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).