SHOWS RUN JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 8, 2020
JANUARY 31 – FEBRUARY 8, 2020
Returning for the 10th year, Polaris Dance Theatre’s Groovin’ Greenhouse will host an array of emerging and established Portland-area dance artists during the city-wide Fertile Ground Festival of New Work! Audience members will enjoy a taste of what the Portland Dance Community has to offer in this sensational festival featuring local artists, dance companies, and organizations. Polaris’ own Dance Company, ELa FaLa Collective, and Junior + NEO Companies are set to perform. This production is always a huge success and one of our most highly anticipated events, so be sure to reserve your seat ahead of time as performances often sell out!
Fertile Ground is a non-juried festival of world premiere works in a variety of artistic genres. It features world premiere projects from the Portland creative community, from fully staged world premiere works of theater to experimental and ensemble-driven work, workshops, productions, readings, and many other performance events and collaborations including dance, music, comedy, and visual art. Each participant produces their own event, with Fertile Ground as an umbrella of publicity, marketing, and consulting support.
Email Sara at sara@polarisdance.org with any questions.
Check out this years schedule below:
2020 PERFORMANCE DATES
Friday, Jan 31 | 8:00pm
- Polaris Company
- ELa FaLa Collective
- Mark Koenigsberg + Sara Naegelin
Saturday, Feb 1 | 8:00pm
- Polaris Company
- ELa FaLa Collective
- Polaris Junior Company + NEO Youth Company
Sunday, Feb 2 | 2:30pm
- Polaris Company
- ELa FaLa Collective
- ELXR Dance Company
Friday, Feb 7 | 8:00pm
- Polaris Company
- ELa FaLa Collective
- Mark Koenigsberg + Sara Naegelin
- Central Catholic Dance
Saturday, Feb 8 | 8:00pm
- Polaris Company
- ELa FaLa Collective
- NW Fusion
2020 PERFORMING ARTISTS
Polaris Dance Theatre
Performs Jan 31, Feb 1, 7, 8 @ 8:00pm + Feb 2 @ 2:30pm
Polaris Company and ELa FaLa Collective from Polaris Dance Theatre will merge together for the first time to unveil the creation of a new everchanging dance work. Artistic Directors from both companies, Robert Guitron and Barbara Lima, will work together to curate an innovative, dance theatre inspired creation. Each performance will be a new work involving interactions between dancers, audience members, and directors as they create a performance piece before your eyes. This process will include vocal and physical prompts, music and lighting cues, and more. The traditional rules are broken as the ideas of performer and audience member are blurred. This piece is playful and process oriented, a unique experience you don’t want to miss!
ELa FaLa Collective
Performs Jan 31, Feb 1, 7, 8 @ 8:00pm + Feb 2 @ 2:30pm
www.polarisdance.org/ela-fala-collective
Polaris Company and ELa FaLa Collective from Polaris Dance Theatre will merge together for the first time to unveil the creation of a new everchanging dance work. Artistic Directors from both companies, Robert Guitron and Barbara Lima, will work together to curate an innovative, dance theatre inspired creation. Each performance will be a new work involving interactions between dancers, audience members, and directors as they create a performance piece before your eyes. This process will include vocal and physical prompts, music and lighting cues, and more. The traditional rules are broken as the ideas of performer and audience member are blurred. This piece is playful and process oriented, a unique experience you don’t want to miss!
Mark Koenigsberg + Sara Naegelin
Performs Jan 31 + Feb 7 @ 8:00pm
Freelance Artists
Four years after performing their duet TRACES, local Portland artists, Sara and Mark return with a dance celebrating their friendship and their love of moving together entitled “TIME FOR THREE”. They are joined on-stage by cellist and wizard of instruments, Emily Dalfoist. If this piece is about anything, it’s the magic of arms and legs, of two bodies
moving separately and in unison through time and space. It’s born of the dancers’ wish to bring joy, humor, and lightness to themselves and to others. They’re having fun creating it (still), and they hope you enjoy watching.
Polaris Junior Company & NEO Youth Company
Performs Feb 1 @ 8:00pm
www.polarisdance.org/career-track/
Polaris Dance Theatre’s Junior + NEO Youth Companies will be performing a variety of new work-in-progress that will be fully produced in April 2020. These companies are under the direction of Artistic Director, M’Liss Quinnly.
ELXR Dance Company
Performs Feb 2 @ 2:30pm
ELXR Dance Company is a theatrical dance company located in Portland, OR who will be presenting an excerpt from their world premiere full length production, “Shipwreck’d”. This production tells a story of a group of passengers boarding a ship for a fun adventure only to find themselves in the middle of a catastrophic crash on an island far from civilization. The dancers present a story of disaster, bravery and survival.
Central Catholic Dance Program
Performs Feb 7 @ 8:00pm
Central Catholic Dance Program will present works-in-progress. The goal of this program is to help students grow as dancers, performers, and as a team. They are a brand new program with high hopes for the future. The program’s moderator is Katie Prentiss.
NW Fusion
Performs Feb 8 @ 8:00pm
NW Fusion is a youth company located in Tigard, OR under the direction of Brad Hampton. These talented youth dancers will perform new excerpts of their repertoire for the 2019-2020 season. Their pieces vary in style from tap to contemporary dance and are guaranteed not to disappoint. Their performance showcases the company’s versatility and athleticism while demonstrating their strong ability to bring the audience in with their mesmerizing stage presence.
Fertile Ground Overview:
Fertile Ground is a non-juried festival of world premiere works in a variety of artistic genres. It features world premiere projects from the Portland creative community, from fully staged world premiere works of theater to experimental and ensemble-driven work, workshops productions, readings, and many other performance events and collaborations including dance, music, comedy, visual art. Each participant produces their own event, with Fertile Ground as an umbrella of publicity, marketing and consulting support.
Unlike a typical fringe festival, Fertile Ground’s focus is offering the finest work of our local theater and dance companies, as well as multi-disciplinary artists. This ensures that the artistic and financial benefits of the festival stay in Portland, while the festival showcases what Portland ‘s creative community has to offer far beyond. Where other new works festivals are curated by one organization and typically feature a string of staged readings, Fertile Ground opens the door to all creative voices. In a concentrated, 10-day timeframe, audiences can choose from a vast depth and breadth of works at all different stages in the creative process. For these reasons, Fertile Ground is nationally unique, providing a new model for creating and publicizing new work that will be of substantive value to the national theater, dance and arts conversation.