In 1999, dancer and choreographer K.J. Holmes witnessed a total eclipse of the moon off the Oregon coast. Months later, at a club in New York City, she was struck by the almost magical interplay between three jazz trumpeters.
These two observations soon coalesced into “Constellation,” a structured improvisation exploring the physical, spatial and tonal shifts experienced by both dancers and musicians. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3, Holmes will work with Washington University in St. Louis dance students to present a fresh “Constellation” in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio.
The performance is free and open to the public. The Annelise Mertz Dance Studio is located in Room 207, Mallinckrodt Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. A reception will follow. For more information, call 314-935-5858 or visit pad.artsci.wustl.edu.
Holmes, the 2016 Marcus Residency Dance Artist in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, will be on campus Feb. 1-3. In addition to “Constellation,” she will host a series of master classes — open to all upper-level Washington University dance students — on composition, improvisation and body/mind centering.
Based in Brooklyn, Holmes began studying improvisational techniques and somatic practices in the early 1980s, at New York’s New School for Social Research. She teaches at Julliard, Movement Research and New York University’s Experimental Theatre Wing.
The Marcus Residency is funded by a gift to the Performing Arts Department by the late Morris D. Marcus, MD, a dermatologist and professor emeritus of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Marcus established the annual residency in memory of his wife, Margaret, who was a dancer, teacher and choreographer.
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