Ellen Sinopoli is bringing pop-up dance shows to venues near you

TIMES UNION // By Tresca Weinstein //

Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company plans to celebrate its 35th anniversary with 35 free shows at venues both traditional and unusual around the region.

Dance is considered the oldest of all the art forms, but for many people, it’s also the most unfamiliar and intimidating — particularly modern dance. That’s a stereotype that the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company has been working to overcome for 35 years now.

In honor of that milestone anniversary, the troupe is laying out the welcome mat — literally — to demystify modern dance and attract new audiences to the form. Over the next 10 months, ESDC will be celebrating its 35th year with 35 free performances at both traditional and out-of-the-box venues, including libraries, museums, a general store and the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market.

At some locations, such as the kickoff event for the series on Friday at Universal Preservation Hall and the Arts Center of the Capital Region on Sept. 26, most attendees will be expecting to see the company when they perform. For other shows, audiences may be taken off guard by the performance. Ticket holders for the Neil Diamond musical “A Beautiful Noise” at Proctors on Sept. 28, for example, will encounter the dance performance as they enter the theater lobby.

Each installment in the “Putting Out the Welcome Mat” series is just 30 minutes long and features both short pieces and excerpts from longer works that Sinopoli has created over the years.

“We’re selecting specific, accessible repertory that we can keep rotating and changing slightly for who we think the audience will be at a particular venue,” the choreographer explained in a recent interview.

The set is also designed for maximum flexibility: At each location, whether indoors or out, the company will create its own 12-by-15-foot “stage” made of interlocking foam mats. The construction takes just five minutes to assemble and five minutes to break down, Sinopoli said. As part of the streamlined approach, ESDC will bring along a portable sound system, and each dancer will wear one costume throughout the performance.

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for the venue, the audiences and the dancers,” Sinopoli said.

“Putting Out the Welcome Mat” is the brainchild of Kim Engel, a founding member of ESDC who danced with the company for 13 years and is now on its board of directors. A passionate dance fan since the age of 3, Engel spent two decades as associate director of the Performing Arts Center at the University at Albany, shepherding dance and theater productions. She says the series, which is supported by grants and donations, not only marks a milestone for Sinopoli, but also addresses the dwindling of dance offerings and audiences in an area that was once known for its robust support of the form.

“I’ve always worked in dance, presenting dance and making projects happen, and right now I’m quite concerned about dance in the Capital Region,” Engel shared. “Grassroots–level dance is happening everywhere, at colleges and by individual artists, but we’re losing the commitment of local venues to presenting concert dance on stage.”

Reductions in federal arts funding, along with current renovations at several venues, including The Egg, the Spa Little Theater at SPAC and Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, have contributed to the recent dearth of dance performances, Sinopoli noted.

“It seems like everywhere you look, for various reasons, people are not presenting dance,” she said. “This series can’t really replace that, but it can help fill in where all these empty places are now. It also has the potential to create new dance fans by reaching people who may not decide to come to a dance concert per se, but they can have an enjoyable experience and be intrigued by what dance is all about.”

Outside of the “Welcome Mat” appearances, ESDC will perform its annual concert on April 25 at The Egg, which became its home base in 1992. Since then, the company has performed in dozens of arts venues and festivals around the state, offered outreach programming throughout the region, and Sinopoli has choreographed more than 100 original works.

Some of her most ambitious projects were made in partnership with regional collaborators, including Troy sculptor Jim Lewis, architect Frances Bronet, who was formerly with RPI, and UAlbany physics professor Keith Earle.

“I don’t think I would still be doing this if that collaborative element didn’t somehow evolve and blossom,” Sinopoli said. “As long as people keep coming to me with ideas, as long as dancers keep showing up for auditions and wanting to work, and as long as the audience is there, whatever its size, then I keep plugging along.”