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WALRUS Performance Productions, directed by Andre Bouchard, is a dance and performance art not-for-profit based in Seattle, WA. WALRUS seeks to create works that question, challenge, and touch audience members. We draw from the expertise of our six company members to create a rich and varied approach to the topics of performance and story telling. We encourage innovative new performances in our community through the following:
WALRUS Performance Productions runs The Walrus Theater located in the arts center of Seattle Capitol Hill. We provide inexpensive, long term rehearsal rentals for over a dozen dance or theater companies in the Seattle area through our Resident Partner Program. Current resident groups in The Walrus Theater include: NorthWest Dance Syndrome, Outsiders Inn Theater Collective, Manifold Motion, and Nathan Dryden.
WALRUS produces promising break-through artists in the performing arts fields of dance, performance art, theater, film, and music whose works due to their genre or philosophy might have difficulty being aired.
WALRUS Dance Company is dedicated to creating works of performance that shed the skin of popular convention. We deliberately present performances that challenge our audiences; we invite our audiences to engage their sense of aesthetic and to connect with characters and stories on a physical, mental, and emotional level. By blending familiar techniques in unfamiliar ways, we seek to disorient prejudice and to free our performances of the boundaries customary in spectator/spectacle relationships.
David Fewster was a 2003-2004 recipient of an AIP grant from the Tacoma Arts Commission for his book "Diary of a Homeless Alcoholic Suicidal Maniac & Other Picture Postcards" ("raw, funny, foulmouthed, Tacoma-centric"--Jen Graves, TNT; "humor and sadness come through as well as they would in a personal reading on stage"--REAL CHANGE), while Heidi Fosner is an urban gardener, social activist, volunteer at the Tacoma Catholic Worker's Guadalupe House, freelance journalist for Victory Music Review, AND songwriter.
Folksingers in Hell, the partnership of poet David Fewster and singer/songwriter Heidi Fosner, have a highly personal vision of the recent past, current present, and not-too-distant future of Tacoma, the city that Neko Case calls "a dusky jewel."
Michael D. Hoover has an eclectic background in the creation of works of art including sculpture, photography, painting, landscaping, writing, film, dance, and music. Michael is both an educator and educatee and includes time spent at Brigham Young University, Utah Valley State College and as a Movement Specialist in the public school system. Michael has performed and choreographed dance works all over the USA and India including works for BYU Dancers Company, Dancensemble, Children's Creative Dance, Young Dance Makers, UVSC Synergy Dance, and Seattle based Walrus Performance Productions. Michael escaped his home town of Provo, Utah and moved to winsome Tacoma, Washington to be with his late partner Gary H. Mack, and there create his home and studio.
Stephanie Kriege, member of Callous Physical Theatre, trains at Barefoot Studios with Paul and Joséphine Zmolek and with Jason Ohlberg of Spectrum Dance Theatre. She has trained Lindy Hop with Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Chazz Young, Steve Conrad, Chris Chapman, and Maren Perry.
Stephanie has been guest artist /teacher at the Pentastic Jazz Festival, University Puget Sound and has enjoyed dancing in the Pacific NorthWest Lindy Hop Championships.
Choreographic commissions include Curtis High School, University of Puget Sound, Lakewood Playhouse and Tacoma Actor's Guild. Originally from Arizona, Ms. Kriege obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Puget Sound where she was actively involved in dance and choreography.
