GoldThread_Insta.jpg

A Panel Discussion with dance makers and educators Bess Snyder Fredlund, Betty Loos, and Bess Pilcher Lovec.

Dance artists and educators Bess Snyder Fredlund, Bess Pilcher Lovec, and Betty Loos sat down for an evening of reflection and storytelling upon the dance arts history in Montana seen from their vantage.

A bit about the panelists:

Bess Snyder Fredlund graduated with an MFA in dance from California Institute of the Arts, formed Bess Snyder and Company and created THE HOUSE, a performance space in Los Angeles featuring dance, theater, performance art, music and film. Fredlund is one of the founders of danceMontana a professional modern dance company in residence at the University of Montana. An advocate for the arts, Fredlund helped organize and produce the first Fringe Festival in Billings in 2012.

Betty Loos whose professional training includes the University of Utah, Royal Winnepeg Ballet, and National Ballet of Canada has introduced thousands of Billings dancers to the art and technique of ballet, many of them have gone on to professional dance careers. Loos has collaborated with the Billings Symphony for over forty years on the annual Nutcracker production which provides hundreds of local dancers an opportunity to perform with a professional company and a live symphony.

Bess Pilcher Lovec studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts and graduated from University of Utah with a BFA in dance and performance. Lovec also attended summer training at the Martha Graham School, Alvin Ailey Studio, and Herbert Bergof Studio in New York City. Lovec joined danceMontana, a modern repertory dance company located in Missoula which toured in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming. Lovec was also a company member of Dance on the Prairie a semi-professional dance company located in Billings under the direction of Sue West.

This unscripted and improvisational panel discussion took place on Tuesday January 28th, 2020 at Art House Cinema in downtown Billings. The panelists, Bess Snyder Fredlund, Betty Loos, and Bess Pilcher Lovec spoke about their creative practices, experiences, and memories as dance artists in Montana. The 90 minute panel held space for each artist to reflect upon the dance arts history in Montana seen from their vantage. You will hear from each artist on their entry into the dance arts, their collegiate and professional careers, as well as their connection to the art community today. The discussion was facilitated by HaltForce Art Collective creator Krista Leigh Pasini and included a short Q & A afterwards. The intention of this archive was part of a historical project created by Pasini of the same name that reflects upon lineage, tradition, and memory in dance history and dance legacy.

GoldThread-Portraits-1_websize.jpg

Biographies & More

Read about the origins of the Gold Thread Archive by HaltForce Art Collective creator Krista Leigh Pasini. And browse the biographies of the panelists.

——> Reflections/Gold Thread

HaltForce Art Collective Co-hosts Performance Residency with Returning Dance Artist Erica Gionfriddo (2019)

Billings, MT— November 2nd, 2019  

HaltForce Art Collective and the Billings Symphony Orchestra are co-hosting professional dance artist Erica Gionfriddo, of ARCOS Dance, for a collaborative project with dramaturg and post-modern choreographer Krista Leigh Pasini.

Gionfriddo will share the stage with the Billings Symphony Orchestra for a live performance of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in a concert in tribute to the Ballet Russes. The Rite of Spring premiered in 1913,  and was Stravinsky’s third full-length ballet commission for the Ballet Russes. Stravinsky worked with dramaturg Nicholas Roerich, a Russian expert on folk art and ancient rituals, to tell the pagan tale of the advent of spring and the sacrifice of a young girl who dances herself to death. The ballet, originally choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, paired with Stravinsky’s orchestral score, caused disruption and uproar among the audience members. Descriptions of the score include “frenetic,” “jagged,” “brutal,” and “tender.” What remains, is a dissonant (and culturally) challenging work for both dancers and musicians to execute. Rite of Spring, separate of the ballet, symbolically foreshadowed the unrestrained horrors of the Great War, World War I, and the sweeping cultural changes that followed. This is one of the many points of entry artists Pasini and Gionfriddo are investigating in their performative work and while both artists approached Rite of Spring as a document of history, a time capsule from 1913, they also re-contextualized their work through current contexts and future narratives.

