La MaMa » Coming Soon

Drenched

Sam — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 16:00:54 +0000

Choreographed and Directed by Luke Murphy (Ireland) (NY Premiere)

First Floor Theatre

Fri – Sat at 7:30pm & Sun at 2:30pm

Performed by Carlye Eckert and Luke Murphy

Video Design and Installation by David Fishel

Studying the contrast between representations and realities of contemporary romance, Drenched is an intimate duet for Luke Murphy and Carlye Eckert examining a world of contradictions, parodies, uncertainties and the fundamental search for companionship. With a multi-channel projection installation by David Fishel, Drenched is a piece of viscerally physical dance theater with a sharp edge and a sharper sense of humor.

Photo by Sally-Anne Kelly

A Scottish Dance and Music Night

Sam — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:00:50 +0000

Mon at 7:30pm

Curated by Thomas Keith and Ian Betts

Members of the Scottish dance companies The Loch Leven Dancers and Shot of Scotch will perform the exhilarating highland fling, the athletic sword dance, plus reels, jigs, and strathspeys, all accompanied by the band Wild Thistle, featuring Mary Abdil on piano, Karen Brown on fiddle, and Douglas Safranek on the Scottish small pipes. For the second half of the evening the audience will be invited to join in a ceilidh (pronounced káy-lee), with traditional lowland Scottish Country Dancing taught by Anne Hankins and Jack Cole. Wear your kilt or whatever you like to swing and come prepared to enjoy the music and do some dancing yourself.

GROUP BIOS

Shot of Scotch was formed in February of 2011 in New York City as a venue for experienced, premier-level competitive Scottish highland dancers to continue to dance with the high level of precision and technique that we have trained for so many years to achieve.

In Fall 2012, two of our founding members independently moved to Vancouver, BC, so Shot of Scotch is now an international group, with one branch established in NYC and a new branch being formed in Vancouver!

Both groups have a primary focus on performance. Along with our strong technical background (many of us are certified highland dance instructors), we bring innovation, showmanship, and a love of sharing our passion for highland dancing to every event we’re a part of.

The Loch Leven Dancers is a performing group comprised of dancers and musicians from the metropolitan New York and New Jersey area. All the dancers are members of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society of Edinburgh Scotland, and many are also certificated Scottish Dance teachers.

Scottish Country Dancing is the social and ballroom dancing of Scotland. Its origin goes back to the earliest times when the dances were done in the royal court. They were handed down through the generations mostly by tradition, repetition and word of mouth, without any written instructions. The Loch Leven Dancers perform both the old traditional dances as well as those of more recent vintage that are devised in the traditional style usually to traditional music.

The Loch Leven Dancers took their name from the picturesque lake in Kinross, Scotland, which is the setting of an old ruined castle where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned in the year 1568. Thus the name of the group, as well as their program, brings a little bit of Scotland to audiences in the United States.

The Wild Thistle Ensemble embraces Scottish dance music with vigorous energy and glee which often propels even the most bashful of dancers to drop their inhibitions and join in on the fun.

The “leader of the band” and pianist, Mary Morrison Abdill is a well-know dance teacher and musician in the Northeast. It is not unusual to see Mary at a Scottish Dance class on Monday, English dancing on Tuesday and English or Contra dancing on the weekend. For many years she was the leader and artistic director of New York Royal Scottish Country Dance (RSCDS) Demonstration Team and the Mary Morrison Dancers. In addition to piano, she also plays traditional music on the English Concertina and Hammered Dulcimer.

Fiddler, Karen Brown, hails from Dundee. In addition to playing in sessions at traditional music festivals in the Northeast, Canada and Scotland, Karen runs the Iona Scottish Session in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These Monday night sessions focus on the pipe and fiddle music of Scotland, Cape Breton and Ireland and many of NYC’s finest Scottish musicians and enthusiasts (including all of the members of Wild Thistle!) stop in to share and exchange tunes. The session is open and everyone is welcome.

Piper, Douglas Safranek fell in love with Scottish pipes at the age of eleven. For our ensemble, he plays the small pipes but is often in demand for parades and other venues requiring a Highland Bagpiper. As well as being an accomplished piper, Doug is a renowned artist. His works have been featured in solo exhibitions in New York, Washington, and Wisconsin. His paintings are in museum collections from the West to the East Coast, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, here in NYC. He is represented by the ACA Galleries in Chelsea, NY.

