Founded in 1974, Jennifer Muller/The Works (JMTW) continues to fulfill Muller’s vision of presenting dance theater that incorporates the spoken word, live and commissioned music, media, and unusual production elements to create multi-disciplinary productions to elucidate the human spirit. Over the past 48 years JMTW has collaborated with multiple renowned artists including Keith Haring, Keith Jarrett, Tom Slaughter, Yoko Ono, and Julia Kent. Also, the company has established long-standing collaborative relationships with Burt Alcantara, Jeff Croiter, Karen Small, and Marty Beller.
For the past eight years, JMTW has curated the annual WOMEN / CREATE! Festival in New York City, presenting the work of leading female choreographers. This year in partnership with New York Live Arts, the shared program will occur on Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 7:30pm ET, livestreaming on Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and YouTube. The festival will include a wide diversity of dance techniques ranging from contemporary to club and street dance styles, featuring four dance films and two live world premieres filmed at New York Live Arts. The event is FREE, with a suggested donation of $10. Advance registration can be requested HERE. (more information below)
The six female choreographers whose work will be celebrated this year on WOMEN/CREATE! are Karole Armitage, Sidra Bell, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Tatiana Desardouin, Meagan King, and Jennifer Muller. The performance will be followed by a talkback moderated by Danni Gee, highlighting the unique experiences of our 2021 choreographers and the different challenges they have faced as women, with perspectives from the 80s through today. The program will include: Six Feet Apart, World Premiere Filmed Live at New York Live Arts, Armitage Gone! Dance, Karole Armitage; PRELUDE | IDENTITY through a window…with bated breath…, Sidra Bell Dance New York, Sidra Bell; Invisible Embrace of Beauty, World Premiere Filmed Live at New York Live Arts, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Jacqulyn Buglisi; Dance Within Your Dance, Passion Fruit Dance Company; KINGS, Meagan King; and Island Re-Imagined, 2021 Virtual Adaptation, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Jennifer Muller
“WOMEN / CREATE! is an opportunity to witness companies of expertise and impact – choreographers, each with a powerful original voice who create work from unique points of view yet share a sensibility that combines virtuosic movement with an expressive edge that moves minds and hearts – work that dances full out yet speaks of both individual experiences and shared humanity. This work is knowledgeable, long-lasting and current at its core,” said Jennifer Muller.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
SIX FEET APART (2021)
Choreography: Karole Armitage
Sound Design and Engineer: Agnes Fury Cameron
Lighting Design: Clifton Taylor
Performed by: Sierra French, Cristian Laverde-Koenig
Six Feet Apart is a collaboration between choreographer Karole Armitage and engineer Agnes Fury Cameron, who created the sound environment. Armitage and Cameron met while Armitage was an MIT Media Lab Directors Fellow, and Cameron a student at the lab. The seven-minute work is performed by two dancers.
The sound, originally planned for live performance, was designed to be heard over an audience’s personal cell phones. The small speakers convert the loud, industrial soundscape into a hushed and intimate experience, shared in a group context. We look forward to presenting the cell phone version at a later date.
