Dance6 Info Lunch and Workshop with Visiting Artist Yvonne Montoya

Dance6 Info Lunch & Workshop with Visiting Artist Yvonne Montoya

Please RSVP for lunch: pherminjard@coloradocollege.edu or tschwarzman2025@coloradocollege.edu by Noon, Monday, September 29.

Event Details:
📅 Tuesday, September 30
🕛 12–2:30 p.m.
📍 Cossitt Hall Dance Lounge/Gym
Join us for an “eat and greet” and workshop with Yvonne Montoya, Artistic Executive Director of Safos Dance Theater (Tucson, AZ) and the visiting artist for the Dance6 Mainstage Production Of Earth and Error.
The afternoon begins with an Info Lunch, where you can meet Yvonne and learn more about Dance6. Following lunch, participate in an immersive workshop exploring her creative process and the movement aesthetics of the Southwest—engaging dance, movement, and embodied research.
This year’s Dance6 offers opportunities to:

• Enroll in Dance6 Intensive | DA212 (1.25 units) with Yvonne Montoya during Block 5
• Or join the extended Dance Adjunct (1 unit) rehearsing in Blocks 3–6 with Patrizia Herminjard

Both instructors will choreograph new works for the Block 6 Mainstage Production.
✨ All are welcome—come learn more about Dance6 and get moving!

Please RSVP for lunch by noon, Monday, September 29: pherminjard@coloradocollege.edu or tschwarzman2025@coloradocollege.edu. 

Questions? Email theatredance@coloradocollege.edu or follow us on Instagram: @cctheatredancemoving!

How does it feel to look at nothing

yuniya edi kwon (she/her)- (www.yuniya.net) is a violinist, vocalist, and interdisciplinary performance artist based in New York City. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, Creative Capital Awardee, Foundation for Contemporary Arts Robert Rauschenberg Awardee, Arts Fellow at Princeton University, Civitella Ranieri Fellow, and United States Artists Fellow. 

What is War?

Created and performed by Eiko Otake and Wen Hui

📅Friday, October 3, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

📅Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.

📍 Norberg Studio A, Cornerstone Arts Center
825 North Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80903

About the Artists

Wen Hui (b. 1960) is a Chinese performer, choreographer, and filmmaker currently working in Europe. She grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution.
Eiko Otake (b. 1952) is a Japanese performer, choreographer, and filmmaker based in New York who grew up in post-war Japan.

About the Work

In January 2020, Otake visited Hui in China for a month. The pandemic forced their collaboration to continue across distance, leading to the creation of the award-winning feature-length documentary No Rule Is Our Rule. In that process, the artists began examining the personal memories they carry in their bodies, a practice that eventually brought them together in the U.S.

The result is What Is War? — a commissioned performance work for the Walker Art Center, CAP UCLA, Jacob’s Pillow, and Colorado College’s Theatre & Dance Department. Through a tapestry of language, movement, and video, Hui and Otake share intimate memories tied to war. Their interwoven stories invite the audience to reflect on their own relationship to war, both historically and personally.

Content Advisory:

This performance contains nudity and addresses themes of war and violence.

Additional Info

Admission: This event has limited seating. To attend, you must reserve tickets in advance and provide the name of each person in your party. Reserve your spot HERE

Upcoming events

Coming This December: Laughing on the Edge

This year’s mainstage theatre production will be created through a Block 4 course running from Nov. 17–Dec. 17, 2025. Instead of a traditional audition process, students will enroll in TH212 Theatre Mainstage Production: Laughing on the Edge: Staging the Short Plays of Christopher Durang based on their interest in exploring a collaborative production laboratory.

Guided by our new Assistant Professor of Theatre, Shannon R. Davis, the course will immerse students in the rehearsal and staging process, culminating in a public performance in early December.

Stay tuned for finalized performance dates and ticket information!

Dance6: Of Earth and Error

Dance6 is the collective name for the courses, workshops, and events that culminate in our annual Block 6 Mainstage Dance Production.

This year’s production, Of Earth and Error, will feature new choreography by visiting artist Yvonne Montoya (artistic executive director of Safos Dance Theater) and faculty member Patrizia Herminjard. The work explores environmental themes, embodied memory, and the “glitches” that make up the human experience.

📅 Performances:

• February 27–28, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.

• February 29, 2026 at 2 p.m.

• March 6–7, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.

📍 Venue: Cornerstone Arts Center

Stay tuned for more updates as Dance6 unfolds throughout the year!

Courses to Check out!

In this hands-on course, students will explore the art and practice of costume design—an essential part of any production. Through script reading, music, movement, and visual research, you’ll learn how to generate design questions and experiment with a variety of 2-D rendering techniques. The course includes sewing and pattern-drafting skills, plus opportunities for hands-on learning with garments from Colorado College’s extensive costume collection. Class discussions will also consider fashion history and analyze current trends in media and performance.

📅 Block 2
🕘 Mon–Fri, 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
📍 CAC Costume Shop 403
👩‍🏫 Instructor: SB Parks
👥 Enrollment limited to 10 students

TH217 / EN286 Playwriting

What can a play do? This course investigates that question through a series of writing exercises designed to reveal and nurture the writer’s voice. Students will explore the elements that comprise a script — including dialogue, monologue, subtext, character, structure, action, language, and imagery — all in service to imagination, intentionality, and expression meant to be realized in performance.

📅 Block 3
🕘 Mon–Fri, 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
📍 Cornerstone 302
👨‍🏫 Instructor: Giovanni Ortega
👥 Enrollment limited to 25 students

New Faculty and Staff

Theatre Faculty 

Shannon Davis joins us as Assistant Professor of Theatre. Davis is a director, storyteller, and educator whose work blends ancient texts, devising, satire, and puppetry to uplift underrepresented voices. 

Kate Aronson brings more than 25 years of professional experience as an actor, director, writer, and teacher. She has taught in professional training programs, directed a wide range of plays, and co-founded several performance groups.

Sean Verdu is a Colorado Springs–based performing artist and fight choreographer. With training from East 15 Acting School in London, Sean has performed internationally and brings over 17 years of experience in fight choreography.

Dance Faculty

Adam Dickerson ’13 is a Colorado native, CC alum, and founder of Fooju Dance Collaborative. His career includes work with Graham 2, H.T. Chen & Dancers, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and teaching in studios across NYC and LA. He now returns to Colorado Springs to continue blending dance, fitness, and community.

Aoi Koenig (née Funakoshi) trained in classical ballet in Japan and earned her BFA in Dance from the University of Cincinnati. She has toured with international dance companies and now teaches in Colorado Springs while performing with Ormao.

Staff

Tawni Schwarzman recently joined the department as Academic Administrative Assistant. Tawni supports departmental operations, budgets, event planning, and student engagement.