Merging Gionfriddo’s somatic research with Pasini’s post modern choreograpahic methods allowed the Gionfriddo to weave dystopian inquiries amid historical, ecological, and current cultural contexts into a Re-(w)Rite of the iconic work of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. What began as a practice of kaleidoscope thinking slowly evolved into what Gionfriddo and Pasini call a Re-(w)Rite of Spring. Gionfriddo possesses an evocative and nuanced movement language that brings Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to a present pitch of seduction and urgency. Pasini, director of HaltForce, has employed a system of creation for this project that investigates historical context, ecological inquiries, along with current cultural narratives as source material for Gionfriddo to physicalize as part of a creative response to what is arguably Ballet Russes’ most complicated ballets.

“Perhaps the best way to pay tribute to the disruptors and provocateurs of the Ballet Russes is with our own equally unabashed and avant garde approach” Erica Gionfriddo.

Performed for one evening only with the Billings Symphony Orchestra on Saturday November 2nd at Lincoln Center.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

KLPasini_2018_PCTedKim.JPG

Krista Leigh Pasini • Art Doula & Social Dramaturg

Krista Leigh Pasini is a classically trained dance artist & postmodern choreographer working with somatically informed performative inquiries, historiography, & movement ontology research. Her research weds an extensive technical training with poetic gestural patterning, which she integrates into her role as educator & choreographic collaborator. As co-director of HaltForce Art Collective LLC—currently based in Eastern Montana—Krista facilitates & produces performance-driven artist residencies & education. Pasini's creative versatility blends dance, performance art, theater into site-specific events & socially relevant immersive installations. Krista is an Honors Scholar with a BFA in History from Montana State University–Billings, & holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College.

Gionfriddo_HS_2015_2.jpg

Erica Gionfriddo • Dance Artist
Erica Gionfriddo is a dance artist, educator, and somatic researcher who believes in the intelligent body each of us occupies. She is co-founder of ARCOS Dance, whose ongoing inquiry probes the intersection of technology and humanity through rigorous interdisciplinary experimentation. Erica’s extensive experience as a GYROKINESIS® and GYROTONIC® trainer guides her pedagogical methodology, which she brings in her capacity as lecturer in dance at the University of Texas at Austin and as a national teaching artist. Erica holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Shenandoah Conservatory and an MFA from Hollins University.

Perform[ing]ance

The Practice of Presence as Art Making (2018)

HaltForce Art Collective hosts Two-week Performance Residency
Billings, MT— August 3rd – August 18th, 2018

Artists from right here, around the corner, and afar explore a series of engaging and contemplative performance events. HaltForce Art Collective along with guest artists from Austin, Bozeman, Missoula, and Seattle will connect with artists in the Billings community to participate in a two-week exploration on how performance lives in our daily interactions and how the spaces between each can be blurred, simplified, curated, interpreted, and integrated. This 2018 performance residency artists will present new work, works in progress, along with performative pieces that will develop over the course of the residency. Over a period of two weeks artists will enter and exit the project sharing their interpretations on the theme.

This all starts Friday August 3rd at several locations in and around Billings and continues through the week with day time and evening studio sessions designed to bring perform[ing]ance into smaller less formal spaces. Saturday August 11th will feature an evening performance salon hosted at 2905 Event Center for community artists to share, observe, converse, contemplate, and even participate on the performative theme. The residency will round out with round table discussions over family style meals, field trips, and restorative self-care practices throughout the two-week residency. 

At the center of this two-week residency is an intention for self-organization and the conscious decision to not have agenda or expectations. To be present to the space and spaces we create. This is a long form inquiry on presence as performance. With that being said, there is an agenda, only in as much as you choose to use it. It can be a schedule, a program, or even a menu to allow some structure to our engagement. You may enter and exit as you desire, and you may amend and alter the selections as well.

