Hear EMS’s Executive Director, Gus Denhard; Music Director of Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Alexander Weimann and Board President, Jim Hessler discuss the successes, challenges and what the future looks like for Early Music Seattle.
Tag: early music
SBO Spotlight: Aimée Rieger, violinist
Aimée Rieger
During Covid: I decided early on to utilize the time I have been given to concentrate on the things I am passionate about and bridge the barrier of distance by connecting with my colleagues and friends via the technology we now rely so heavily on. I am pursuing a variety of professional group activities via zoom such as studying string treatises, analyzing Bach Cantatas in liturgical order, taking Baroque Dance classes with New York Baroque Dance Company, and learning as much repertoire as possible. To keep up with performing and reach out to the community, I am working on a “porch concert series” for my neighborhood, and I look forward to starting that in the next month. I try to focus on what I CAN do rather than the negatives which sometimes seem like huge hurdles each day. I am thankful to be a teacher and have students who propel me forward with interest and questions that constantly keep me exploring to a deeper level. Going forward, I would like to learn more about the technology that will help us go further as musicians during distanced times and reach our audiences and I would like to record with my colleagues in this form. Music in turn helps me ride the balance between a daily effort to help others in need, and manage the unpredictable, everchanging dark and light. With each cancellation, I look forward to collaborative live music making…what an emotional experience that will be!
About Aimée Rieger: Aimée enjoys an active international career performing as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player on both modern and baroque violin. Recent engagements include performances with Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver B.C., Fuma Sacra Baroque Orchestra as part of the Illinois Bach Festival, New York Continuo Collective String Band, and as concertmaster of the Bellingham Chamber Chorale Orchestra. Previous engagements include, among others, the Bellingham Festival Orchestra, Zomeropera Alden Biesen (Belgium), Constance Chamber Opera (Germany), Schöneck Ensemble (Germany), Basilika Orchestra St. Paulin (Germany), the Buxton Music Society (England), Oban Bach Orchestra (Scotland). As a soloist, she appeared numerous times at the Constantine Basilika Trier (Germany), a former palace of Roman Emperor Constantine, in repertoire ranging from solo Bach to the Romantic.
In addition to teaching applied violin and chamber music, Aimée is the creator of Body Scales©, a class for performing artists designed to enhance performance, prevent injury, manage stress, and address performance anxiety. She received her undergraduate degree in Violin Performance from the Eastman School of Music and has studied with Nancy Wilson, Chloe Meyers, Tekla Cunningham, Marc Destrubé, Leah Nelson, Mitchell Stern, and Teri Lee. Outside of fiddling, Aimée loves being active with her family outdoors or in with her cats reading books and cooking.
Visit Aimée’s website
FEELING HOUSEBOUND? TRY EARLY DANCE ONLINE!
Feeling Housebound?
Try Early Dance Online!
By Gus Denhard
In the age of Covid-19 many of us struggle to stay active and engaged in positive, life-affirming activities. There is also a sense of inertia as we lead our lives from a seated position, nose to the computer. One local dance instructor is finding a creative way to address the challenges of quarantine by offering lessons in Renaissance and Baroque dance over Zoom.
Anna Mansbridge, the founder of Seattle Early Dance, and a longtime artistic collaborator with Early Music Seattle and other local early music organizations, was introduced to Baroque dance in 1987 by Philippa Waite during her dance studies in England. After earning a Master of Fine Arts at Mills College in California, she returned to England and worked with historical dance expert Mary Collin, with whom she studied Renaissance dance. Ms. Mansbridge, a former classical ballet and modern dance student, was drawn to early dance because it seemed to fit her temperament, physicality, and body type like a glove. She also loved the music!
The first comprehensive treatise “On the Art of Dancing and Choreography” was written by an anonymous scribe or student of Domenica da Piacenza, a well know Italian dancing master, and dates from around 1455. A little over one hundred years later two more Italian dancing masters, Fabritio Caroso and Cesare Negri, published treatises between 1581 and 1602, giving descriptions of the steps and the dances that were cultivated by the well-to-do. During the seventeenth century the focus of dancing moved to France, where the French Kings loved the ballet and exploited its potential for political propaganda, especially the Sun King Louis XIV. “La Belle Danse,” or as it is now more commonly called “Baroque Dance,” was practiced at all the great courts in Europe during the eighteenth century, the most popular dance being the Minuet.
Ms. Mansbridge settled in Seattle in 1998 and launched Seattle Early Dance in 2000, an organization devoted to teaching and performing historically informed Renaissance and Baroque dance. The company attracted a varied following of history buffs, musicians, and former ballet and modern dancers who committed themselves to weekly classes. These efforts paid off; developing over time to a fine semi-pro dance company that partnered with Early Music Seattle (then Early Music Guild) in three fully staged baroque operas between 2002 and 2011, as well as concert performances with Gallery Concerts, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and Baroque Northwest. For 20 years the company has hosted an annual Costume Ball/fundraiser that has built and maintained a strong participatory community following. And regular classes continued, until….
Covid-19.
The social distancing requirements of quarantine put a stop to all dance activities, teaching, and most sadly, the shared sense of community and camaraderie that people with common interests seek. Ms. Mansbridge had moved her student dance classes at the Creative Dance Center online (she is the Artistic Director of Kaleidoscope Dance Company, CDC’s resident modern dance company for youth ages 7-17), but had not considered an online early dance program until approached by one of her longtime students. Last week she organized Renaissance and Baroque dance sessions for her Seattle following, and upon observing the success of these first classes, sent a notice to the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), an organization dedicated to advancing dance education centered in the arts.
The response was immediate and overwhelming. In a few days she had 28 new people enrolled in classes from across the USA, the UK, and even interest from Japan. The numbers continue to grow. What had been local is now international. With few early dance specialists of Ms. Mansbridge’s caliber and with many people searching for activities – especially physical – that they can do at home, the future is bright. “I have some university dance history professors who have taught the subject for years from a theoretical perspective but have never had the opportunity to experience the dance physically” says Mansbridge. Online classes also open the door to more diverse participation and offers a lower financial commitment to begin studies.
“Zoom does require some compromises in how we work,” says Mansbridge. “After an initial check-in conversation, I need to mute my students and essentially present to them, so they can hear the music and my voice without a lot of extraneous background noise. We use hand signals if they need to get my attention, and we always check in at the end with more reflection and conversation.” An advantage to the Zoom format is that the sessions can be recorded and played back later to allow the students to focus on details. And in a time when in-person dance instruction and live performances are not on the immediate horizon, the online lessons can maintain and even develop new appreciation for this ancient art form, setting the stage for the audiences of the future.
$50 for a five-lesson course in Renaissance or Baroque dance
For schedule and registration details, email Anna Mansbridge, anna@creativedance.org
Seattle Early Dance. Old World/New World. First Tuesday series presented by Early Music Seattle. Photo Credit Bronwen Houck: bronwenhouckphoto.com
Seattle Early Dance – Old World/New World. First Tuesdays Series, Early Music Seattle. March 4 2014.
Photo Credit Bronwen Houck: bronwenhouckphoto.com
Seattle Early Dance: Anna Mansbridge. Old World/New World. First Tuesday series presented by Early Music Seattle. Photo Credit Bronwen Houck: bronwenhouckphoto.com
Anna Mansbridge – Photo Credit: Bill Stickney