Daniel McCusker Dance Projects premieres its "Jupiter" at Tufts March 14, 2008

Daniel McCusker Dance Projects reveals its Jupiter at Tufts University. Friday & Saturday, March 14 & 15, 8:00 pm. Tickets (available at the door, cash or check only): $15; $10 students/seniors. Wheelchair accessible. Tufts University Dance Lab, Jackson Gymnasium, 40 Talbot Avenue, Medford. [Located near MBTA bus lines; parking available on Talbot Ave.] For information visit www.danielmccuskerdanceprojects.org. Advance reservations can be made by calling 617-524-3746.

Daniel McCusker Dance Projects premieres its Jupiter and in keeping with its planetary namesake, Jupiter is a “massive” exploration. The project is comprised of one lengthy group dance enhanced by a number of satellite dances. Taken together, the dances investigate contrasting ideas about mass — of material, events, performers — and duration, not only in time but in space.

Jupiter gathers together some of Boston’s best in dance: Alison Ball, Leah Bergmann, Janet Blackman, Nikki Carrara, Yenkuei Chuang, Karl Cronin, Peter Deffet, Joelle Garfi, Daniel Gonzalez, Edie Hettinger, Ana Keilson, Rozann Kraus, Rebecca Lay, Daniel McCusker, Jessamyn Schmidt, Wanda Strukus and Melody Ruffin Ward. Joining forces, they tackle what it means for an ensemble to be so much greater than the sum of its parts.

Daniel McCusker often works collaboratively with diverse groups of dancers and creates dances for a variety of performance settings. In addition to creating the material, he includes material that is generated by the performers in response to instructions, visual images/scores, movement problems and other tasks. As material is fragmented, rearranged and passed from one performer to the next, it is personalized and reshaped by the dynamics and phrasing of each dancer. Presented in a series of changing contexts, elements are isolated, magnified, repeated, made transitional and events are located in space and sequenced. The object / the outcome of the process is necessarily unknown and, perhaps, uncertain, but the process, like a trip to another place, can be exhilarating.

“Daniel McCusker’s long-limbed geometrical dances fairly burst with heart.…
That’s because their rigorous structure, their edgy dynamics, and their idiosyncratic gestures
permit them to show rather than tell their stories, as the best novelists do. … [His] creations…
are abstract, nearly pristine. Their emotional content, drawn from some of the grand themes -–
loss, love, hope –- arise from how the dancers use
McCusker’s shapes and traffic to communicate with one another.”
(Boston Globe)

Since 1994, Daniel McCusker has been part of the heart and soul of Boston’s vibrant dance community. He is a dancer, choreographer and educator, currently teaching modern dance, ballet, composition and special topics courses in the Department of Drama & Dance at Tufts University. Before moving to the Boston-area, McCusker directed Ram Island Dance in Portland, ME for seven years; and prior to that endeavor, while living in New York City, he performed regularly with the Lucinda Childs Dance Company among others. More information on Daniel McCusker Dance Projects can be found at www.danielmccuskerdanceprojects.org/about.html.

Official Website: http://www.danielmccuskerdanceprojects.org