Marla Simms received a BFA in dance at the University of Arizona in 1984. Previous to this time she was a competitive gymnast and gymnastics coach. While in Arizona, Marla worked with Territory Dance Theatre and Orts Theatre of Dance. Simms migrated to the northwest in 1986 to work with Pat Graney and Company and Marsha Threlkeld and Dancers. She has performed in numerous Allegro! Dance Seasons as well as Performa 87, The Very Serious Fun Festival at Lincoln Center and the Sister City Exchange in Kobe, Japan. She also danced with independent artists Staci Bronson, Grace Fryberger, Annie Mercer and Karn Junkinsmith. Marla was also a member of Thread Dance, an organized association between herself and dance familiars, Marsha Threlkeld, Lori Mitchell and Lara McIntosh. The group’s approach to choreography and production was one of collective generation. Thread Dance created site specific works for a variety of traditional and unusual venues. As well as continually exploring the movement of the human body as a venue for artistic expression, Simms is a massage practitioner and bodywork educator. The other hat that she wears is bookkeeper for her husband’s fabulous restaurant, Sofia Bistro (27th & Bridgeport in University Place).
Katharine M. Stricker, has been with Barefoot Studios for two years and is a founding member of Callous Physical Theatre. She has been teaching, choreographing and performing in the Puget Sound Area since her move here in 2005. Katharine is a teacher, performer, choreographer, writer, pianist, and painter with a BFA in Performing Arts from Southeast Missouri State University. Originally from Illinois, Katharine has been the recipient of several awards including the Young Artist's Tuition Scholarship to the American Dance Festival (2004), Scholarship to Conduit Dance (2005), funding for choreographic contribution to SiteWorks (2006), and most recently, the Tacoma Artist’s Initiative Project Grant (2007).
Joséphine A. Zmolek holds an MFA in Dance, and MA in Interdisciplinary Creative Arts and a BA in Dance. Joséphine performed in works by Jeff Slayton, Nicholas Gunn, Kenneth Rinker, M.J. Eisenberg, Gus Solomons, Jr., Barbra Ubaldi, Karen Kristin, Tanz Danz and as a member of Giant Refreshed, Omulu Capoeira Group and Omulu Capoeira Sul. In America, she trained with Bella Lewitsky, Kenneth King, Bill Evans, Dorothy Percival, Viola Farber, Donald McKayle, Michelle Simmons, Eiko & Koma, Martin Kravitz, Tina Yuan, Dana Reitz, Marcia Sakamoto, Ellen Graff, Gloria Newman, Sean Greene, Aulani, and Ellen Bromberg. International training includes: Gugum Gumbira and the Western Java Jugala Dance Troupe; Madame Simmone Kuo, teacher of the late Grandmaster Lien-Ying Kuo style of Tai Chi Chuan; and extensive training in Capoeira with Mestre Preguiça, Mestre Ralil and Mestres Grande Camisa, Leopoldina, and Joao Grande. Joséphine has also had the great honor of working in collaboration with Sensei Tanaka of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo; Rosa Montoya of Rosa Montoya Bailes Flamenco; master of Khatak, Chitresh Das of the Chitresh Das Dance Company; and the great Congolese master drummer, dancer and artist, Malonga Casquelourd.
As an intermedia artist, Joséphine worked with video artists James Byrne, Lynn Hershman, and Christine Tamblyn, costume designers and fibers artists Barbara Cox, Bernard Johnson, and Patricia Reagan and studied with Rachel Rosenthal and Douglas Kahn.
In San Francisco Joséphine founded and directed interdisciplinary performance company Giant Refreshed, co-founded and directed Z AFTERSCHOOL ARTS, and co-directed the nationally renowned African-Brazilian Omulu Capoeira Performance Group. In Los Angeles, Joséphine co-founded and directed Omulu Capoeira Sul. Since 1993, faculty and guest artist appointments include: California State University, Dominguez Hills; Foothill/DeAnza Community College, CA; Loyola Marymount University, CA; El Camino Community College, CA; Alma College, MI; Luther College, IA; Southeast Missouri State University and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Paul Zmolek holds an MFA in Dance, an MA in Interdisciplinary Creative Arts and a BS in Physical Education. Highlights of his performing career include creating title roles for the world premiere of three Frank Zappa ballets and performing in works by Anna Sokolow and Paul Taylor. Paul performed professionally as a member of Tandy Beal & Company, San Francisco Moving Company, Omulu Capoeira Group, Omulu Capoeira Sul, June Watanabe Dance Company, Dance Co’Motion, Thick Dance/Theatre, Theater/Group and as guest artist with Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company, TanzDanz, and Giant Refreshed.
