Wynn Fricke

Wynn Fricke, recipient of seven McKnight Fellowships in Choreography and Performance, produces, according to City Pages, precise and virtuosic work “guided by extremes of physicality. Part of the pleasure of watching it is that the difficult appears effortless; the tiny and delicate, Herculean”. Wynn danced with Zenon Dance Company from 1992 – 2001 and since 1998 has created eight original works for the company including her most recent, The Mourning Tree, which premiered in 2015 with live traditional Bulgarian Folk music performed by Mila Vocal Ensemble. From 2005 – 2007, Wynn served as Choreographer-in-Residence with Minnesota Dance Theatre, and in 2008, she was the Dayton-Hudson Distinguished Visiting Artist at Carleton College. She has had choreographic residences in Yarlslavl, Russia, at the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary in Moose Lake, MN, and at the Company Development Residency at The Yard in Chilmark, MA.  She is the recipient of grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the American Composers Forum, and Arts International and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. She has been honored with two Minnesota SAGE Awards for Dance in the category of Outstanding Performance. Wynn has created work for additional dance and theatre companies including James Sewell Ballet, Ballet Arts Minnesota, Ragamala Dance, Frank Theatre, Minnesota Ballet, and Borrowed Bones Dance Theatre. Her choreography, My Very Empty Mouth, was recently performed by Zenon Dance Company at the Teatro Marti in Havana, Cuba. Wynn earned her MFA at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.

Areas of Teaching Expertise

Choreography
Modern Dance Technique

Macalester Courses

Beginning Dance Composition
Intermediate Dance Composition
Cultures of Dance
Modern Dance Technique
Experiential Anatomy and the Mind Body Connection (not currently)
Reading the Dancing Body: Topics in Dance History (not currently)

Selected Productions

2018: Icon Sam commissioned by Sally Rousse, music by David Lang, Cowles Center, Minneapolis, MN
2016: Cold Air commissioned by Minnesota Dance Theatre, music by Peter O’Gorman, Lab Theater, Minneapolis, MN
2016: My Very Empty Mouth, commissioned by Zenon Dance Company, music by David Lang, Teatro Marti, Havana, Cuba
2015: Slow Thaw, commissioned by American Dance Festival, music by Peter O’Gorman, Reynolds Theater, Durham, N.C.
2015: The Mourning Tree, commissioned by Zenon Dance Company, music performed by Mila Vocal Ensemble, Cowles Center, Minneapolis, MN
2010: A Small View, commissioned by McKnight Foundation, International Festival of Movement and Dance on the Volga, Yaroslavl, Russia

Selected Publications

“Dancing in the Footsteps of the Buddha.” In Dancing with Dharma: Essays on Movement and Dance in Western Buddhism, edited by Harrison Blum, McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers 2016

Professional Affiliations

Member:  American College Dance Association
Member: National Dance Education Organization