“You cannot hide;
your growth as an artist is not separate from your growth as a human being: it is all visible.” ~ Anne Bogart

Perform(ing)ancePoster11x17.jpg

Community Gallery

Photos by John Speier (2018)

 

the Perform[ing]ance Menu

Perform[ing]ance | the practice of presence as art making moment to moment
August 2rd – 18th 2018 @ locations in & around Billings Montana 45.7833° N, 108.5007° W

Thursday August 2nd: Arrivals Part 1. Erica + Eliot
site specific performance on the theme of greeting and gratitude Location: Billings Logan International Airport 45.8035° N, 108.5379° W
Time: 10pm

Friday August 3rd: Carving Space
site specific movement practice on the theme of performing happiness Location: Swords Park 45.799181 N, 108.507822 W
Time: 6am

Friday August 3rd: Art!
multiple site-specific performances on the theme of interaction and engagement with Krista Leigh Pasini, Jayme C Green, Erica Gionfriddo, Eliot Fisher, Mike Pasini, Alys Marshall, Susan Kennedy Sommerfeld, Patrick Scott-Wilson and featured collaborator Allison Kazmierski hosted independently at the Annex. Location: downtown Billings 45.780553 N, 108.506646 W
Time: 5-9pm

Saturday August 4th: Intermission
non-movement practice on the theme of restoration. Location: residence or outdoor location of your choosing or as a group
Time: 7-12pm

Saturday August 4th: Field Testing
site-specific contemplative movement practice on the theme of listening led by Krista Leigh Pasini and community participants. Location: Veterans Park 45.796213, -108.549905
Time: 2pm

Sunday August 5th: Upward
site-specific performance on ascending and descending a mountain led by Mike Pasini, Travis Hunt, and Maki Yamashita. Location: Rock Island Lake Trailhead 45.015064, -109.810663
Time: 7am – 5pm

Monday August 6th: Sup
improvisational performance on the theme of community and conversation over dinner. Location: TBA (local park)
Time: 7pm

Monday August 6th: Arrivals, Part 2, Kate & Bruno
site-specific performance on the theme of introductions and gratitude. Location: Billings Logan International Airport 45.8035° N, 108.5379° W
Time 8-9pm

Tuesday August 7th: Office Hours
studio practice on the theme of contemplative movement led by Krista Leigh Pasini. Location: Sky Studio 45.781294, -108.518019
Time: 7-9pm

Wednesday August 8th: Introductions with Kate and Bruno
studio performance on the theme of inspiration & mentorship with Kate Jordan & Bruno Augusto. Location: Montana Dance Center 45.758320, -108.554254
Time: 7pm

Thursday August 9th: Something New
Afro Cuban modern dance class, open to the public, led by Bruno Augusto. Location: Montana Dance Center 45.758320, -108.554254
Time: 5-6:30pm

Thursday August 9th: Read Aloud
reading of a new stage play written by Adrian Jawort titled “We’re Not Ready”. With dedicated time for discussion and workshop. Location: Sky Studio 45.781294, -108.518019
Time 5-7pm

Thursday August 9th: Office Hours
a long form, dynamic, performative study on the genesis, creation, and evolution of tension, character, and story led by Camille Griep. Location: Sky Studio 45.781294, -108.518019
Time 7-9pm

Friday August 10th: Carving Space
site-specific movement practice on the theme of reorganization led by Krista Leigh Pasini. Location: Pioneer Park 45.788062, -108.523761
Time: 6am

Friday August 10th: Mingle
Dreyfest Poetry Jam. A hosted event for poetry, spoken word, and performance. Camille Griep reading From the Kitchen of Helena Wilson and Billie Parrott performing Restrictions Apply [void where prohibited]. Location: Craft Local 45.783254, -108.500840
Time: 6:30pm

Friday August 10th: Settle, Part 1
Moving in and into the performance space. Location: 2905 Event Center 45.780553, -108.506646
Time: TBA (daytime)