Paul and Joséphine co-direct Barefoot Studios and Callous Physical Theatre. In San Francisco he founded and directed Thick Dance/Theatre. With Joséphine, he co-founded and directed Z AFTERSCHOOL ARTS, co-directed Omulu Performance Group, and co-founded and directed Omulu Capoeira Sul in Los Angeles.
Teaching in various settings as an independent contractor from 1981-1993, Paul has held faculty appointments in five different colleges and universities from 1993 to 2004. Paul’s academic responsibilities included the development and implementation of a new BFA in Performing Arts and consultation for the building of a new campus of the Arts at Southeast Missouri State University. Recognized nationally as an expert in dance pedagogy, Zmolek has trained hundreds of emerging teachers as a guest and resident faculty member throughout the United States.
Lucas Smiraldo is a Pacific Northwest writer, performing poet and twelve-time produced playwright. His performance credits include opening poet at Def Poetry Jam’s College Tour, feature poet at the national black pilot’s conference, commissioned performances at the Tacoma Art Museum and the International Museum of Glass and feature poet during Seattle’s Hip Hop Awards. His plays have been produced at the Pierce Playwrights Festival and his co-written piece, Blackbird Singing reached 12,000 youth during a five-month tour of the Puget Sound.
His 911 work Twin Requiem was the inspiration for a collaborative dance work with BBQ dance featured at the International Museum of Glass in July of 2006 on two successive weekends in conjunction with Barefoot Studios sponsored SiteWorks. Recently he completed a commission in which he created songs as he led listeners to art exhibits inspired by the multi material works of Aminah Robinson at the Tacoma Art Museum. His collection of six original accapella pieces is entitled Rag-A Songs in the Symphonic Poem. In March of 2007 he was awarded with a grant from the City of Tacoma's Arts Commission to produce a spoken symphonic work entitled: Voice of the Americas: A Post 911 Milennial. His CD and live ensemble performance will debut at the Broadway Center on May 2, 2008.
Meg McHutchison is a conceptual expressionist, working with an integrative practice of radical subjectivity. Her investigations lie at the harmonic and poetic intersections of text, performance, video and visual art. Meg is writer, interviewer, filmmaker, and experimental artist working at the intersection of the ephemeral and the recorded. She brings an interdisciplinary art practice into all aspects of her work. Meg completed her MFA through Goddard College in 2006.
"I am an interdisciplinary artist. My investigations lie at the harmonic and poetic intersections of text, performance, video, and visual art and embrace a fierce examination of the structures and paradigms of performative expressions.
I am afire, investigating and improvising forms that expand the subversive (sacred) power of imaginative expression. I choose the form that allows the subjective embodiment of perception and voice. I am profoundly curious about the revelation of mystery within the layers that interdisciplinarity invites, and exhilarated by the play in it."
"My work is an intimate offering, sharing a context with artists who inquire into the domains of mystery, ritual, abstraction, our shared humanity, radical subjectivity, and hope. The revelation and liberation of this terrain is central to my work.
I draw forward threads of meaning, and through rigorous practice the choice of form is revealed. My work is process-based, which allows for abstraction and fragmentation to illuminate a prismatic web of connection."
"My practice is the investigation of the paradoxes and identities that we hold. These paradoxes reveal the terrain of possibility that requires our rigorous investigation in this historical moment of shifting forms within the discourse of art and the discourse of humanity. An integrative practice of radical subjectivity transforms the fabric of relationship. My practice reflects the commitment and responsibility I have, as an artist, to be a participating citizen in our world." Meg McHutchison, 2007
Blue Hesikx, co-owner of the Art Process Studio and Gallery in Tacoma, WA, is a self-taught artist with a rich and award-winning 40-year career in the field of the arts. Her mediums span myriad genres to include painting, murals, design graphics, book illustration, hand-built lyrical clay pieces, assemblage sculpture, glass work, embellished furniture, costume design, jewelry, and art greeting cards called: the Coyote Carl series and the Moments series. Her artistic vision and expression truly sees no boundaries in medium.
