More Pioneer Place Photos

A few more images from our fun show in St Cloud last week . . . Thanks to Dan Barth for taking all the photos. That's David Harris, Angela Hasnedl, Arielah Moskow and Jerome Bowden with the tires . . . Arielah and Jerome on rope and harness . . . Cathy Werner with David DeBlieck billowing the fabric behind . . . and David H and Angela chillin.

Wicked Sisters in St Cloud

WSDT premiered our first full theatrical performance at Pioneer Place in St Cloud last weekend. What a blast! It was a great thrill to put together a show of our favorite works as well as premiering three new pieces. Here's a photo of Celestial Navigation, a new fabric duet created by David DeBlieck and Cathy Werner after our trip to the East Coast this summer to study butoh and aerial arts.

Thanks to Elsie Smith, Maureen Fleming, the Jerome Foundation and Pioneer Place for making it all happen. The photo is by Dan Barth and the costumes are by Stephanie Molstad. More details and pictures from the show soon . . .

Save the Date! WSDT in St Cloud Oct 11-14

Wicked Sister descends upon St Cloud for an evening of acrobatic danceworks, Oct 11-14 2007. Showtimes are 7:30 pm Th-Sat and 2:00 pm on Sunday. $16 general admission or $14 for students & seniors. Purchase tickets online at or call the Pioneer Place box office line at 320-203-1233.

Don't miss the chance to see Cathy (Stone) Werner during her pilgrimage back from Montana to join the Sisters for a "Best Of" collection of works from past productions of Phantasmagoria, Acromancia, Acrobatic Cafe and Lurid Thoughts & Lucid Visions. Cathy and I will premiere our new fabric duet, created while training with Elsie Smith and Nimble Arts in Vermont this past summer. David Harris and Angela Hasnedl are also scheming up a new piece that combines David's skill with briefcase manipulation and Angela's amazing ability to zip herself inside a suitcase. Arielah Moskow joins the company and performs on rope and harness with Jerome Bowden.

For those of you considering a trek up to St Cloud from the Twin Cities or beyond, Pioneer Place has a lovely wine bar called the Veranda for preshow festivities (they even let you take your drinks into the theater!). The Green Mill is a block away if you are interested in dinner, and Sawatdee Thai is just down the street. Please shoot me an email if you want more advice about restaurants or accomodations: david@wickedsisterdance.org

David & Cathy in New York and Vermont

I am back in MN after 3 weeks on the East Coast! Cathy and I had an amazing time studying butoh with Maureen Fleming at her Pumpkin Hollow home and studio in upstate New York, and training on fabric with Elsie Smith and Nimble Arts in Brattleboro, VT.

The lowest picture is of a studio in the barn which housed part of the Dancing the Internal Body workshop with Maureen Fleming. We danced about 6 hours each day with a rich palette of butoh imagery, intense conditioning on elastic bands and partner massage drawing from shiatsu technique (yum!). Look at the natural light just streaming in through the walls of the barn . . . we were also joined by a few birds.

That's me posing by the nimble Arts sign outside Elsie and Serenity's main studio space at the old Cotton Mill in Brattleboro, VT. Cathy and I trained on fabric for 3 hours each morning with Elsie at their other studio (that's Cathy demonstrating the setup for a Full Monty drop and me stretching out in the Rebecca Splits), in addition to rehearsing a new duet that incorporates elements of butoh and new partnering vocabulary on fabric. We are very excited to premiere the new work as part of our show at Pioneer Place in St Cloud, October 11-14, 2007. I am also stoked to teach some intermediate/advanced fabric to our aerial students starting this fall.

A HUGE thank you goes out to the Jerome Foundation for supporting my investigation of butoh and aerial arts with a Travel & Study grant. I am certain this trip will stand out as one of my most treasured experiences for years to come . . .

Dancing in the Trees Launched!

Wicked Sister has officially premiered in St Cloud . . . we had plenty of sunshine for the Granite City Days Festival on June 23rd and danced merrily on the trees at Lake George with lively accordian music by Dreamland Faces. Thanks to everyone who joined us in St Cloud, especially Eduardo who watched both performances and shot these great photos!

WSDT is taking a rest for a few months while Cathy and I travel to NY and VT for training in butoh and aerial acrobatics. Meanwhile, David Harris is developing Subleased Circus, a brand new script with loads of aerialists and acrobats that WSDT will present in 2008.

