Arts & Culture
Jump Rhythm Jazz Project company members give an exhuberant performance
Jump Rhythm Jazz Project founder Billy Siegenfeld and company members leap to stage
The Pointer
lgern177@uwsp.edu
Following a two-week residency in February, professional dancer Billy Siegenfeld returns to present Jump Rhythm Jazz Project this Saturday, March 28 at the Sentry Theater. Three other company members will also join him.
Siegenfeld founded this Emmy- winning company in New York in 1990, in partnership with current University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point dance instructor, Jeannie Hill.
The company now consists of an ensemble of eight members based in Chicago. The group also tours schools and universities to educate students through choreographic residencies on unique Jump Rhythm Jazz techniques.
Hill, who was instrumental in bringing Siegenfeld to UW-SP, said she first met him at a dance class in New York. She later took a jazz-tap dance class he instructed.
“I loved the way he danced,” said Hill. “His class was a derivative of Fred Astaire’s rhythm.”
Hill, who continues to be involved in the project as an associate artistic director, guest artist and choreographer, said this project is important to her on a variety of levels.
“Through this, I’m able to integrate my professional life with my academic life,” she said. “It’s a culminating moment for me to be able to bring the company here … I’m especially grateful to Sentry for helping bring them here.”
The project is particularly beneficial to UW-SP dance students, who will gain first-hand experience working with different jazz techniques on a professional level.
“They’ll get to see teaching put into performance,” Hill said. “They, more than anyone, will appreciate the complexity of the rhythms and gain a deeper understanding for this type of dance.”
Former UW-SP dance student Kristina Kasper said Jump Rhythm Jazz Project’s residency at UW-SP in 2001, when she was a freshman, has profoundly shaped her career.
“When I first saw the company perform, I knew I wanted to do what they were doing,” she said. “I thought to myself, ‘I have never seen a company do this…’ You really feel alive as an audience member.”
Kasper worked with the company as a scholarship student in 2005, moving her way up to an apprenticeship. She now is a full member of the company and will be performing this Saturday.
“I’m so excited to come back to UW-SP to perform,” she said. “I’m proud of my school and I’m proud of my company, so for the two to come together is really important to me.”
But the students aren’t the only ones who will appreciate this Saturday’s show. Hill emphasized the importance of seeing the event in person.
“Dance is nice on video, but you don’t get the energy,” she said. “There is a palpable exchange between the audience and performers.”
To experience this exchange, you can purchase Jump Rhythm Jazz Project tickets at the University Information and Tickets center in the Dreyfus University Center on campus.