Blue writes, “Painting was presented to my young naïve artist self as a highly structured, technical, do-it-this-way (the right way) production of media. As with all life's rules I couldn't merely follow, I had to fly. I simply experienced maneuvering color on canvas. Eventually, as all things evolve, color became an extension of spirit field. The fields became walls, furniture, clay and cloth, every surface attainable without boundaries and certainly void of jurisdiction.”
Acclaimed both nationally and internationally, Ms. Hesikx’s volumnious roster of credentials features over 300 commissioned works and juried and one-woman shows throughout the United States and Canada.
Jeff Hansen is an actor and juggler who has performed most recently in the South Sound with Lakewood Playhouse, Callous Physical Theatre, and Tacoma Little Theater. Originally from Missouri, Jeff migrated to the Pacific Northwest ten years ago, pursuing a career in environmental engineering, while remaining active in the performance arts. His most frequent (and favorite!) roles currently are as father of two fabulous sons, Quinn and Mac, and husband of the beautiful, talented, and supportive Paige.
Jeanne Douville, a local landscape artist, has been dancing and performing with Barefoot Studios since 2005. She has been in several dance works which include choreography, writing, and performing. She is also a fused glass artist with a permanent installation at Barefoot Studios. In addition to her work on Train she is currently working on a short film with Ron Gilbert, a Tacoma filmmaker.
Gary Lappier was born in Seattle, Washington in January of 1975, and began taking photographs with his first Kodak 110 format camera by the age of 5. In the years since, he has continued to refine his ability utilizing 35mm, medium format and digital photography through a host of activities from photographing rock shows to weddings. In edition to his photographic work, he has played guitar, keyboards and sang with various local bands including the post-rock instrumental band NoMovingParts and Terrapin Productions. Currently, Gary is a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington with a focus on the environmental sciences and photographic arts. The photographs presented for Train represent his first public installation.
"The Perfect Mother" 24" x 36" Acrylic on Canvas
She designed the cover of the CD for the first Annual Glass Roots Arts Festival. She has won many awards & honors including inclusion in the annual publication America 24/7, 2004, Washington state category.Her most recent work in Scanography will be shown May 9th & 10th during the Annual Greenwood-Phinney Art walk at the Woodland Park Presbyterian Church. Also, she will have a joint exhibit at the Auburn City Hall Gallery in the month of June this year.
Cara J. Jennings owner of Design & Conceptual Art by Cara in Tacoma, has worked in photography and a variety of artistic mediums for over five years. She began her career in Seattle, WA. Her work is in both private and public collections including her work in Scanography. Specifically, her limited edition print entitled, “Sunflower 2”, Flower series, in the collection of Pierce County Arts & Cultural Services.
The Dance 2007
Compression 2007
Will Halsey is a teacher and performer who has made the Pacific Northwest his home since 2000. Will holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Central Missouri, and a Master of Music degree in conducting from the University of Arizona. While studying at the U of A, he mustered the courage to take his first dance class, and his life was forever changed. He currently teaches elementary band in the Kent School District and fills his life with as much creative performance as possible. Will has been either an actor, singer, dancer, trumpet player, music arranger, sound board operator, stage manager, or choreographer with the following companies: Village Theatre, Rhythm Knights Dance Troupe, Seattle Men's Chorus, Bellevue Opera, Puget Sound Opera, Northwest Actor's Studio, Book-It Repertory Theatre, Renton City Concert Band, Driftwood Players, and Greg Thompson Productions, among others. He is honored to be collaborating with Barefoot Studios in Migrant.
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