REDCAT just announced that it will present the Sharon Lund School of Dance at CalArts in the first-ever virtual Spring Dance Concert April 29-30, 2021 at 8:00 p. m. PDT. The concert promises the bringing together of dance artists from around the world for “an immersive, digital experience” featuring new work from notable choreographers Peter Chu, Rosie Herrera, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, and Olivier Tarpaga.
CalArts Spring Dance Concert Poster – Courtesy of REDCAT
On The Program
De par le temps (As time goes on), choreographed by Olivier Tarpaga
De par le temps is a virtual dance theatre performance created by Tarpaga, assisted by Esther Baker-Tarpaga, in collaboration with the cast. The choreographic vocabulary will derive from improvisation and hybrid movement transformation, and storytelling. Through the music of Le Trio Joubran—an oud trio playing traditional Palestinan music—the dancers will explore their living spaces and surrounding nature.
Olivier Tarpaga is a Lester Horton Award-winning choreographer and musician, a dance lecturer and the director of the African music ensemble for Princeton University’s Department of Music. Tarpaga’s work described as “unforgettable” by the Los Angeles Times, “extraordinary” by The New York Times and “Exceptionally smart work” by Broad Street Review.
Olivier Tarpaga – Photo courtesy of REDCAT
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As Yet Untitled, choreographed by Rosie Herrera
The themes of this work revolve around the idea of the divine feminine. Using the lens of glamour as a source for magic and a celebration of the feminine, this piece aims to be a radical rejection of the dreadful lethargy of the virtual world. The dancers/collaborators will be making altars in their spaces and use fabulous costumes and props of their own construction.
Rosie Herrera is a Cuban-American dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater in Miami Beach.
Rosie Herrera – Photo by Adam Reign
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Sketching Anew, choreographed by Peter Chu
Visualizing how internal flow guides bodies through expressive and emotional constructs while empowering a state of wonder. A doodle best illustrates new hope, new possibilities, and ultimately recognizes new life. Will you allow for a new sketch to begin? This work will mix both live and pre-recorded content.
Born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Peter Chu performed with BJM Danse, EZdanza, Aszure Barton & Artists, Kidd Pivot, and in Celine Dion’s Vegas spectacular, A New Day. In 2008, Peter formed a Las Vegas project based dance company, chuthis., which showcases the work of Chu and his collaborators.
Peter Chu – Photo by Levi Walker
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As Yet Untitled, choreographed by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener
Mitchell and Riener create portals through space-time and make a new language which only they will know. The Dance is the language, a tool, a weapon, a wheel, a shovel, a spindle, a spile, a pencil, a file, a dumpster, a dial, a hole in the ground where we plant seeds of hope and desire. Featuring music by Charmaine Lee.
Since 2010, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener (both alumni of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company) have created 25 multidisciplinary dance works including site-responsive installations, concert dances, gallery performances, and dances for film in venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barbican Centre, and REDCAT. They bring a queer perspective to their dance practice, one of constant reorientation and active carving of multiple alternatives.
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TICKETS & INFORMATION:
CalArts Spring Dance Concert
Presented as part of The Sharon Disney Lund Dance Series
Thursday, April 29 at 8:00 p.m. PDT
Friday, April 30 at 8:00 p.m. PDT
Ticketing:
$15 for General admission
$12 for REDCAT members and students
$8 for CalArts students, faculty and staff
This event is virtual, streamed through the REDCAT website. Tickets can be reserved HERE.
To visit the CalArts School of Dance website, click HERE.
To visit the REDCAT website, click HERE.
Written and compiled by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener – Fire Island Dance Festival 2017 – Photo by Whitney Browne