Fiddler, Jenny Evans has traveled the world on a wing and a jig. She has played from California to New York and all the states in between that start with the letter M—and some that don’t start with the letter M. She is a lover of all Celtic music and has played with some of the finest musicians on the Scottish and Irish music scene. She continues to learn and adapt her music styles and hopes to someday accomplish fiddle nirvana.

Fiddler, Hannah Marcus embraces all types of music, from traditional to indie rock, American Old-Time to Celtic. She is also a well-regarded composer, singer and songwriter. In addition to playing for dances and leading local Irish sessions, Hannah performs her original music in Europe, Canada and the US. In addition to her solo work, Hannah is a member of the Wingdale Community Singers who just released their third album. Some day the Wild Thistles hope to premiere an original composition ala Hannah.

[BODIED]

Sam — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:00:42 +0000

Choreography, sound design, video installation by Wendell Cooper

The Club

Fri – Sat at 10pm & Sun at 5:30pm

Wendell Cooper shape-shifts in [Bodied] as he combines contemporary urban dance with rap, song, and video to reveal a variety of personas. In this multimedia memoir, guided meditation and stilettos go hand-in-hand. Live audio/video mixing and multiple projections create an immersive flow of memory, story and song.

[Bodied] is never performed the same way twice- but has been performed in various US cities (including NYC), the UK, Kenya, China, and the Netherlands.

Photos by Karim Parris

East Village Dance Project

Sam — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:00:20 +0000

Ellen Stewart Theatre

Martha Tornay, Artistic Director

Bonnie Stein, Executive Director, 7 Loaves, GOH Productions

For over 15 years, The East Village Dance Project (EVDP) has been educating New York City youth through a highly rigorous yet nurturing dance curriculum. Come witness the program’s culminating production, showcasing the fresh talent and dynamic exuberance of the students, ages 4-19.

This evening will include highly creative, deeply felt and charming short works by EVDP faculty Martha Tornay (Ballet), Victoria Roberts-Wierzbowski (Modern/Improvisation) and Clara Belenus (Jazz). The program’s Teen Company, an audition-based, pre-professional performance group, will be sharing a new work by the dance theater choreographer, Dante Brown as well as a piece by company member Chloe London.

“This delicious program included a huge range of dancers in age (4-18), dance styles and skill levels, but the key to its sheer quality is the sure direction of Ms. Tornay. The dancers showed some excellent technique, and they have obviously been encouraged to make individual choices and contributions. Then they had been set up within a structure that leaves them the freedom to shine at all levels. ”

- East Village Arts

Take It OVER

Sam — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:00:45 +0000

Choreography: Paul Matteson

The Club

Sat at 10pm & Sun at 5:30pm

Performance: James Morrow, Jennifer Pollins, Candice Salyers, Paul Matteson

Music: Sam Crawford

First survival. Make the two duets a trio, deal with the difficulties. Both work. Both valid. Maybe not both at once. Both at once lead to ugly comparison. Rearranging just to slow down. A shared denial of an inevitable end. It is time for you to go; oh well. Relief that it is still not over. No contractions. It is not over until it is over. It is over.

Photo by Bob Handelman

this Exquisite diversion/mysterious Skin

Sam — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:00:53 +0000

Choreographed by John J Zullo Dance/Raw Movement

The Club

Sat at 10pm & Sun at 5:30pm

this Exquisite diversion/mysterious Skin uses text from Scott Heim’s novel Mysterious Skin to explore the physical manifestation of extreme psychological experiences in which individuals have blocked the memories of sexual assault. This piece evokes an out-of-body experience as the memory is mined for fragments of a lost story whose effects are felt but not always recalled.

Photo by Richard Mercuri

I, Cyclops/Frog Princess JP edit (New York premiere)

Sam — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:00:18 +0000

Choreographed by Hari Krishnan

The Club

Sat at 10pm & Sun at 5:30pm

Performed by Paul Charbonneau, Benjamin Landsberg, Hiroshi Miyamoto, and Hari Krishnan

inDANCE presents two maverick, iconoclastic works adapted for La MaMa Moves! Artistic director Hari Krishnan is The Frog Princess, a tour de force Bharatanatyam solo. Dancers Paul Charbonneau, Benjamin Landsberg and Hiroshi Miyamoto perform an excerpt from I, Cyclops, a deliciously dangerous post-modern, pan-Asian work that catapults the audience between the mystical Shiva’s third eye and sexy James Marsden’s cool, red shades in Hollywood’s X-Men reboot. This adaptation of I, Cyclops was created as part of the Bessie Schoenberg choreographic residency at The Yard.

