“In her most recent production at Dance Theater Workshop, There is So Much Mad in Me, Driscoll takes on humanity’s inexplicable need to be seen and the complex states of extremes that ensue. Driscoll took some time to chat with Encore about the story behind it.
There is So Much Mad in Me explores voyeurism, the need to be seen and polarity of experience. Where did you find your inspiration for it?
Initially I set out to explore ecstatic states, but as I began looking at what conjured ecstasy, I found that it was completely entwined with suffering. So I began researching images from the media of people in all kinds of extreme states from religious rapture to torture to wrestling to talk-shows…”
Let the SPF set in while your family enjoys a performance get away! And remember FAMILY MATTERS is FREE FOR KIDS!
“‘GROOVE-CATION!’(Saturday and Sunday) Spring vacation hasn’t quite arrived, but Groove-cation is here this weekend. The final event of the season in the Family Matters series from Dance Theater Workshop, this interactive presentation will feature soul music, puppetry and of course lots of dancing. The featured artists include PearsonWidrig DanceTheater, Eric Wright and Kyle Abraham and Gerald Casel”
“The dance at first looks minimal; a matter of tiny, incremental shifts of position. Then you begin to see the smooth-as-silk wrists that twist and unfold their fans with purpose, the minute adjustments of posture and inclination, the hinted-at emotions, the perfect necessity of each gesture.
Ruby Washington/The New York Times
…the work is a considerable achievement that takes up residence in the memory and lingers, its details slowly becoming clearer, its mysteries more resonant.”
The City is no longer a cement wasteland. A host of thinkers and organizations have rediscovered wilderness in the vacant lots and sidewalk cracks of the city, and have begun to reformulate the concept of City. At the forefront of this urban re-envisioning has been iLAND, a movement-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting cross-discipline collaborations that create new vocabularies and approaches to the urban landscape. iLAND’s second annual symposium, “Connecting to the Urban Environment,” will be held March 26th and 27th at the New School.
Friday’s event includes a keynote speech by renowned public artist Mary Miss followed by brief presentations by iLAB residents – Strataspore, investigating the phenomenon of mushrooms in the city, StEM, Phil Silva and Timon McPhearson’s urban forest mapping project and Jennifer Monson, engaging watersheds and ground water through dance in the Mahomet Aquifer Project.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CALL 212 375 8283 or 917 860-8239
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Beth:What is the presence of contemporary dance in the project?
Julie: We generated that material together in rehearsals. There is a duet that Kayvon and I made together that then I transferred my role to Kuniya and now it is a duet between the two of them.
Kayvon: The intention was to draw out personal histories within dancing. There is some jazz stuff and some songs that we sing too. I sing songs related to my personal history.
Yasuko: I struggled when working with Kayvon and Julie with what kind of dance they should do. After many trial and error struggles, I came to the conclusion that traditional dance is basically about a collective group effort to preserve the form whereas contemporary dance is about the individual self. I wanted to investigate Kayvon and Julie’s personal history as dancers and create material from that history. That’s how I conceptually approached the movements and choreographed my idea of contemporary dance.
“As a director Ms. Yokoshi now sees that part of her role in “Tyler Tyler” is that of a translator of culture; she is exploring identity through the lens of two dance forms. “Another way I could put it is that I’m placing two high-quality things with different value systems side by side,” she said. “One doesn’t take over the other. That’s why it’s called ‘Tyler Tyler.’ It’s the exact same thing, like a mirror.”
Throughout the course of the performance the two worlds — modern dance and traditional Japanese dance — fuse into one.
“This is conceptual on a large scale, but I’m not trying to be a smart aleck,” she said. “It’s very simple in a very orthodox way. What I’m really looking for is beauty.”
“Paper the walls of the Legislative Office Building with letters of support. This is a horrible budget and everyone is coming to see us.”
TRANSLATION: We need to send tons of letters.
STRATEGY: I’ve attached two letters: one that can come from you, your audience, your patrons, and your board. Post them on your website and your Facebook page!
To find out the name/address of your State Assembly Members and State Senators: click here and here, respectively.
And, another for you to distribute to your vendors (the restaurants your patrons frequent, the parking garages they use, as well as your printers, advertising agencies, publicists, caterers, office supply companies, accountants, lawyers, any small business (or large, for that matter) whose revenues will no doubt be cut if you have less money to spend.
Thursday, March 18 at 7:30 PM, Friday, March 19th, at 8:00 PM, Saturday, March 20th at 9:30 PM
Dancenow [NYC] presents Nicholas Leichter dance’s new The Whiz: Emerald City, the Wizard of Oz for the Obama generation, as a part of the Spring 2010 Dancemopolitan series. After the inspired debut of You Can’t Win Brand New Day Medley at the 2009 Dancemopolitan Modern [Dance] Musical series, dancenow invited Nicholas Leichter and Monstah Black to expand their piece into a full-evening work. Using music reconstructed from The Wiz and some added selections, THE WHIZ reimagines New York’s underground communities through song, dance, and Prince-esque extravaganzardry. Leichter will choreograph and perform with his company of eight dancers; while Black reconstructs and performs the score live.
The Oz of Leichter and Black references the film characters, but is a reflection on 21st-century New York in movement and melody rather than musical-theater homage. Various themes appear throughout the 70-minute work with an array of different styles—house, funk, postmodern, drag, hip-hop, contemporary, and psychedelic—which traverse a landscape of hopes, fears, and dreams. $15 in advance / $20 at the door
Dance Theater Workshop's blog promotes its mission to identify, present, and support independent contemporary artists and companies to advance dance and live performance in New York and worldwide.
