The beautifully constructed dance worlds of Seattle-based choreographer Kate Wallich meld with the gloriously ornate theatrical music of pop/electronic hero Perfume Genius to create the evening-length The Sun Still Burns Here. This radical integration of dance and live music features outstanding performers burning through a postmodern swirl of classical and contemporary movement. The piece delves into what the artists describe as “a spiritual unraveling of romantic decay.” (Seattle Times).
Kate Wallich is a Seattle-based choreographer, director and educator. Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2015, she has left a significant mark in the Pacific Northwest through commissions and presentations from leading local, national and international institutions including: On the Boards, Seattle Theater Group, Velocity Dance Center, Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Whim W’Him and Northwest Dance Project, Walker Art Center with Liquid Music, MASS MoCa, The Joyce Theater, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Newfields/IMA, ICA Boston, Danse and SPOTLIGHT: USA in Bulgaria. In 2010, she co-founded her company The YC with Lavinia Vago and has gone on to create five evening-length works and three large-scale, site-specific works with the company. Also in 2010, she founded an all-abilities, community-focused class Dance Church® (no religious affiliation) which reaches over 550+ attendees per week and is taught weekly by professional dance artists in New York City, Seattle, Portland, Indianapolis, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and more. Dance Church has partnered with local and national organizations including Gibney, Mark Morris Dance Center, LA Dance Project, Newfields/IMA, BodyVox, Adidas Studio London, Velocity, On the Boards, The Sweat Spot, Design Week Portland and goop among others.
“Mike Hadreas, the artist better known as Perfume Genius, has always been a physically expressive performer, and he’s made dance a crucial part of his generally stunning live shows and videos. And now he’s about to make it a focus.” —Stereogum
In 2016, she founded Studio Kate Wallich, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to cultivating a community of artists and the public through dance-based, design-forward experiences. Through the support of the Studio, Wallich founded YC2—a new platform for dance professionals—in 2016. Wallich was a 2013 and 2015 Rauschenberg Residency Fellow and a 2018 Ucross Foundation Fellow, and has received awards and grants from 4Culture, Artist Trust, The Glenn H. Kawasaki Foundation, MANA Contemporary, and Seattle Magazine. She has been a Visiting Artist at the National Center for Choreography at University of Akron, University of Washington, University of Oregon and University of Utah as well as Cornish College of the Arts and Beloit College.
The YC was co-founded by Kate Wallich and Lavinia Vago in 2010 and is a program of Studio Kate Wallich. The YC is comprised of world-class dance artists who research and collaborate on new works under Artistic Director Kate Wallich and Rehearsal Director Lavinia Vago. The company has premiered five evening-length works and multiple short-form works including Super Eagle (Velocity Dance Center, 2014), Splurge Land (On the Boards, 2015), Industrial Ballet (Velocity Dance Center/Seattle Theater Group, 2016), Dream Dances (On the Boards, 2017) and The Sun Still Burns Here (Seattle Theater Group/The Joyce Theater/MASS MoCa, 2019). Additionally, The YC has toured nationally and internationally to acclaimed institutions Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Boris Hristov House of Culture in Bulgaria, and Newfields/IMA; upcoming tours include The Joyce Theater, Walker Art Center, and ICA Boston. The company also works on design and film projects that have been presented as books, in forums, at film festivals and on the internet.
“[Wallich’s work] will undeniably lure you and immerse you somewhere far from the workaday world.” —The Seattle Times
Perfume Genius is the nom de poster-wraith of American pop-star Mike Hadreas, whose 2014 breakout album Too Bright marked a musical and performative leap that sounds unlike anything before or since. With the songs on his wildly acclaimed Blake Mills-produced, GRAMMY nominated 2017 album No Shape, he’s gone even further, merging church music, makeout music, R&B, art pop, krautrock, and queer soul into his take on stadium anthems. This is church music the same way Prince’s Black Album is — too dirty. And it is femme art pop the way Kate Bush’s The Dreaming is — too scary — its emotions arranged all along the slippery continuum from rage to irony to love. Perfume Genius has graced the stages of late night television shows (Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with David Letterman, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert), prominent venues including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley, and Forest Hills Stadium in New York among many others. They have been featured in publications including GQ, New York Times, Pitchfork, The Guardian, Vogue, and the cover of The FADER.
Copresented by the SPCO’s Liquid Music Series. The concerts take place Thursday through Saturday, December 5–7, at 8pm.
TICKETS
Tickets
for the show are $35 ($28 Walker members and Liquid Music/SPCO
subscribers). For more information, call the box office at
612.375.7600 or visit online at walkerart.org/tickets.
RELATED
EVENT
Saturday, December 7, 10:30am, The Cowles Center’s TEK
BOX Theater
Join Kate Wallich and company for Dance Church®, an all-abilities movement class that offers a fun and inclusive approach to dancing. Tickets and information at walkerart.org.
Read more
W
Magazine on The Sun Still Burns Here
Seattle
Magazine review
Pitchfork review
Fashion + Lifestyle 