Six Feet Apart – Choreography by Carol Armitage – Courtesy of the artist
PRELUDE | IDENTITY through a window…with bated breath…
Choreography: Sidra Bell
Production, Lighting, & Décor by Amith Chandrashaker
Videography & 3D Rendering by Harrison Goodbinder
Dramaturgy & Rehearsal Direction by Jonathan Campbell
Costume Design Mini Collection “A Global Dust Storm in Mars” by NANNERWAVE (South Korea)
“I had an unexpectedly visceral reaction when the six dancers began taking their bows at the conclusion of the performance. I found myself so entrenched in the world Bell created that it took a couple of minutes to pull myself back out of it. There was not a single moment, costume, prop or lighting element that went to waste. Whether it was a subtle elevated walk on the balls of the feet, a projected live-video feed, or contacts in the performers eyes, everything had a purpose and fed into the larger atmosphere of the work. This atmosphere was charged with a heightened urgency and drama that felt equal to the crisis of identity so many of us and our communities are facing today. The multiple ways in which Bell and the dancers wrestled with and perceived the idea of identity were rich and vast. A moving and noise-making apparatus attached to dancer Misa Kinno Lucyshyn spoke to a complex and voyeuristic relationship with our identities and technology. The poignant repetition of the sung words ‘my beloved’ and different parts of the body while dancers intertwined projected a sense of identity woven with intimacy and community, while the jarring violence in other sections of the choreography referenced a powerful sense of self-doubt and indignation. The way in which Bell presented this perplexing material revealed itself as a metaphor for how we approach and deconstruct identity. I left the theatre feeling like I had more compassion for the diversity of our fellow human beings, grappling with the idea that this beautiful diversity is what makes our identities so hard to pin down.” – DIYDancer Magazine
Sidra Bell Dance New York – PRELUDE | IDENTITY – Choreography Sidra Bell – Photo by Umi Akiyoshi
INVISIBLE EMBRACE OF BEAUTY (World Premiere)
Choreographer: Jacqulyn Buglisi
Commissioned Composer: Alex Weiser
Film by: Terese Capucilli, Photography Paul B. Goode
Lighting Designer: John Cuff
Projection Designer: Joey Moro
Music Performed by: Merz Trio
Piano: Lee Dionne, Violin: Brigid Coleridge, Cello: Julia Yang
Singer: Eliza Bagg
Performed by
Blakeley White-McGuire, So Young An, Greta Campo,
Evan Fisk, Myles Hunter, Ricardo Barrett, Carolina Rivera, Aoi Sato
In its first indoor, performance onstage since the pandemic, Buglisi Dance Theatre is presenting the world premiere of the Invisible Embrace of Beauty choreographed by Jacqulyn Buglisi. The company has been honored to be a part of the festival since 2014, premiering such works as Sacred Landscapes, To the Spirit of Enheduanna, and Moss Anthology, as well as iconic BDT dances Threshold and Sand.
The work for eight dancers features commissioned music by ASCAP award-winning composer Alex Weiser recorded by the Merz Trio and Soprano Eliza Bagg, a film by Terese Capucilli of movement dialogues created during the pandemic, projection design by Joey Moro, and lighting design by John Cuff. Inspired by the writings of John O’Donohue, Dante’s Inferno, Claudia Rankin, Heidi Andrea Restropo Rhodes, Layli Long Soldier, and Rilke, Buglisi questions what makes us human, acknowledging the moral necessity to hear each other’s voices, and embrace the concealed beauty of existence.
This premiere of the Invisible Embrace of Beauty features four of the five sections of the ballet.
INVISIBLE EMBRACE OF BEAUTY – Choreography by Jacqulyn Buglisi – Photo by Paul B. Goode
DANCE WITHIN YOUR DANCE
PASSION FRUIT DANCE COMPANY
Choreographed by: Tatiana Desardouin
Performed by Passion Fruit Dance Company: Tatiana Desardouin, Mai Lê Ho & Lauriane Ogay
External Eye: Adesola Osakalumi and Miki Tuesday
Vocals (acapella): Sam I Am Montolla
Music & video editing, photos: Loreto Jamlig
Lighting Designer: Coel Rodriguez
What is the groove? How do you find it? How much weight does it hold in self-expression? In Dance Within Your Dance, Tatiana Desardouin invites you to connect with the techniques, rhythms and essence of hip-hop and house dance. Tatiana encourages her audiences to question their understanding of the groove and therefore of Black culture.
