Biography

"Doris is a passionate dancer who can move with both expansive lyricism and gentle detail."

~ Christopher Watson, Artistic Director,
Christopher Watson Dance Company

Ships sail into the cumulus distance on bluer-than-sky water. The percussive landscape, the music of nature. An improvisation of waves splash the tom tom of rocks while a marimba of bird song ruffles the feathers of the ear. Laughter drums from a running child to rise like a warm scent on a summer day.

    On the rocky shore of Lake Superior, in the gardens and green grass of Duluth's Lakewalk, the human form dances the movement of an antique clock. Arcing arms carve the clockwork motion of arbors, pinions, and wheels in time-telling patterns. Dancers turn, coil, spring, and fall.

    Doris Ressl, creator of Dances on the Lakewalk, turns time into pure motion. When Ressl isn't dancing, you might find her orchestrating the yellow hardhat sounds of construction into music for a groundbreaking ceremony -- a celebration in which Ressl boldly choreographs a duet of bulldozers turning in pirouette, as shovels ring and hammers sing, bringing a community together to playfully share and participate in ritual that returns dance to its origins.

    Doris Ressl began her dance career in Chicago where she received a BA from Columbia College, was a member of the Chicago Dance Medium, danced for various guest artists, and pursued her own independent choreography. After receiving an MFA from Smith College, she moved to Minnesota to teach dance and coordinate the dance minor program at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where she served as an Assistant Professor of Dance. At UMD she choreographed for the annual dance concerts, the opera program, and the Minnesota Repertory Theatre.  Since 2000, Ressl has traveled throughout the United States teaching and choreographing at Radford University in Radford, Virginia and Ball State University and the Muncie Playhouse in Muncie, Indiana.

    Ressl formed the Ressl Dance! in 1989 as a vehicle for the creation and performance of modern dance in Northern Minnesota. A recipient of state, local and university grants, Ressl has produced, choreographed, and presented her choreography throughout Minnesota.  Involved in the Minnesota dance community -- The Minnesota Ballet, the Minnesota Dance Alliance, Minnesota Dance Festival, Minneapolis Fringe Fest, Red Eye Theatre, The Christopher Watson Dance Company, Myles Reif Center in Grand Rapids, and the Grand Marais Art Colony, have all produced her works.

    Ms. Ressl, recipient of a McKnight Choreographers' Fellowships, two Arrowhead Regional Arts Council Artists Fellowships, and various career opportunity grants, can be found expressing her passion and love for dance in the classroom, teaching classes in dance history, choreography, or technique.  Her regional choreographic endeavors include the Minnesota Ballet, Project Lulu, Café au Lake, and the Duluth Playhouse. 

LaDonna Tornabene Photo

    Ressl continues her collaboration with Minnesota dance artists and her dedication to creating and presenting dance in Northern Minnesota.  Her commitment to dance is also a commitment to community.  Ressl's collaborations build bridges that span the gap between distinct communities.  Her site-specific work returns dance to the vernacular, to the origins of dance, rooted in celebration and ritual, generated from a sense of place.

    Ressl's collaborations reach across disciplines involving actors, artists, musicians, and the public. Portraits, created in 1993, were a collaboration with director Colleen Daugherty that involved Duluth actors and dancers.

    In 1994 and 1996 Ressl was involved as a presenter and performer for Bridge Dancing. Twin Cities choreographer Marylee Hardenbergh created this site-specific public work on Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge and surrounding piers.

    In May 1998 Ressl was commissioned to choreograph an outdoor, site-specific Ground Breaking ceremony at the Reif Center in Grand Rapids where she worked with 100 dancers and community members.

     In 2001 she created Dances from Up North, a thoughtful, light-hearted, and often humorous look at life in the Northern climes.  Four dancers and two actors present dance, vaudevillian skits, poetry, and a creative narration by Minnesota Playwright David Hannula, accompanied by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and other musical selections.

    From 1997 to the present her choreography was seen in Dances on the Lakewalk in Duluth, Dances at the Lakes in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dances from Up North, Project Lulu, and Crossing Paths with the Minnesota Ballet.  The company has performed in Ely, Grand Marais, Grand Rapids, in Duluth with Cafe' au Lake, annual concerts, Ressl-spective, a ten year retrospective concert, a performance-teaching residency at Radford University in Radford, Virginia.

    Since 1997 Ressl Dance! has showcased the premiere summer dance event in Duluth, Dances on the Lakewalk.  Celebrating its 10th season, Ressl continues to invite not only Minnesota choreographers, but choreographers from throughout the Midwest to share her vision of creating dance along Lake Superior and bringing dance to the community.   

    Ms. Ressl's creative works involve collaboration. The central focus of her artistic vision is holistic -- a sharing of thoughts and creative forces to communicate with the public.  Site-specific public performances are a vehicle to help Ressl explore her beliefs in the power of artistic collaboration through the collective process.