AXIS Dance Company and inkBoat Present ODD November 12, 2010

Nov 12-13, 8pm and Nov 14, 2pm

For the first time ever inkBoat dancers will share the stage with AXIS Dance Company, one of the world's most acclaimed and innovative ensembles of performers with and without disabilities. The resulting world-premiere collaboration, ODD, is a series of dances choreographed by inkBoat Artistic Director Shinichi Iova-Koga, with musical accompaniment by famed cellist/composer Joan Jeanrenaud (formerly of the Kronos Quartet) and musician/vocalist Dohee Lee.

Inspired by the paintings of Odd Nerdrum, the Scandinavian painter renowned for his emulation of old-master techniques and textures, and his devotion to the depiction of flesh, ODD reflects "the darker colors of the palette, some deliberately provocative, yet not without clownishness, care and tenderness as well," says Iova-Koga.

With echoes of Rembrandt and Caravaggio, Nerdrum plumbs the depths of the human condition, exploring themes of loneliness, fear, brutality, hatred, sexuality, birth, death, and degradation with a precision that borders on the hallucinatory.

When asked about working with AXIS and the opportunities and challenges it provides, Iova-Koga was blunt. "I am as exacting with the disabled dancers as I am the non-disabled. The difference is, I have more to learn from them - where is their 'ground,' is it in the chest or tailbone? And I work to put myself somewhere in their place."

Judith Smith, Artistic Director of AXIS, was drawn to Nerdrum's color palette and the material because the "subject matter is often dark," and the potential for using the light, gestures, and shapes in the paintings and translating that to movement. "It's a very different vocabulary than we're used to; demanding physically because the movement is very subtle and requires great focus, but also very demanding emotionally and intellectually."

Official Website: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/123526