Bill Evans Dance

03/10/2025

Great News!
Guest rooms in private residences within walking distance to Fort Worden State Park (where we will be dancing) are available for several more participants in the BILL EVANS TEACHER GATHERING in Port Townsend, Washington, August 8 through 15, 2025! These guest rooms are made available for a modest fee by generous and kind people who support the arts in our amazing community.
Visit evanssomaticdance.org to find about more about the Evans Teachers Gathering. To request housing, please send an email to [email protected], subject line “private guest room rental.”

https://www.evanssomaticdance.org/evans-teachers-gathering-2025

I. Retreat/Workshop for already-Certified Evans Teachers and Guest Dance Educators who have a particular interest in BETI Philosophy* and Community*BETI Philosophy: The pedagogical values and methods that evolved through the Bill Evans Teachers Intensives, from 1999 through 2023.

09/30/2024

Even though I'm still recovering from the neurospinal surgery procedure that took place on August 26, I was able to keep my commitments to NDEO and teach both a three-hour ore-conference on Saturday evening (with the marvelous assistance of Don Halquist and Suzanne Knosp) and a rhythm tap session on Sunday morning (with help from Adrienne Wilson). Because I am not yet able to lift objects weighing more than 20 pounds (unable to load or unload my vehicle), I was not able to stay for the whole conference, even though I had booked the hotel room. Instead, I came back home last evening with Don, who went to work at 7 this morning.
To all my friends who attended NDEO, I am sorry that I couldn't have stayed longer and had a moment to greet more of you and catch up a little. I had looked forward to the DEAW social, the NYSDEA social, the NDEO Men's special interest group, the keynote dinner and so much more. My favorite part of the NDEO conference is seeing old friends (and making new ones). For all of you able to stay for the whole conference, I am with you in spirit. Enjoy your time in our beautiful Pacific Northwest and keep on dancin'!
The photo shows part of the closing circle from yesterday's rhythm tap class.

08/07/2024

Happy Birthday to a cherished friend, artist, teacher and human! Much love to you, Clarence Brooks, today and every day!

08/04/2024

DON HALQUIST and I recognize August 4 as our anniversary. Today, we happily celebrate THIRTY-NINE YEARS together. I hit the life-partner jackpot when this extraordinary human came into my life. He brings me joy every single day. My respect for him grows daily, as well as my gratitude for his being on the planet and in my heart. Our almost four decades together have taken us on an incredible journey of challenges, discovery, growth, devotion and fulfillment.
I am posting a link to COLLAGE TWO, which we performed at the Broadway Performance Hall in Seattle in March, 1992, as part of John Vadino’s Allegro Dance Festival. I was three weeks from turning 52 and Don had turned 30 in December. This collage consists of excerpts from several of my choreographic works. Don enters at 10:50, and we perform several sections of UNCOILED HEART, which I dedicated to my beloved friend Daniel Chick, a beacon of love and light who had contracted HIV disease and died of AIDS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04EpxWNdFHE

08/02/2024

Forecast high for today in Port Townsend is 69.

07/25/2024

Kehinde Ishangi gave the opening keynote at our recent Somatic Dance & Movement Conference in Port Townsend, Washington.
Her eloquence and clarity are extraordinary. Her honoring of her heritage is profound and inspiring. Her embrace of somatic modalities is expansive and inclusive. She is already a leader in our field, and I look forward to her trajectory in our future. She was a vibrant presence in every time slot throughout our conference. Her curiosity is genuine. Her graciousness is heartfelt.
Thank you Kehinde for sharing your brilliance and love of bodily wisdom.
We were honored and uplifted by your contributions to our gathering! ❤️

07/19/2024

Summer Dance III, Sunday, July 21, 7 pm, JFK Hall, Ft. Worden!
Pay what you can.
Supported in part by a grant from the Port Townsend Arts Commission.
Please join us and please tell your friends who love dance.

07/18/2024

We performed a dance to honor Suzie Lundgren on the opening night of the Certified Evans Teacher s Gsthering. At Memory’s Vault I historic Fort Worden State Park,

07/15/2024

Two moments from an extraordinary day at the asonatic Dance & Mivement Conference Northwest! Something profound happened in every session!

07/14/2024

The Somatic Dance and Movement Conference Norrthwest 2024 got off to a beautiful start this evening with a dinner and moving and thought-provoking keynote presentation by Kehinde Ishangi (second from right, first row).

07/07/2024

July 7 is GREGG&KITTY DAY! In the late 70s and early 80s, this day always occurred during the Bill Evans Summer Institute of Dance, and we celebrated it by serving popsicles to the students (more than 300, in the early days) who joined us for a summer of dancing joy. We would gather in one studio, sing a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday to Gregg Lizenbery and Kitty Daniels, and then enjoy our frozen sugar on a stick.
Gregg and I were joined at the hip from 1967 through the early 80s. It was my distinct honor to spend thousands of hours in rehearsals and hundreds of hours in performances with him. In my opinion, he was the finest male modern dancer in the world during the years I had the good fortune of being his dance partner and in the following years during which he toured his own solo show, Men Dancing.
We became friends with Kitty during the years in which I was artistic advisor to the Concert Dance Company of Boston and Gregg assisted me in setting my works. We noticed in our many visits with CDC what a remarkable ballet teacher Kitty was, and we invited her to teach in our very first Seattle Summer Institute of Dance in 1977.
Kitty later moved to Seattle and became a member of the Bill Evans Dance Company. She has remained my dear friend and my husband Don and I consider her our cherished and beloved sister. She continued to teach in my summer programs through 2019, and just last year she gave a brilliant keynote address in my Somatic Dance Conference.
Gregg flourished as professor and director of dance at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for more than three decades. Kitty provided superb leadership for dance at Cornish College for 29 years. They have both positively impacted the lives of thousands of young people and provided leadership in dance education and administration. I am profoundly grateful that these two amazing artists and educators believed in me and my work and helped to define it.
Gregg is on FaceBook, but Kitty is not, so if you have her email or phone, please wish her Happy GREGG&KITTY DAY.

07/05/2024

July 4, 1984. Gregg Lizenbery (back to the camera) and I as I waited to go on stage in the Meadville, Pennsylvania town square for a performance of Morton Gould's Tap Dance Concerto. The Bill Evans Summer Institute of Dance and the Allegheny Music Festival both took place for several years, throughout the month of July in the 1980s, at Allegheny Collage . (Thanks to the unstoppable Jan Hyatt for producing our events.)
The large metal stage was miced, so that my tap sounds were thunderously loud. About halfway through the piece (which was about 20 minutes long), a huge rain storm erupted. The 100-piece orchestra was under a tent, so they kept playing. Most of the audience retreated to their vehicles, which lined the park, and continued to watch. A few toughed it out and stood in the downpour until we had finished. Students from the workshop moped up the stage with bath towels between sections of the piece as much as possible, but the rain kept falling, and I kept dancing, to the very end. Miraculously, I did not slip and fall. In fact, by the end, I felt exultant! An exciting and memorable day. Happy Fourth to all my friends. And, keep on keepin' on!