After a year of taking classes and dancing virtually, nationally acclaimed The Wooden Floor returned to in-person rehearsals for Passage/Home, A Site-Specific Exploration of Place on July 15-17, 2021. This site-specific work, featuring choreography by Stephan Koplowitz will be the 38th Annual Concert for The Wooden Floor and presented in and around its Main Street location in Santa Ana. Koplowitz’s work was inspired by the architecture of the organization’s building designed by Ernesto M. Vasquez. During this in-person performance audiences will enjoy the talents of these incredible students while being safely guided through carefully selected spaces. The Wooden Floor will strictly follow the guidelines for social distancing and safety; the same guidelines followed during rehearsals to protect everyone involved.
Originally called St. Joseph’s Ballet, The Wooden Floor was founded in 1983 by Beth A. Burns, the Artistic Director until 2005. This amazing organization has a 40 year record of helping to break the cycle of poverty in low-income communities by offering one-on-one tutoring to students during the time that they are also training in several different dance styles. The faculty and staff have a nearly 100% record of aiding students to graduate from high school, with many going on to college. The Wooden Floor is the recipient of many awards and grants including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Association of Performing Arts Presenters for artistic merit.
“The planning for this project pre-dated COVID as a way to highlight the abundance of talent and energy of The Wooden Floor students and the organization,” says Koplowitz. “Creating at this juncture in time, it has taken on additional resonance as a homecoming, a return ‘home’ for The Wooden Floor community.” Koplowitz has created site-specific works for over 30 years, driven by the powerful intersection of art, society, and community. “Site dance brings people from diverse parts of life together and makes us experience our surroundings with new eyes,” he says.
Students in rehearsal with Stephan Koplowitz – Photo courtesy of The Wooden Floor
Stephan Koplowitz is an award winning director/choreographer/media artist known for his work on stage, film and site. His site work aims to alter people’s perspectives of place, site, and scale, all infused with a sense of the human condition and is concerned with the intersection of natural, social and cultural ecologies within urban and natural environments. Since 1984 he has created 91 works and has been awarded 64 commissions. He is the recipient of a 2017 Rockefeller Bellagio Fellowship, 2014 Hewlett-Gerbode Choreographic Fellowship, 2004 Alpert Award in the Arts (Dance), a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography in addition to a 2000 New York Dance and Performance Award, “Bessie” for “Sustained Achievement” in Choreography. Koplowitz is also the recipient of six National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowships from (1988-97). To Mr. Koplowitz’s full bio, click HERE.
“The site-work has provided students a unique opportunity to co-create movement outside of the studio and in non-traditional environments that require problem solving by partnering with nature, building structures, and one another all while being socially distanced,” says The Wooden Floor Artistic Director Falon Baltzell. “By encouraging a sense of curiosity and investigation, students discovered methods to listen to their bodily intelligence and to each other. This helped them create a new way to experience The Wooden Floor campus – an invaluable memory that will become a part of their 10-year journey,” she says.
Event Details
Name: The Wooden Floor’s 38th Annual Concert: Passage/Home, A Site-Specific Exploration of Place
When: July 15-17 & 23-24, 2021* – Various show times
Where: The Wooden Floor
1810 North Main Street, Santa Ana
Tickets: $20 General Admission; $10 admission for children under 13 and students
Available: On sale now by clicking HERE.
* Performance dates will be subject to community health conditions and regulations at the time. Limited ticket available due to California guidelines on social distancing.
Covid-19 Safety Precautions – Subject to Change:
Per public health guidelines, masks must be worn by all guests upon check-in and until they depart The Wooden Floor’s premises. Contactless check-in will include a touchless thermometer temperature check, and hand sanitizer stations will be accessible throughout the premises.
To visit The Wooden Floor website, click HERE.
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Written and compiled by Jeff Slayton from The Wooden Floor press release.
Featured image: The Wooden Floor – Students in rehearsal for Passage/Home, A Site-Specific Exploration of Place – Photo by Sarah Delgado