“Tatiana’s work is soulful, full of the complexity and joy that exists in the world, the clubs and our hearts . A great new voice has arrived. BRAVO.” – Adesola Osakalumi, Fela, Equus, Syncing Ink, Othello (Movement Director)
“This is one of the best street dance shows I’ve seen in the last few years!!! A perfect example of how authentic street dance can do more than just entertain in the theatre setting.” – Crazy Smooth (artistic director of Bboyizm Dance Company)
PASSION FRUIT DANCE COMPANY – Choreographed by Tatiana Desardouin – Photo by Loreto Jamlig
KINGS (2019)
Choreography: Meagan King
Music: “Whispers of the Past” by Sound Effects Zone | “Solomon” by Hans Zimmer
Lighting Design: John Cuff
Performed by: Christopher Taylor, Aaron Frisby, Emerick Ligonde, Isaiah Harvey, Jayden Williams
Spoken Word: Wayne “Juice” Mackins
Mentored by: Renée Robinson
Meagan King is honored to have received this special invitation from her beloved teacher Jacqulyn Buglisi to present her work in the WOMEN / CREATE! program. “KINGS” portrays the moving story of five, young African-American boys who unjustly made history as “The Central Park 5.” As minors, these young boys were wrongfully convicted of the brutal rape and assault of a white, female jogger in Central Park in 1989, spending up to 13 years in juvenile and adult prison. The mission of “KINGS” is [not] to continue to bring light to this historical injustice, but rather represent these presumed “criminals” as five beautiful kings. This work, though choreographed in 2019, very directly speaks to our social climate in America today. It is an honest call for Americans to hold up a mirror to our society, undo the layers which disguise evident flaws, and drive this nation towards lasting change.
Photo 2 by Wayne _Juice_ Mackins_
ISLAND RE-IMAGINED (2021)
Virtual adaptation
Choreography: Jennifer Muller
(Island premiere: 2005 / Island Re-Imagined: 2021)
Photographs: Roberto Dutesco
Original Score: Marty Beller
Costume Design: Sonja Nuttall
Video Editing: Cuong Huy Nguyen
Original Lighting Design: Jeff Croiter
Cast: JMTW Dancers
The original choreographic piece Island is a collaboration with photographer Roberto Dutesco. Mr. Dutesco created haunting images of the horses on Sable Island—horses, abandoned by shipwrecks, that have existed on the island without human intervention or interference. Taking its cue from the social interaction and imagery of these wild horses and what they represent as an increasingly rare natural phenomenon, the piece is a peon to the contrast between a confined existence and an unfettered, untamed state of being.
Island Re-Imagined is the innovative adaptation of the original piece Island, combining the magnificent photos of Roberto Dutesco and the action of JMTW dancers seen through a lens of a layered digital treatment and effects that enhance the power and expression of the piece.
Focused on a parallel between the wild horses confined to Sable Island in Nova Scotia as photographed by Roberto Dutesco and the response to the emotional experience of living in a Covid era, the piece echoes the sentiment of our times.
Elijah Laurant – Jennifer Muller/Works – Photo by Steven Pisano
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What: WOMEN / CREATE! A Festival of dance celebrating the Innovation of Women in Choreography
When: Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 7:30pm ET
Where: Livestreamed on Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and YouTube
Tickets: The event is FREE, with a suggested donation of $10. Advance registration can be requested HERE. For more information, visit HERE. Or go to womencreatedance.org.
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New York Live Arts
We acknowledge that New York Live Arts is located on the ancestral homeland of the Lenape people in New York City. We acknowledge and pay respect to the Lenape people and to all Indigenous people past, present and future, here and everywhere. New York Live Arts produces and presents dance, music and theater performances in its 20,000 square-foot home, including a 184-seat theater and two 1,200 square-foot studios. New York Live Arts offers an extensive range of participatory programs for adults and young people; it supports the continuing professional development of performing artists. New York Live Arts serves as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; it is the company’s sole producer, providing support and the environment to originate innovative and challenging new work for the Company and New York’s creative community.
Written and compiled from Michelle Tabnick Public Relations’ press release by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Sirda Bell Dance New York – PRELUCE/IDENTITY – Choreography by Sidra Bell – Photo by Umi Akiyoshi
