Turning Pointe, Madison Ballet’s 40th Anniversary Season Finale

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2022

Turning Pointe, Madison Ballet’s 40th Anniversary Season Finale
Celebrating the company’s past as it steps into a brilliant future

Madison, WI – By March 2022, Madison Ballet will have waited over two years to return to performing its celebrated program of new and modern ballet. 2020’s Inside Out was the last production Madison Ballet produced before the pandemic forced its stages closed. Now, with Turning Pointe coming to Promenade Hall in March, Madison Ballet’s artists and audience can once again appreciate the full depth and power of dance.

This production will mark the close of the organization’s 40th anniversary season, a time when it has thrived in spite of unprecedented challenges. It will also serve as the passing of the torch to a new Artistic Director from Sara Stewart Schumann, who has led the company dancers since 2018. To celebrate the incredible work of the past while keeping an eye on the future, Turning Pointe captures the wide span of ballet repertoire with highlights from previous collaborators and new works by emerging choreographers.

Program:

Birthday Variations, Choreography Gerald Arpino, Staged by Kim Sagami, Courtesy of the Arpino Foundation

Guitar Concerto, Choreography Ja’ Malik, Premiere

Ethos of Force, Choreography Kia Smith, Premiere of Live Performance

Rubies Pas de Deux, Choreography George Balanchine, Staged by Nilas Martins, Courtesy of the Balanchine Trust

Eight by Benny Goodman, Choreography Heinz Poll, Courtesy of and Staged by Richard Dickinson

Birthday Variations is a light ballet by renowned choreographer and co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet School and Company, Gerald Arpino. Birthday Variations features a series of daredevil solo variations and intricate partnering for one male and five female dancers, staged to excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi’s ballet-opera music. The ballet premiered in March 1986 and was praised by the New York Times as “a classical showpiece of classical dancing.”

Turning Pointe premieres Guitar Concerto, a collaboration between Ja’ Malik, founder of Ballet Boy Productions non-profit ballet company, and Oliver Davis, a preeminent composer of contemporary classical music for ballet, film, TV, and concert hall. Ja’ Malik is recognized as a “New York Times choreographer to watch” for his physical inventiveness and theatrical sense. Together, they push the boundaries of classical guitar and sublime dance movement.

Ethos of Force is a powerful ballet originally produced as a collaboration among choreographer Kia Smith, filmmaker Jordan Biagomala, and MMoCA for Madison Ballet’s 2021 film program, Lift Every Voice. Madison Ballet premieres this first live performance of Ethos of Force in Turning Pointe. This thought-provoking ballet depicts feelings surrounding the pandemic, giving voice to Smith’s vision of the human condition through her lens as an important young artist of color.

Madison Ballet will perform the pas de deux excerpt from George Balanchine’s Rubies, the second movement of his full-length ballet, Jewels. Co-founder of the New York City Ballet, Balanchine is widely considered the father of American Ballet, and Rubies is one of his masterworks. Performed to Igor Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, the six and a half minute pas-de-deux is described as quirky and playful. Jewels is considered the first full-length abstract ballet, breaking the traditional boundaries of ballet.

Eight by Benny Goodman is a delightful visit to the 1930s when Benny Goodman was establishing himself as the “King of Swing”, choreographed by Heinz Poll, founder of the Ohio Ballet. The Benny Goodman Orchestra plays eight tunes from Gershwin, Davis, and other jazz artists as dancers perform mixed ballet and ballroom choreography. This jazzy ballet was a national touring favorite of Ohio Ballet’s when Madison Ballet Artistic Director, Sara Stewart Schumann, danced with the Company in the 1990s, including at the Joyce Theater in New York City. 

Turning Pointe represents a culmination of 40 years of Madison Ballet honoring the traditions of this art form while adapting to better reflect and serve its community. More than a clever title, this program is an announcement of the intention to return from the challenges of the pandemic stronger than ever.

PERFORMANCE & TICKET INFORMATION

Dates & Times

Friday, March 25 – 7:00pm

Saturday, March 26 – 2:00pm & 7:00pm

Sunday, March 27 – 2:00pm

Friday, April 1 – 7:00pm

Saturday, April 2 – 2:00pm & 7:00pm

Sunday, April 3 – 2:00pm

Ticket Information

Standard: $32

Child/Senior: $18

Tickets can be purchased online at MADISONBALLET.ORG or by calling The Overture Center Box Office at 608.258.4141.

Promenade Hall Location

201 State Street, Madison, WI 53703

For more details and directions visit OVERTURE.ORG/ABOUT/VISIT.

For 40 years, Madison Ballet has been an integral part of the vibrant Dane County arts community. Full-scale productions of inspiring traditional ballets, innovative contemporary performances, and the timeless holiday tradition of “The Nutcracker” reach more than 13,000 people each year. The School of Madison Ballet empowers students of all ages and skill levels with the poise, confidence, discipline, and fundamental life skills intrinsic to the study of dance. Outreach programming, presented in partnership with dozens of local school and community groups, enriches thousands of young people’s lives by introducing them to the joy of dance.

Contact: Lexi Janssen, Marketing Manager

Phone: 262-402-2358

Email: lexi@madisonballet.org

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Wisconsin Union Theater: Black Arts Matter Festival Will Return to Madison In-Person March 23-26

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 22, 2022

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Communications Director
Phone: (608) 262-8862
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

BLACK ARTS MATTER FESTIVAL WILL RETURN TO MADISON IN-PERSON MARCH 23-26

MADISON, Wis. — While studying at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, slam poet and interdisciplinary artist Shasparay ‘20 saw that Black arts had not been given the attention or platform that it deserved in Madison, Wis., and became determined to help change that. Her talent, hard work and passion led to the creation of the interdisciplinary arts event series the Black Arts Matter (BAM) Festival, which will return for its third year March 23-26, presented by BAM Festival Founder and Artistic Director Shasparay and the Wisconsin Union Theater.

Plans for the Festival, which will occur at Memorial Union, include a national poetry slam, a panel discussion, music and dance. Festival planners are offering tickets for each individual event as well as the option to purchase a poetry slam pass for all poetry slam rounds.

Tickets range in price depending on the event, from about $10-$50. The Theater team and Shasparay are making a limited number of three-day poetry slam passes available for sale through which patrons can experience all three days of the slam at a discounted rate. Patrons are also eligible for an early bird discount on poetry slam all-session passes, if they purchase tickets by March 7. In addition, UW–Madison students can purchase discounted tickets for some BAM Festival events.

The current BAM Festival schedule at Memorial Union includes the following events:

• Poetry Slam prelims, March 23, 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Poetry slam semi-finals, March 24, 7:30-10:30 p.m.
• Poetry slam finals, March 25, 6:30-10 p.m.
• “Body Politics”: One-person show called “Full of Herself” performed by Shasparay and panel discussion led by Dr. Sami Schalk, assistant professor of gender and women’s studies, on body policing, self-image, identity and the intersectionality with race, March 26, 2-4 p.m.

“We are unbelievably excited at how this year’s Black Arts Matter Festival is shaping up. Shasparay has helped curate an incredible line-up of poets for the poetry slam, and getting to see her in the role of performing artist in her one-person show is also going to be a highlight,” Wisconsin Union Theater Director Elizabeth Snodgrass said. “The whole Festival is a don’t miss, so everybody should clear their calendars and spend all four days at the Memorial Union!” 

The Wisconsin Union Theater team holds performing arts events throughout the year in collaboration with the UW–Madison students-run Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee.

This series is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Brittingham Trust, the Evjue Foundation, the Dane County Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, the Green Bay Packers Foundation, and the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

Those who would like to support efforts like this can give to the André De Shields Fund here. The Fund supports artistic projects and performances created, performed, designed, or produced by BIPOC and other people who are historically underrepresented on stages and in audiences.

For more information about the BAM Festival, click here. 

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About the Wisconsin Union Theater

For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a center for cultural activity in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The Theater hosts performances in multiple locations, including Memorial Union, and has an expansive history of remarkable performances. The Wisconsin Union Theater is part of the Wisconsin Union, a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Theater: union.wisc.edu/wisconsin-union-theater.

About the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee

The Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee plans and promotes events for the historic Wisconsin Union Theater stages. The student-led committee programs a variety of events to provide a diverse and cultural experience for students, faculty, alumni, community members and visitors. Learn more: union.wisc.edu/get-involved/wud/performing-arts.

[Click here to download Black Arts Matter Festival-related images.]

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/about/news/2022-black-arts-matter.

Naviant Receives Top Platinum & Diamond Support Honors from Hyland

Media contact:
Jen Hein | jhein@naviant.com

Naviant Receives Top Platinum & Diamond Support Honors from Hyland

VERONA, WI, LEHI, UT, MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, OH, ROSEVILLE, CA, & SYRACUSE, NY – Naviant, a top OnBase reseller, was recently honored by Hyland for outstanding customer support and partner performance. Naviant was awarded the OnBase Diamond Support Award and recognized for achieving Platinum Elite Partner Status.

Naviant, a long-time OnBase partner, has been awarded the OnBase Diamond Support Award for the last 18 years in a row. The criteria for this prestigious award are based on the ratio of employees providing support to customers, training, customer retention, and the percentage of customers using the latest release of OnBase. Hyland also considers customer feedback, requiring that the winning partner has a customer retention rate of at least 95 percent, which is based on annual renewals and customer satisfaction surveys. Naviant has also received Platinum Elite Partner Status, which is only awarded to Hyland’s top-performing partners based on the criteria of digital transformation experience and sales revenues.

