La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival ’16
Curated by Nicky Paraiso
From the world premiere of a new work by a lesbian, queer and transgender ballet company Ballez to the La MaMa premiere of a young Korean contemporary dance group, Project S, to shared evenings of both talented emerging and mid-career choreographers, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival reflects La MaMa’s longstanding dedication to performance that transcends politics and unifies cultures.
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival has been made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with special thanks to City Council Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and additional support from Ford Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Coca-Cola Company and TD Bank.
BALLEZ
Sleeping Beauty and the Beast
April 29 – May 8 ｜Ellen Stewart Theatre
Sleeping Beauty & the Beast is a two-act, two-theater Ballez that merges two classic tales, re-writing them to insert the herstory of L.E.S. lesbian activists into the ballet canon: the striking Garment Workers of 1893, and the AIDS activist dykes of 1993.
SUK SOON JUNG/PROJECT S
For Whom
April 29｜First Floor Theatre
This piece is a story about our dreams – both what we are dream about, and what we used to dream about. We remember the dreams we had as children, wearing hero masks and pretending to be Hollywood superheroes. And now, we live in the present having forgotten these dreams.
SHARED EVENING
Paula Josa-Jones, Amanda Loulaki, Yvonne Meier
April 30 – May 1 ｜First Floor Theatre
Three exciting world premiere performances by three different artists including Mammal by Paula Josa-Jones, Durch Nacht Und Nebel by Yvonne Meier, and house of wind (a process for Untitled two) by Amanda Loulaki.
INNPROGRESS COLLECTIVE
toPRAY
May 5 – May 6 ｜First Floor Theatre
toPRAY tells the point of view from which we observe ourselves. / toPRAY is a passage. Sometimes the journey to reach the human soul is long and narrow. / Sometimes we do not have the time to choose the ways that seem complex to us. / So let’s dance. toPRAY
SHARED EVENING
B.S. Movement & Jumatatu Poe
May 7 – May 8 ｜First Floor Theatre
Machine Affect by B.S. Movement brings its viewer to the point of intersection between abstract physical design and the range of human response. Let ‘im Move You by Jumatatu Poe is a continuation of Jumatatu’s work with and around J-Sette movement vocabulary and performance aesthetics.
TIFFANY MILLS COMPANY
After the Feast
May 12- May 15 ｜Ellen Stewart Theatre
After the Feast is a new work that imagines an urban dystopia caused by vanishing resources. Mills’ highly physical movement and daring partnering propel the performers further into this dire situation – the next phase of human existence.
AL SON SON – FLAMENCO
Sonia Olla
May 12 – May 13 ｜The Downstairs
Sonia Olla and her husband Ismael Fernandez (Flamenco Cantador-Singer) continue to spread the heart beats of Flamenco with New York Audience and New York Flamenco community. The fantastic duo was the first to combine Flamenco dancing with Cante singing to enrich the rehearsals and lessons. Sonia Olla is not only a superb dancer, choreographer but also a true young master of dance with the ability to pass down the art of dance of any category or ethnicity, a full life between tempo 1 and tempo 2 with every inch of her physical cell and her breath.
CARDELL DANCE THEATER
Supper, People on the Move
May 14 – May 15 ｜The Downstairs
From choreographer Silvana Cardell, a new dance performance inspired by themes of migration, Supper, People on the Move explores the complex experience of dislocation. The dance is an examination of the human experience of all people on the move, looking for new horizons. Physical bodies moving between physical places define migration, and the immigrant journey is at the heart of humanity’s ability to survive. From this rich and fertile history Cardell creates evocative forms of movement—abstract, personal, universal—performed with unrelenting physicality and striking moments of beauty.
3RD CLASS CITIZEN
B & E
May 19 – May 20 ｜The Club
Both works are still in the making, the process having already started in 2015. They are part of a larger project by Jeremy Nelson and Luis Lara Malvacías / 3RD CLASS CITIZEN manipulate images and concepts onsite following a strict conceptual frame can produce instant movement and unravel choreography that is full of content and related to specific thoughts. The project uses signposts and issues connected with life and aging, as a framework for this exploration.
SHARED EVENING
Nico Brown, Caleb Teicher, Poorna Swami
May 21 – May 22 ｜ The Club
Three world premiere performances by three different artists including This is not a letter but my arms around you for a brief moment by Nico Brown, Cartography by Poorna Swami, and Chet or Just the Way He Sings by Caleb Teicher & Company.
BRUNO ISAKOVIC
Disclosures
May 26 – May 27 ｜The Club
Disclosures is a performance that invites different people to share their stories, fears, and confidences, demystifying borders of privacy and nakedness as they strip away their clothes. Being naked/nakedness are intimate experiences closely related to one’s individuality and the social norms of one’s surroundings. Whether an extrovert or introvert, the idea of nakedness connotes meaning for everyone –- about borders, privacy, shame, vulnerability, and social order.
ORI FLOMIN & HELENA FRANZEN
Meeting You
May 28 – May 29 ｜The Club
“Meeting you” revolves around the theme of friendship and togetherness. What causes and creates friendships? What kind of attraction touches and affects us, and how does it remain with us? Long time friends Ori Flomin and Helena Franzen collaborate as Choreographers and performers as they question these ideas.
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival continues to support La MaMa’s commitment to presenting diverse performance styles that challenge audience’s perception of dance by featuring performance/installations, experimental film screenings & public symposiums which address dance artists’ engagement with the current political climate, as well as honoring diasporic histories and legacy, ancestral inspirations and inter-generational dialogue.