Saturday August 11th: Settle, Part 2
Setting up and preparing the performance space. Location: 2905 Event Center 45.780553, -108.506646
Time: 10-5pm

Saturday August 11th: Perform[ing]ance
performance-based salon on the theme of performing and performance with Bruno Augusto and Kate Jordan, Erica Gionfriddo and Eliot Gray Fisher, Jayme C Green, Krista Leigh Pasini, Camille Griep, Sara Kremer, Maribel Parman and John Speier, with featured work from Mike Pasini & Nick Olsen. And guests. Location: 2905 Event Center 45.780553, -108.506646
Time: 7pm

Sunday August 12th: Departures, Part 1
site-specific performance on the theme of goodbyes. Location: Billings Logan International Airport 45.8035° N, 108.5379° W
Time: 5am

Sunday August 12th: Wander
site-specific performance on observing and improvisational composition. Location: Tippet Rise Art Center (free, but reservations required in advance. Reserve here) 45.475889, -109.570552
Time: 7am-5pm

Monday August 13th: Intermission
a non-movement practice on the theme of stillness and restorative intentions. Location: residence, or outdoor location of your choosing or as a group
Time: 7am-12pm

Monday August 13th: Sup
improvisational performance on the theme of community and conversation over dinner. Location: TBA (local park)
Time: 7pm

Tuesday August 14th: Office Hours
studio practice (details TBA). Location: Sky Studio 45.781294, -108.518019
Time: 7-9pm

Wednesday August 15th: Office Hours
studio practice (details TBA). Location: 2905 Event Center 45.780553, -108.506646
Time: 7-9pm

Thursday August 16th: Office Hours
studio practice (details TBA). Location: Sky Studio 45.781294, -108.518019
Time: 7-9pm

Friday August 17th: Carving Space
site-specific movement practice on the theme of expansion. Location: Boot hill 45.802923, -108.480463
Time: 6am

Friday August 17th: Office Hours, Composition
studio practice, open to a select audience (details TBA). Location: 2905 Event Center 45.780553, -108.506646
Time: 7-9pm

Saturday August 18th: Departures Part 2
site-specific performance on the theme of goodbyes.

Saturday August 18th: Curtain Call & Encore
time-based performance on the theme of technology and connection as a conduit for community. Location: Life/Earth
Time: ALWAYS


 In the Ever Now (August 2016)

unnamed.jpg

a new kind of arts experience

August 1-12th, 2016 in Billings will be the site of a creative exchange with local and visiting artists. Drawing on shared themes, collaborators will experiment to innovate contemporary storytelling and invite the public to a new kind of hybrid art experience.

EverNow-BillingsGazette-1.jpg

Find the beauty in the construct we've all helped in creating. For without art, a blank slate. Without our memory, we'll forget. And without an attachment to the environment around us, we lose ground.

Artists: Jayme C Green, Eliot Gray Fisher, Erica Gionfriddo, Krista Leigh Pasini, Tanner Bolin, Katie Conrad, Carly Mann, Alys Marshall, Anna Paige, Patrick Scott-Wilson, Nate Petterson, Billie Parrott, Maribel Parman, Michael Pasini, Fieldhouse Cafe. Sponsored in part by Goddard College

PC: Anna Paige + Patrick Scott-Wilson + Casey Paige 

The Tug of War: Where Conflict Resides (August 2014)

TugofWar_Postcard.jpg

A collaborative multi-media performance featuring 40 artists at Billings Open Studio

"We and you ought not to pull on the ends of a rope which you have tied the knots of war. Because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be tied. And then it will be necessary to cut that knot, and what that would mean is not for me to explain to you. I have participated in two wars and know that war ends when it has rolled through cities and villages, everywhere sowing death and destruction. For such is the logic of war. If people do not display wisdom, they will clash like blind moles and then mutual annihilation will commence." ~ Robert McNamara qting Khrushchev in the film Fog of War (2003).

