Fort Wayne Dance Collective Presents Annual Halloween Show
Fort Wayne Dance Collective (FWDC) presents its annual Halloween show, “Spectacle of Spirits”, featuring original dance pieces performed by Fort Wayne Dance Collective’s professional Touring Company, South Side High School dance students, and students studying movement arts in both FWDC’s on-site and outreach programs. New to this year’s production, audience members will experience live vocalists, musicians, aerialists, and two special guest dance companies. This year’s guest artists in residence include Amaneceres De México Dance, Fort Wayne’s Mexican Folk Dance Company, and Calpulli Mexican Dance Company from New York, NY.
This Fort Wayne favorite traditionally features hip hop, contemporary, and modern dance genres to tell an original story. For the first time in 2021, the Halloween show incorporated a cultural component. Six Haitian guest artists shared their traditional artistry through a plot centered around Vodou. For this year’s Halloween Show, the team at FWDC wanted to continue this opportunity to explore other cultures and to educate the Fort Wayne community. FWDC Artistic Director, Mandie Kolkman, has been working with community members and guest artists to create a fantastical tale emanating from Mexican culture and resolving in a beautiful celebration for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
First-year Halloween show choreographer, Faith Patterson, is excited to share her cultural heritage and be directly involved in the creative process for a Día de los Muertos inspired show. “My piece is a traditional Aztec tribal dance that features a lot of footwork. Day of the Dead comes from Aztec culture and a lot of people don’t know that, so it’s very important to me that I highlight the origin of this celebration.” Patterson adds that “it means a lot to me that we are making Day of the Dead more known to people. Bringing this into our community is important because we want everyone to celebrate their loved ones with us. I’m excited for others to learn more about it and see how truly beautiful it is.”
Live performances of “Spectacle of Spirits” will be held at the Parkview Physicians Group ArtsLab at 300 E Main St. on October 21st (8:00pm), October 22nd (2:00pm & 8:00pm), and October 23rd (2:00pm). All tickets to “Spectacle of Spirits” are $20 and a video recording will be available for $15. Tickets can be purchased by calling 260.422.4226 or visiting fwdc.org.
FWDC’s “Spectacle of Spirits” performance is funded in part by National Endowment for the Arts with additional contributions from Indiana Arts Commission, Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne, Northeast Indiana Regional Arts Council, Cable Fund Access Board, Foellinger Foundation, and Flagstar Foundation.
Fort Wayne Dance Collective is a non-profit arts organization located in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana. FWDC’s mission is to inspire and empower people of all identities, abilities, and stages of life through movement arts. In the 2022 fiscal year, FWDC served 36,727 people throughout Northeast Indiana and has provided scholarships, community programming, classes, and performances for the past 43 years.
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