Jewish
Flavor

aula Kramer has
choreographed
2sN dances with Jewish
content and intent,
but they are not just for
Jewish audiences.
As co-founder and co-direc-
tor of Detroit Dance Collective
(DDC) with Barbara Selinger,
Ms. Kramer offers ethnic chore-
ography with universal themes
as part of the troupe's total
repertoire, which she varies
from year to year and brings to
audiences and classrooms
across the state.
Selections from that reper-
toire will be performed March
18 at Macomb Center for the
Performing Arts in Clinton
Township, where her program,
"On Target With Dance," will
feature two new numbers.
In conjunction with that per-
formance, there will be work-
shops for young people, who will
watch the entire company of
eight in original routines and
have a chance to participate
along with them. Conversations
with the artists also are
planned.
"The evening at Macomb
Center is for the general com-
munity, and they will see the
full works that children preview
in the morning," explained Ms.
Kramer, whose nonprofit com-
pany was formed 14 years ago.
"The dances will be very the-
atrical and have video and slide
projections."
The 10 a.m. preview for
youngsters, sponsored by Tar-
get stores, will include discus-
sions about putting dances
together, finding inspiration
and integrating theatrical cos-
tuming and music.
A similar program, spon-
sored by Hudson's, will be held
March 15 and 16 at Oakland
Community College in Royal
Oak, where DDC is the dance
company in residence. Some
300 students will stay on cam-
pus to take classes with the
troupe.
Since its inception, the DDC
directors have searched for in-
novative ways to express their

.

The Royal Oak-
based Detroit
Dance Collective
has some
Jewish themes
for general
audiences.

SUZANNE CHESSLER

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Paula
Kramer

ideas through modern dance
and jazz and have collaborated
with artists from other fields in-
cluding architecture and sculp-
ture, frequently presenting a
multi-media approach.
During the March perfor-
mances, audiences will see the
premiere of "Dancing on a Line
in Time," a piece planned by
Ms. Selinger based on the
works of Michigan poet Barbara
Swanson. A video by Ms.
Kramer's husband, Tom, and
Kevin Gibson provides a multi-
media effect by showing the per-
formers on tape as they are
performing live.
"Earthbeat" is the first col-
laboration of the company's
artistic directors, who merged
segments they had been work-
ing on individually.
"Our movement principles
are the same, and the segments
just seemed to go together," Ms.
Kramer said about the dance
that is set to percussion instru-
ments.
"We actually formal DDC be-
cause we wanted a platform for
our work," explained Ms.
Kramer, who no longer dances
with the troupe. "There was no
place to go so we had to do it for
ourselves. We pay our dancers

for every rehearsal, every per-
formance and every class that
they teach."
Ms. Kramer and Ms. Sel-
inger organized DDC with
dancers they met at Wayne
State University. They hold au-
ditions for new talent once a
year.
Since moving to Oakland
Community College in 1983,
the troupe members teach both

March 15-16
programs at 0CC
will involve 300
students.

credit and community classes
and use the facilities to conduct
rehearsals.
"I think that our choreogra-
phy has become more sophis-
ticated, but we remain the same
in that we consider ourselves a
classical modern dance compa-
ny, keeping a strong relation-
ship to the traditions of modem
dance while still using a great
deal of technology."
Ms. Kramer's career falls

somewhat in step with her
background. Her mother loved
dancing and won Charleston
contests in Cleveland, where
Ms. Kramer studied her art
before moving to Michigan 30
years ago.
"Modern dancing touched
something very deeply, and I
knew that dance was a power-
ful communicative instrument,"
she recalled. "I knew that's
what I needed to do in one way
or another.
"I went back to school when
I was 32, and it took me 10
years to graduate. My main
thrust was not in performing. I
wanted to choreograph, teach
and be a dance educator."
While DDC is available for
formal concerts (15-20 each
year), lecture/demonstrations,
master classes and classes for
the community, some of Ms.
Kramer's most rewarding ex-
periences have taken place as
she works with public-school
students.
"My favorite story took place
in a Detroit school," said the
choreographer, who adminis-
ters Summer Camp of the Arts
for Children and was named
1990 Michigan Dance Teacher
JEWISH FLAVOR page 73

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