Dance improvisation with Saxophone-Leslie O'Neill and Nick Zoulek

Shell Lake Arts Center Dance Intensive Performance
July 18, 2014
Leslie O'Neill, Dance
Nick Zoulek, Saxophone
"the grace and discipline to execute each movement flawlessly" - Howwastheshow.com
Leslie has danced with Zenon since 2006. She began her formal training at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay in 1998 and received her BFA from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Leslie was a member of Carl Flink's Black Label Movement from 2005 until 2009. She has also performed the work of Maggie Bergeron and Company, Emilie Plauche-Flink, Rosy Simas, Ray Terrill, Kaori Kenmotsu, Robert Haarman, and Robin Stiehm's Dancing People Company. Leslie was nominated for a 2009 SAGE Award for Outstanding Performer. Her piece Trigger was named by the Star Tribune as one of the "Top 5 Arts and Entertainment Highlights of 2009." Leslie was awarded a McKnight Fellowship for Dance in 2010.
A musician is an ambassador who presents the views and values of a culture, a catalyst of thought and emotion, who employs sound to communicate in a universal language. Nick Zoulek embraces this philosophy.
Nick Zoulek is an American saxophonist originally from Wisconsin. He has performed as a soloist and a chamber musician throughout the United States, France, Canada, and United Kingdom at notable venues including the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, the Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, the World Saxophone Congress, Opus Erasmus, and the North American Saxophone Alliance National Conference. Nick earned his Bachelors in Music Performance with Magna Cum Laude honors from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UW-W). In 2011, Nick began studies in Paris, France, and in 2013, earned his Diplôme des Études Musicales in Saxophone from the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régionale de Boulogne-Billancourt. His primary instructors included Jean-Michel Goury, Dr. Matthew Sintchak, and Dr. Jon Amon. Fascinated by the interactive relationship between sound and visuals in the contemporary idiom, Nick frequently collaborates with videographers, composers, and dancers, finding new outlets of music performance. His work on Anna Weisling and Eric Sheffield's film project, "Arbor," has been shown at venues across the United States, France, and Canada. In collaboration with dance, Nick has been commissioned by organizations including the Wild Space Dance Company, the University of Wisconsin Dance Department, and Danceworks Milwaukee, to compose and perform scores for their works. After a recent performance of Wild Space's Milwaukee 360, Third Coast Digest raved "Zoulek responded to the choreographic impulses with sensitivity and wit". An advocate of experimental improvisation and spatial works, Nick has studied with Joelle Léandre and Damien Nedonchelle, and can be heard with percussionists Tim Russell, and Trevor Saint, and the saxophone group Duo d'Entre Deux.