.) is a Seattle-based movement artist, performer and teacher. She is an adjunct faculty at Cornish College of the Arts, teaches yoga, and is a Nutritional Therapist/NTP. Alia has danced for and collaborated with many Seattle artists. She began her studies of CI at the age of 16.

Vanessa DeWolf (Seattle, Wash.) makes work in a spectrum from large ensembles to solo work, from poetic practice to visual installation, and has dedicated the last two decades of her life to improvisational practices and performances. Her works have been seen throughout Seattle at On the Boards, Washington Hall, the Hedreen Gallery and in many underground DIY spaces of Capitol Hill for many years. A few vital recent works have been "Score for an Unrehearsed Ensemble" (2012, OtB Northwest New Works Festival) and "FORESTFLOOR is low growling in the girls bedroom" (2014, Fisher Ensemble Seattle Season). In fall of 2013 she was invited to participate in WEAVE (Brussels) a large-scale artist happening in a huge abandoned factory. Studio Current is the location, since 2005, of Vanessa's ongoing experiment in artists and community created via aesthetic inquiry.

Salt Horse (Seattle, Wash.) is a dance, sound, visual-theater performance company created by dancers Beth Graczyk and Corrie Befort and musician Angelina Baldoz. Salt Horse creates visually rich, sensation-based works that illuminate the quiet, unseen, or hidden aspects of nature and the human experience. The company members rigorously merge improvisation and composition to create arresting narratives that weave between the literal and the abstract. Salt Horse was formed through a series of residencies and performances in Japan and Seattle between 2005 and 2008.

Karl Burkheimer is an Associate Professor and Department Chair of the MFA in Craft program at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon. He earned an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture from North Carolina State University. Prior to joining the faculty at OCAC, Karl taught design at Virginia Commonwealth University's branch campus in Qatar.

Burkheimer has most recently received several awards of recognition, including a 2012 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission and a 2013 U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship. He was also named the Portland Art Museum's 2013 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards finalist, one of five in the Pacific Northwest region. His work has been exhibited nationally, including recent exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR and the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA.