Welcome. My name is Simon Doug. I'm Chair of Heather and College Dances.
And I'm very happy come see you with these lights to welcome you very
special evening dance. Elina lineage. Many people have asked me mean by
the lines lineage, but I hope by the end of this evening have a real
understanding of what that is for us. We try to put together a concert
that gives you a sense of what uh a real lifetime of dance, making dance,
performing, inspiring dance, creating dance, teaching dance means there's
work that you will see that was originally performed in 1969. And there
are two pieces that are receiving their world premieres tonight. So that
represents a good 40 year span. And what we wanted to really do is
celebrate, what is the life of an extraordinary uh myth. In fact, a member
here of a U Elana N who has really given an extraordinary and probably the
most powerful uh testimony to the, the there is a common notion, I think
that um a dentistry is necessarily short and I think the line is life is
one that is a testimony to the falsehood of that motion, people feel that
as your movement changes over time, you have to change the way in which
you're thinking about your practice as a, as a dance artist. And I hope
you'll see this evening that there really is an extraordinary power and an
extraordinary evolution to the way in which a dense, a denser and a dense
make matures over the years and can still both present extraordinary work
and maintain that extraordinary presence. Part of this evening, you'll see
uh a rare archive film from uh the, it was actually the first solo she
presented when she moved here 20 years ago, made for her by her partner
Cliff Painter. And it was performed over at the Gage Auditorium. And
you'll have a sense then of the extraordinary power she was, and you'll
also see a new piece of portrait of her by her, the collaborator B Ker
who's made AAA real touching, I think and very powerful portrait of Elana
, which we end this evening's concert with. So welcome everyone. I have
two very special guests here with me. Um We'll get to Beth in a moment.
But first, I just want to introduce to the Dean of Agri Culture of the
Arts Dean HWK.
It's a great pleasure and privilege to be here this evening. I have to
tell you that I think I have the most privileged and probably the easiest
position on this evening's program, which is really to thank Elena. I have
been here now for two years. And I regret that I have not had the
opportunity to spend more time with Elana. But in my acquaintanceship with
her, I have come to know her as an individual of extraordinary artistic
integrity, an individual who is completely dedicated to her art and her
students and to the future, which I find quite remarkable and quite
laudable. Um on behalf of the Herberger College, I want to express our
thanks to Elina for her many, many years of service to her artful
dedication and to the fact that she has positioned many students over the
years to be successful, creative individuals in the world. I hope that you
will enjoy this evening's tribute to her. And I thank you again for being
here this evening. Thank you
and to give some sense also the continuity that Elena and uh her
partnership and collaboration with Cliff represent Beth Massard this year.
Now, Beth, I think many of, you know, Ben, but Beth was the, the chair of
the College Dance when Elana. And Hi, so she also represents the moment
that they first came here. And Beth will give you a little context and the
framework I hope, which will add to the way in which you can enjoy what
you will see this evening. So here's Beth
regard and welcome. And I'm very excited to be here to be part of this.
And I'm so glad you're all here to enjoy it, I have to use my notes
because if I don't, you know what, all you have to pull me on stage, I'm
going to try to stay with my notes. Um We're celebrating Elina Mooney's
retirement tonight and giving credit extra, the individual professional
accomplishments for 47 year collaboration.
It's interesting, you know, when I was a graduate student studying dance
history, I was seeing their name in print. They were in New York making
history. And I, I thought, oh wow, ok. Then later I learned in a workshop
, those gorgeous bronze waltzes. Charles Weidman choreographed, well,
guess who? He choreographed them on Elana movie. So it never occurred to
me that we would have the opportunity to work together. We did. It's great.
Um I'm gonna give you just a little bit of background, not much uh living
in New York. Uh Elina and Cliffs studied with and or with just about all
major icons in modern dance. Uh They soon were established as performers
and choreographers in their own right? And both formed companies, Elina
Mooney and dancers and Cliff Ker dance company for whom Elina was a
principal dancer. Sometime after the birth of their first son Matthew. In
1977
they received an invitation to come to San Jose State University as
visiting artists who one semester, Elina went first and as soon as Cliff's
company schedule permitted, he joined her, then they decided to make
California their home and moved there in 1978.
And in time, both Ilia and Cliff were burning up the freeways. They
divided up their teaching and choreographic respon that floated among San
Jose State University, Santa Clara University and the University of Santa
Cruz. Then Cliff started the wonderfully successful new dance company in
San Jose and Elena was a soloist with that group. They both continued to
guest choreography all over their second son, Nathaniel was born in 1979
and they continued to do their work in California for about 10 years. How
did they get to count up? How did they get to Arizona?
We had a job in 1988 and Daniel Nagre who many of you know, called Cliff
to encourage him to apply. Now, at the time, uh funding and administration
problems were making it very hard to keep that new dance company going.
And so Cliff was interested enough to apply for the job DC. I Rosen was
very impressed with Cliff and Elana both when they came to their
interviews and he knew that they would make a great addition to the
program. We only had one line and he created a temporary position for Eli
for that first year and then moved her to a tenure track the next year. So
rare, this incredible and seldom used administrative action was a
wonderful thing for all involved. The department gave two extraordinary
artists and for Cliff and up, it would be the first time since they left
New York that they would be professionally based together, we're all able
to sign for that.
So here we are 20 years later, acknowledging the end of the moony Ker era
at a su in 2005, we had celebration of Cliff's retirement. And on that
occasion, I wrote him a love letter which I read to the group in
celebration of Elana's retirement. Here is my love letter to her dearest
Elina. You are such a special person. I hope I can find a few words that
will help create insight into the qualities that I and others sow and en
enjoy and admire. You lovingly patiently taught a Brazilian classes and
choreographed work for all levels of students. You mentored graduate and
undergraduate students and served on many sometimes very difficult
committees.
You are a wonderful choreographer, beautiful and inspiring dancer with
national and international credentials.
You reach out for the unusual and make inroads. Like working with the
theater department being the dance liaison for the Institute for has
another name, collaborating with artists like Native American composer
Brent Davis and mask maker Zaro, working for three years with the new
music and dance ensemble, experimenting with video with computer generated
images and chant selection of events. And boy, could you spot talent?
You'd zero in on those students in audition and you were never wrong.
These observations tell us a lot, but there's more you are a courageous
woman. You're not afraid to take participates.
You appear to be a woman of few words. But when you speak, the words
reflect great wisdom and clarity in difficult situations. You are always
judicious in choice of words. You are the voice of reason. You are strong
and abound in grace.
You may be a tiny little person, but you have a huge heart. You are filled
with compassion, understanding and humor.
Your powerful and enduring commitment to the arts is similarly and
intensely present in your personal life as a devoted wife and mother, it
has been a joy to be your colleague to dance with you, take classes and
work with you in many capacities. It is just a joy to know you, Elaine. As
you move into this new chapter of your life. May you always remain in love
with my, may all the things for all time be and they dance forever. Love
them.
No.
Yeah.
Um,
and,
yeah.
Mhm. And,
ok.
Yeah.
Ok.
Um, and,
yeah.
Ok.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Ok.
Yeah.
Mm.
Yeah.
Ok.
Yeah.
I,
ok.
Yeah.
Mhm.
The,
come on.
Ok.
Yeah.
Ok.
Mm.
Yeah.
Mhm.
Yeah.
Ok.
Yeah.
Ok.
Yeah.
It,
yeah.
Ok.
I.
Mhm. Mhm.
And.
Mhm.
Yeah.
You,
yeah.
Yeah.