Wicked Sisters in Wyoming

Wow!! The Grand Tetons are a marvelous site, and a breathtaking backdrop for a wedding. Here's a pic of Cathy, David D, Amy, Jerome and Jeffrey at the reception in Teton Village (Elizabeth & Sebastien nearby). Ben & Cathy were surrounded by a joyous clan of family and friends to celebrate, cook, shuttle, photograph, witness, dance and spread lots of love around during the weekend of wedding festivities.

Congratulations Ben and Cathy! . . . and best wishes for your new life & home in Bozeman, MT.

We look forward to Cathy's visit this fall to dance in our production at Pioneer Place in St Cloud, October 11-14.

Tree Huggers

Saturday, June 23rd

Noon and 2 pm

Lake George, St Cloud

Join Wicked Sister Dance Theatre as we present all new choreography on trees as part of Granite City Days in St Cloud. Choreographed by David DeBlieck, this frolicking, family-friendly dance features performances by Jerome Bowden, Angela Hasnedl, Arielah Moskow, Amber Olson and Alex Loch. Dancers balance against each other and the trees, roll across the grass and use the natural landscape to inspire their acrobatically entertaining performance, all to the live music of Dreamland Faces. You may never look at these trees in the same way again . . .

For more information about Granite City Days (http://www.granitecitydays.com/).

WSDT’s Lake George performance is supported, in part, by the St Cloud Arts Commission, FORECAST Public Artworks and the Minnesota State Arts Board. David DeBlieck is a proud recipient of a 2007 Individual Artist Award from the Central MN Arts Board with generous funding from the McKnight Foundation.

Hester Park Play Date

Wicked Sister Dance Theatre hosted a Choreographic Play Date at Hester Park in St Cloud on Saturday, May 13th. With support from a FORECAST Public Artworks Research & Development grant and support from the St Cloud Arts Commission, 10 Wicked Sister dancers and friends launched into gravity enhanced motion on the park's huge grass hill and investigated visual design on the architecture of a depression-era stone pathway and bridge.

Our Play Date also included dialogue between dancers and St Cloud community members about the movement we created as well as the overall process of developing performance for public sites. Information gathered from this experience will inform future choreography and public performance in St Cloud. Thanks to everyone who participated or supported this project!

Hoops and Harnesses!

Wicked Sister has been hosting special aerial workshops this May, including classes with Rope and Harness instruction by Cathy Stone, and hula hooping with Lacey Prpic Hedtke. That's Stephanie, Amy and Arielah looking gorgeous up in the air. Amy and Lacey are the hoopers.

Dancing with Trees

We started working on new choreography in/on/around trees this week. Go Jerome and Angela! We'll be performing our new work as part of Granite City Days in St Cloud on Saturday, June 23rd, 2007. Our natural setting for the day will be provided by the lovely grove of trees near Lake George pictured below . . .

Acrobatic Cafe at Patrick's this Weekend!

Wicked Sister Dance Theatre's production of Acrobatic Cafe is at Patrick's Cabaret this weekend! March 23 and 24, 8:00 pm each night.

This eclectic mix features all new works by aspiring choreographic artistsJessica Flannigan, Irene Larson, Jenny Lovitt, Arielah Moskow, Emily Tate andJessi Vozka. These adventurous acrobatic artists have just completed anintensive workshop, Choreographing on Physical Structures, taught by DavidDeBlieck and Cathy Stone. Acrobatic Cafe is a wonderful opportunity for us allto gather and celebrate the process of discovery, invention and creativitywithin the realm of risk-taking physicality.

We are also thrilled to have the talented guest artistry of Rebecca Abas andGerry Girouard performing a new duet fueled by contact and weight sharing, andmusic by Blah Blah Blacksheep, an up and coming duo that delights the senseswith acoustic guitar along with a range of miniature toy instruments.The show will also feature new works by Wicked Sister core artists DavidDeBlieck, David Harris (Friday Night only), Angela Hasnedl, Amy Nystrom andCathy Stone.

Tickets are just $8 at the door or $6 in advance from one of the artists.Reservations: 612-721-3595Patrick's Cabaret, 3010 Minnehaha Avenue S, Minneapolis

For more info: http://www.patrickscabaret.org (click on the online calendar andscroll to our dates)

If you can't make it to the show but would like to support this importantcreative process, consider making a donation to WSDT by visiting our websiteDonation Page:http://www.wickedsisterdance.org/donate.shtml