Naviant uses OnBase content services and workflow automation software to help organizations boost their process efficiency. Naviant’s “process-first” approach emphasizes the importance of process improvement before implementing best-in-class solutions and technology, such as OnBase, Brainware, ABBYY FlexiCapture, and Hyland RPA by Hyland.

“At Naviant, we are proud to provide the highest level of service and commitment to our satisfied customers, and we believe our 96%+ retention rate clearly reflects this dedication,” says Michael Carr, President and CEO at Naviant. “The best-in-class Hyland automation platforms have a direct and measurable impact on our clients and helps them work more efficiently with less. These top Elite honors help set Naviant apart from the other OnBase partners.”

“Hyland takes great pride in our global partner program, and we congratulate Naviant for their commitment to customer success and achievement as an OnBase Diamond Support & Platinum Partner Elite award winner,” said Bill Kavanaugh, Vice President of Sales at Hyland.

As a long-standing key partner of Hyland, Naviant is a part of the Authorized OnBase Solution Provider community, an exclusive partner network of more than 300 Hyland partners worldwide. OnBase Partners provide implementation expertise and hands-on support for OnBase customers. Together with Hyland, they also offer customers the highest level of technical support as they receive ongoing OnBase training and the backing of Hyland.

About Naviant

Business processes and solutions that empower better and faster decisions are what we do best. As a nationally recognized intelligent automation solutions integrator and business process consulting organization with over 30 years of experience headquartered in Verona WI, our clients do more with less by streamlining processes and gaining visibility into the information they need to make better decisions. As a long-standing key partner of Hyland, Naviant helps organizations operate more efficiently using OnBase software platform, Brainware intelligent capture platform, and Hyland RPA platform, all of which are Hyland products, as well as the ABBYY intelligent capture  and Kryon RPAs.  Naviant’s “process-first” approach brings focus to the importance of process improvement prior to implementing best-in-class ECM solutions and technology. Naviant is a top-tier partner for Hyland’s OnBase, a single enterprise information platform for managing content, processes, and cases, that combines ECM, case management, business process management (BPM), records management, compliance, and capture functionality on a single platform. In addition, Naviant also partners with Kryon Systems for Robotics Process Automation (RPA) technology to enable organizations to drive business agility and efficiency by offloading repetitive high-volume work to a digital workforce (aka software robots).  To learn more about Naviant, please visit naviant.com. Process focus. Excellence.

About Hyland

Hyland is a leading content services provider that enables thousands of organizations to deliver better 
experiences to the people they serve. Find us at Hyland.com.

The River Food Pantry Hiring Operations Specialist, Delivery Coordinator

The River Food Pantry is seeking a full-time Operations Specialist to help feed Dane County. Starting wage is $17/hr. Benefits include group insurance plans, paid holidays, paid time off, and a retirement plan.

Read the full job posting here

The River Food Pantry is also seeking a full-time River Delivers Coordinator to help coordinate volunteer drivers who deliver free groceries to homebound households in need. Starting wage is $17/hr. Benefits include group insurance plans, paid holidays, paid time off, and a retirement plan.

Read the full job posting here

About The River Food Pantry
The River Food Pantry, serving over 1,000 diverse households each week, is South Central Wisconsin’s busiest food pantry. Our services include free groceries for curbside pickup or delivery, online grocery orders, freshly prepared to-go meals, and mobile lunches for children and adults in low-income neighborhoods.

We build community by offering opportunities to serve, donate, and collaborate. We also partner with local organizations to minimize food waste and improve access to reliable sources of food.

Since opening in 2006, our vision has always been to achieve a fully nourished community.

M3 Insurance: Lacey Endres Named Vice President of Property & Casualty Operations

Lacey Endres has recently been named vice president of property & casualty operations at M3. In this role, she partners with select members of the executive leadership to set the strategy for the agency’s property & casualty division. Her responsibilities include leadership of client services, brokerage, surety, and risk management teams.

Endres joined M3 in 2007 as a property & casualty support specialist and quickly moved to an account manager position. In 2012, she was promoted to a client services manager role and served in that capacity for six years before becoming the director of client services for property & casualty in January 2018. Her growth has been a function of her hard work, operational knowledge, and her ability to produce outstanding results.

Endres currently serves as the treasurer on the executive board for the Professional Insurance Agents of Wisconsin. The appointment on the PIAW executive board is on track to progress over the next two years, with Endres serving as vice president next year and president the following year. In addition, Endres is a Lead United level supporter of United Way of Dane County, and serves as the co-chair of M3’s Women’s Business Resource Group.

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About M3

M3 is a top insurance broker and risk management firm in America. We’re leaders in the products we represent and the industries we serve. M3’s people are an extension of your team, providing world-class resources to help you manage risk, purchase insurance, and provide employee benefits. And our focus on community builds better places to live and work.