Artists: Dan Mont Eton, Corina Kinnear, Dave Caserio, Parker Brown, Troy Kreiger, Matt Taggart, Camille Griep, Ethan Stewart, Ricki Feeley, Amber Nichols, Billie Parrott, Heather Sather, Kersey Voss, Jessica Hannesson, Frankie Parrot, Katie Conrad, Kate Blakeslee, Allison Kazmierski, Heather Sather, Olivia Brown, Hunter Howe, Teal Darkenwald (contributing choreographer), Kira Fercho, Vincent Severo, Jayme Green, Patrick Scott-Wilson, Riley Wisler, Sam Phillips, Dave Schanno, Chris Monson, Nicolle Ament, and students from the Billings Dance Academy. Flagship sponsor: CMYK Community.

PC: Allison Kazmierski + Doug James

GREAT DIVIDE | CAMILLE GRIEP
In old paintings, the land was shaped just so - cradling our collective dreams. If it were ourselves, our own hearts we’d painted, they’d be as purple as the mountains’ majesty. Half the hearts followed the blue oceans, a coastline of song. The rest stayed to work in the red sun, to build the new and the brave.
They dismiss our music. We eschew their sculpture. All of us fail to write the great American novel.

//translated from “The Gift Outright.” by Robert Frost//
Rehearsal Footage for Great Divide * America Tug of War: Where Conflict Resides (2014) Movers: Krista Leigh Pasini Creator: Camille Griep Music: America by S...

We performed our favorite Simon & Garfunkel song, "America", for Paul Simon at the Polar Music Prize Award Ceremony. The ceremony took place at the Concert H...


Heather Sather. Photo by Doug James (2014)

Heather Sather. Photo by Doug James (2014)

America Simon & Garfunkel | Lyrics by Paul Simon (1965)

Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together
I've got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies
And we walked off to look for America
Cathy I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said be careful his bowtie is really a camera
Toss me a cigarette I think there's one in the raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field
Cathy I'm lost I said though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America

Tug of War: Where Conflict Resides

On your Ear | Audience
Echoed Voices
| Ethan Stewart, Allison Kazmierski, Heather Sather, Michelle Chenoweth, and Daniel Mont Eton
Memories Hung
| Rope Chorus
A Shovel of Dirt, May I present to you
| Kersey Voss, Michael Pasini
Hope
| Nicolle Ament (choreographer), Kate Blakeslee and Troy Krieger
Imagine
| Nicolle Ament (choreographer), Kate Blakeslee, Hanna Ament, Kayla Sutton, Robbin Sitton, Troy Krieger, Parker Brown
Great Divide
| Camille Griep
America
| Camille Griep (choreographer), Heather Sather, Krista Leigh Pasini
My Battle
| Jayme Green, Olivia Brown, Parker Brown, Troy Krieger
A Terrible Music
| Dave Caserio and Parker Brown
Apples to Apples
| Matt Taggart, Ricki Feeley and Terpsichore Dance Co.
Inequity of Resources
| Rope Chorus
Peacemaker … Die
| Corina Kinnear, Jake Batts
Senators Sons
| Riley Wisler, Jayme Green, Patrick Scott-Wilson (director), Hanna Ament, Kayla Sutton
A bundle of “nots”
| Rope Chorus
From the Kitchen of Helena Wilson
| Camille Griep
To the Teeth
| Amber Nichols
An Accepted Lot
| Rope Chorus
Errant Tension
| Jayme Green, Riley Wisler, Hunter Howe
Years
| Daniel Mont Eton and Corrina Kinnear
Vermont Etiology
| Dave Caserio, Parker Brown and Chris Monson
Gone
| Teal Darkenwald (choreographer), Heather Sather, Allison Kazmierski, Kate Blakeslee, Krista Leigh Pasini, Olivia Brown
Clean Slate
| Michael Pasini and Troy Krieger
We Ask of You
| Full Cast
Apple Bite Bow
| Full Cast