Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance with Christine Maginnis Season 2 Episode 30

Christine Maginnis, a native of Minneapolis, has been an active dance artist in her home town for almost four decades, a good chunk of that time spent as a performer and teacher with Zenon Dance Company under the artistic direction of Linda Z. Andrews. With Zenon she toured to Switzerland, Aruba, Saipan, Russia, New York and throughout the Midwest. She had the honor of performing in over 100 works by dance makers from around the world including Susana Tambutti, Bebe Miller, Doug Varone, Danny Buraczeski, Bill Young, Wil Swanson, Joe Chavala, Gyula Berger and Jeanine Durning, to name a few of her favs.  Outside of Zenon she has worked with Cathy Young Dance, ARENA DANCES, Movement Architecture, Shapiro and Smith Dance, Off Leash Area, DAdance, CWDC, Borrowed Bones, Jagged Moves and Ballet of the Dolls. She also worked with indie choreographers Cathy Wright, Penelope Freeh, Zhauna Franks, Sally Rousse, Karla Grotting and Gerry Girouard. Other memorable shows include The Minnesota Opera's "Carmen", "Transatlantic" and "Macbeth" as well as Ruth Mackenzie's "Kalevala".  Christine has been making her own dances for the past two decades and was commissioned by Minnesota Dance Theater ("The Fermentation of Suzie and the Sailor"), James Sewell Ballet's 'Ballet Works Project' ("Cabaret Niche"), Decadance Productions ("My Name is Vincent"), Lira Dance Theater of Sioux Falls ("E Finito?"), and L1 DanceLab in Budapest, Hungary ("Azalea Nights"). She has been invited to show work in many showcases around town including 'Renovate', 'Rhythmically Speaking' and '16 Feet' as well as created two evening length repertory concerts, "Unzipped" for the Red Eye Collaboration's 'Isolated Acts' and "Femme de la Swashbuckle Box" in collaboration with composer Matthew Smith for the Minnesota Fringe Festival. She collaborated with former Pilobolus/Momix dancer, Tim Latta, on the project, "An American Movement", that toured for a summer throughout Italy. Delving into the baggage of the human psyche using images from cinema, cartoons, mythology,  musicals, vaudeville, fairytales, nature and spiritual ritual, Christine's goal is to create a "dream-logical" narrative leading the audience down a twisted path of emotional transformation often spiced with dark humor and melodrama as well as film for juxtaposition and dimension. She has been awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Assistance Grant (1987), City Pages Best Dancer shout out (1998), a McKnight Fellowship for Dancers (2001) and a Sage Award for Outstanding Performer (2016).