Photo by Andrew Ribner

La MaMa Kids: Family Playdate

Kaitlyn — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:00:29 +0000

Richard Ebihara & Perry Yung

Join the SLANT Performance Group as they weave their magical humor through La MaMa’s first Family Playdate – a fun-filled showcase performed by members of the Great Jones Repertory Company. Embracing intelligent dance, music and theatre, this unique event is tailored specially for a theatrical family experience in a relaxed atmosphere.

Richard Ebihara and Perry Yung have performed as the SLANT Performance Group since 1995. As a resident theater company of La Mama, SLANT created 8 original critically acclaimed, multi-cultural themed productions and toured across America and to the the Former Yugoslavia. In 2000, with support from the Rockefeller Mekong Project, SLANT traveled through out the Yunnan Province in China to research the music and dance of the indigenous minority cultures. They are grants recipients of the New York Foundation for the Arts, Jerome Robbin’s Foundation, Ear to the Ground and the Public Theater’s Playwriting Lab Commission.

“…extremely talented young Asian American men.”
– New York Times

Ellen Stewart Theatre Lobby
Second Floor
66 East 4th Street (bet. Bowery & 2nd Ave)

Tickets: $10 per family, no family turned away
Saturday mornings at 11 o’clock

To learn more about La MaMa Kids please click here

Jennifer Monson & friends/NY/Urbana

Sam — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:00:09 +0000

(Working Title)

Choreography by Renée Wadleigh, Renée Archibald, and Jennifer Monson with Niall Jones

The Club

Fri at 10pm & Sun at 8pm

Performed by Renée Archibald, Nico Brown, Jennifer Lafferty, Niall Jones and Jennifer Monson

These four choreographers share artistic lives in both New York City and Urbana, Illinois and come from three New York City dance generations – the 60’s, 90’s, and 2000’s. Combining an aesthetic interest in movement investigation and articulating the choreographic possibilities that stem from an investment in movement abandon, each of the artists brings a fiercely physical and intellectual rigor to their work as they shape energetic forces on multiple scales.
photo by Valerie Oliveiro

Pieces include:

7 Scenes of Wanting (world premiere)

Choreography by Renée Wadleigh in collaboration with Renée Archibald and Nico Brown

Music: Elvis Presley

Renée Wadleigh’s new work, 7 Scenes of Wanting was developed in collaboration with and features the protean duo Renée Archibald and Nico Brown. The piece investigates movement possibilities that set in motion a kind of tectonic drift, ideas breaking and shifting into others eventually arriving at the scene —- or unforeseen. Through accretion, an arrival.

The Painted Bird Trilogy (Bastard, Amidst, and Strange Cargo)

Sam — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:00:03 +0000

Choreographed by Pavel Zuštiak/Palissimo Company

Ellen Stewart Theatre

June 21 (Fri) 7pm, June 22 (Sat) 7pm, June 23 (Sun) 3pm

June 26 (Wed) 7pm, June 27 (Thur) 7pm, June 29 (Sat) 7pm, June 30 (Sun) 3pm

The Painted Bird Cycle // NYC PREMIERE from Palissimo on Vimeo.

Pavel Zustiak and Palissimo Company is seeking 60-70 performers, diverse in race, age and body type for performances of “Bastard” as part of the NYC premiere of the entire 4hour Painted Bird cycle at La MaMa June 21-30, 2013. For info and details on this performance opportunity please visit: www.palissimo.com/Bastard.pdf

Tickets:
Limited seating for a complete cycle of three productions (4 hrs, 2 intermissions) $60 ($55 Senior and Students)
Individual parts tickets: $25 (at the door, cash only, based on availability)

The Painted Bird Trilogy (NY premiere), two years in the making, is an ambitious, emotionally charged production inspired by the classic and controversial novel of the same name by Polish-born author Jerzy Kosinski. The allegorical novel tells the story of a young boy making his way through war-time Eastern Europe and a brilliantly painted bird that is violently killed by its own flock, which mistakes it for an imposter. Award-winning choreographer and director Pavel Zuštiak excavates the tale’s themes—identity, otherness, displacement, and transformation—in three uniquely staged performance events. His approach integrates dance, video, and visual projections with live music composed by Christian Frederickson, Ryan Rumery, and Jason Noble.

Photo by David Kumerman