Ruin
Choreography: Kate Vincek, in collaboration with Tatum Beynon and Juliet Remmers
Music: Ex-Fiancée
Costume Design: Kate Vincek with Juliana Waechter
Lighting Design: Nicholas Coso
Videography and Editing: Nicholas Coso
Prop Construction and Caretaking: Don Schneider
Stage Manager: Mariana Tejeda
Dancers: Tatum Beynon, Juliet Remmers, Kate Vincek
Thesis Committee: Rebekah Kowal, Jennifer Kayle, Daniel Fine, Melinda Jean Myers
I am awed by spaces of ruin; the way time seems suspended within them; how destruction and regrowth are equally present; how remnants of another time become portals of insight while giving way to newness and honoring the inevitability of change.
This work explores how we might imagine ourselves as agents of ruin, to embody and reclaim a wildhood that intervenes in systems that domesticate and capitalize on living beings and natural environments. We are continually trying to find an ecological, harmonious way of being in and with the world – together, alone, while crafting it, dismantling it, grasping at freedom, and holding equal footing between us.
Photos
Thank you to Rebekah, Jennifer, Dan, and Mindy for serving on my committee and for continuously helping me see the significance and importance of my work. You have each inspired me beyond words throughout my time at Iowa. Thank you, Juliet and Tatum, my enchanting collaborators, for braving this journey with me. Your delightful contributions and insights have inspired me and pushed this project beyond anything I could have dreamed up alone. Thank you, Nick, for your friendship and expertise. You have brought liveness to this project that went above and beyond all expectations. Thank you, Sven! You’re one of a kind and can lend sound to complex feelings like no one else. Thank you to my community of support near and far! To my parents for showing me what courage is and telling me to run with my ideas. To Chris for transforming my understanding of dance and showing me I’m worthy. To Jeremy for sharing with me those wild, breathtaking places that sparked this project. Thank you for seeing life so uniquely. To Ailey for being a witness and sharing treasured insights. To Bethany for your friendship. To Mariko for being the person I could trust with this idea first. To Julia, Jessie, Alyssa, Michael, and Laila for sharing this grad school experience with me and inspiring me along the way.
Kate Vincek is a dance artist, choreographer, and educator most recently based in New York City. She received her BFA from Wayne State University and is currently working toward her MFA in Dance (choreography) at the University of Iowa. She was an Iowa Arts Fellow from 2018-2019, the recipient of an MFA Summer Fellowship in 2020, and her works have had the honor of being selected to perform at regional and national ACDA conferences. She has been a longtime collaborator with ChrisMastersDance and has had the pleasure of performing nationally and internationally in works by Nicholas Leichter, Faye Driscoll, Melinda Myers, Alison Woerner, Jan Van Dyke, Sean Curran, John Zullo, Jeff Rebudal, and Lauren Adams. Learn more at katevincekdance.com.
Juliet Remmers is a nuanced and expressive performer, dance maker, and teacher. She received her BA in Dance from the University of Kansas in 2013, became a certified yoga teacher in 2014, and is currently in her second year of MFA study at the University of Iowa, where she was a 2019-2020 Iowa Arts Fellow and is a 2021 recipient of the Graduate College MFA Summer Fellowship. Originally from Lawrence, Kansas, Juliet discovered her love for dance at a young age through classical ballet. She studies modern dance, contemporary forms, improvisation, and pedagogical methods. In 2019, she directed and choreographed an original youth ballet, Thumbelina. Juliet enjoys performing, choreographing, and directing dance and continues teaching ballet, modern, and yoga. She loves to focus on healthy alignment, playful challenges, expressive focus, and self-awareness. Juliet is currently teaching, creating and dancing with the University of Iowa Department of Dance and as part of Dance Farm Collective.
Tatum Beynon is currently a senior at the University of Iowa finishing her BA in Dance and Certificate in Arts Entrepreneurship. Originally from Waconia, Minnesota, Tatum grew up training at Waconia Dance Arts (Waconia, Minnesota) under the instruction of Sue Gunness, Leslie Erickson, and Melissa Brown-Guenther. Throughout middle and high school, Tatum attended summer intensive programs including the Joffrey Ballet School (NYC), the School of Ballet Arizona, and The Kansas City Ballet School. At the University of Iowa, Tatum has had the privilege of working with renowned choreographers, including Eloy Barragán, Armando Duarte, Shannon Alvis, Kristin Marrs, and Christopher Rasheem-McMillan. Tatum has performed in the Iowa Dance Festival two years in a row, at the Harvest Contemporary Dance Festival in Chicago, and at Hollins University for Eloy Barragan’s Master’s Thesis Ashes in the Air. In addition to performing, Tatum has taught at Nolte Dance Academy, Iowa Youth Ballet, and Waconia Performing Arts Center. She has also held administrative roles at The Dance Warehouse, The Parking Space Project, and for the Iowa Dance Festival. She is excited to see where her future takes her post-graduation. Learn more at www.tatumbeynon.wordpress.com.
Nicholas Coso, a third-year MFA student in the Theater Arts Design program, is so proud and thankful to work on Kate Vincek's piece Ruin. All the work done by the choreographer and her fellow dancers was engaging and inspiring. Previous work in the dance department includes the light design for self shifting / shifting self and Flowing Between Polarities, as well as an Assistant Media Designer in Dance Gala 2019. He would like to thank his family and friends for their continued support.
Ex-Fiancée (Sven Britt) has played, produced, and toured professionally with Stranger Cat (Joyful Noise Recordings (Son Lux, Kishi Bashi, of Montreal)), a duo with Cat Martino (The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Sharon van Etten), playing at Bonnaroo, as well as opening for Son Lux, Patrick Watson, Sebadoh, Natalie Prass, Night Beds, Indians, Emmy the Great, Yoni Wolf, Serengeti, Reptar, Surfer Blood, and Porches. Most recently, he has focused on music for immersive theatre and dance, which has been presented at La MaMa Moves! (NYC), Danspace Project (NYC), Fengchao Theatre (Beijing), Triskelion Arts (NYC), the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and The Iron Factory (Philadelphia). He has accompanied dance classes at Peridance Capezio Center, Mark Morris Dance Center, Gibney Dance Center, and the University of Iowa. More information about his upcoming album and accompanying suite of music videos—choreographed by Chris Masters—A Feast That Never Comes, can be found at exfiancee.com.