DNA PRESENTS: RAW Directions February 10, 2011

Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) will present the Winter 2011 installment of its most exploratory series, RAW Directions, February 10-12 in DNA’s 130-seat theater. The program grants explorative opportunities to five emerging to mid-career artists with proven choreographic track records, wanting to carve out new avenues for their work. Artistic Advisor Colleen Thomas mentors this season’s artists: Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins Achille, Jordan Fuchs, Elisabeth Motley, Eunhee Lee and Scott Lyons.

A post-performance talkback moderated by Laura Peterson, Artistic Director of Laura Peterson Choreography, will take place on Thursday, February 10.

Established in 2009, DNA’s RAW Directions program provides established artists, possessing at least 10 years of choreographic experience, with a peer artistic mentor, two informal showings, a commission and artist fee, a full marketing and production support package, and free plus additional subsidized rehearsal space leading up to three performances of new 15-minute works in DNA’s theater.

Performances take place Thursday – Saturday, February 10-12 at 8:00pm. Prices range from $12 - $17. DNA is located near all major trains to Chambers Street/City Hall.

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Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins Achille a.k.a. SNIC
Swing Us Sky Rain(bow)
World Premiere
Choreography by SNIC
Performed by Karina Ikezoe, Ryan Ross, Michelai Sancho, and SNIC
Music by Alicia Keys and Ursula Rucker

Questioning the dynamics of femininity, power and control in dual relationships, Swing Us Sky Rain(bow) studies the psychological behaviors behind intimacy and violence. This dance examines the “cycle of violence” wheel as a lens for creation.

As a young choreographer SNIC presented her first work in New York City at Judson Church in 1999 which spun other shows at The Cunningham Studio, Aaron Davis Hall, and the Center for Dance Development in Portland Maine. Her company, Eternal Works, has been commissioned by 651 Arts “Black Dance: Tradition and Transformation” Series at Kumble Theater, and Dance Theater Workshop’s Bessie Schonberg/First Light Commissioning and Creative Residency Program. Company repertoire includes Goddess Subdued, ...But Some of Us Are Brave, Lullen in a New Plantation Economy and Don’t Live Here Go. Additionally they have performed at Howard University, The Alvin Ailey City Group Theater, Aaron Davis Hall’s Harlem Stage, The Philly Fringe Arts Festival and DanceNow Festival. SNIC is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Connecticut College.

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Jordan Fuchs/ Jordan Fuchs Company
Strange Planet
Choreography by Jordan Fuchs
Performed by Toby Billowitz, Jordan Fuchs, Kristina Isabelle, Leslie Scates and Storme Sundberg
Sound Score by Andy Russ

Inspired by the experience of acculturation to a new home, Strange Planet is a choreographic landscape for five dancers, choreographed by Jordan Fuchs with sound design by composer Andy Russ. Characterized by disorientation and a pervasive undercurrent of aggression, Strange Planet disperses choreographic power to the performers, challenging the performers to dismantle the choreography in the same moment as they perform it.

Strange Planet has been developed in residencies at Texas Woman's University in Denton and Barnevelder Movement Arts Complex in Houston, and was also made possible, in part, through support by the TWU Department of Dance, TWU School of the Arts Faculty Scholarship Enhancement Grants, a TWU New Faculty Research Enhancement Program Grant and the Hunter College Dance Program.

Making dances that extend the expressive possibilities of live performance, Jordan Fuchs explores form and formlessness, physical relationships at close-quarters and experiments in staging and technology. Fuchs' choreography has been commissioned by Danspace Project (2003, 2005 and 2008), Kristina Isabelle, and Perpetual Motion, supported by the New York State Music Fund, and presented at various venues throughout New York City and nationally at venues in San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Tulsa, Columbus, and Providence. He has been on faculty at Hunter College and Movement Research and taught at festivals such as Tsekh Summer School in Moscow, Russia, Danz'Aqui Festival International in Puerto Rico, and more. Based in San Francisco in the early 1990s and NYC from 1998-2007, he now resides in Denton, Texas where he is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Woman's University. He holds a BA in Religion from Oberlin College and an MFA in Choreography from Ohio State University, where he was a University Fellow.

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Eunhee Lee
Oops
Choreography by Eunhee Lee
Performed by Marcos Duran and Eunhee Lee
Music by Piazzolla, Cesaria Evora

The piece Oops is based on everyone’s life. How people make the same mistakes knowing it is wrong. Going back where it all started and walking the same path that you regret. This piece highlights the “Oops” moments in a relationship.

Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Eunhee Lee taught in local Universities before moving to the United States in 2006. As a choreographer, Lee was invited to present her work in Japan and Germany. In 2003, she was selected by Korean dance critics to present her work at one of the most prestigious theaters in Seoul. Also, she was chosen as the Chorographer of Seoul International Dance Festival in 2002. Her work has been shown as part of the DUMBO Dance Festival, Wave Rising Series (collaborative work with Dean Moss), as well as at Dixon Place, Movement Research, and The Flea Theater, among others.

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Scott Lyons & Company
The View
World Premiere
Choreography by Scott Lyons
Performed by Jessica Herring, Casey Loomis, Rebecca Lubart, Scott Lyons, ChristinaNoel Reaves, and Deb Silver
Music by Britney Spears

Based on a generation's fanatic obsession with perfection, the work's emotional and political content take the audience down the self-help aisles of Barnes & Noble. This piece explores a group of friends who cannot relate to each other directly, so in turn they discus their relationship woes as their 'idols' from The View.

Performance artist, dancer, choreographer, rapper, cardiologist, and professional exaggerator, Scott Lyons has a ferocious appetite for recreating and reinterpreting the boundaries of traditional perception. He draws from his eclectic education in the performing arts as well as his somatic education as a certified Body-Mind Centering® Practitioner, Somatic Movement Educator/Therapist, Yoga Therapist, and Infant Developmental Movement Educator. His work has been shown at Symphony Space, The Tank, Judson Church, Dance New Amsterdam, The Ritz, Dixon Place, and Waterside Plaza among others. In addition to his own dance-theater works, he has also worked with Keigwin & Company, Wendy Blum, Daisy Spurs, Murray Hill, Despina Stamos, Two-Headed Calf, David Neumann and Abel Costa. He has taught nationally and internationally, and has been a feature presenter at various somatic conferences. Scott is currently an adjunct-professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

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Elisabeth Motley / MOTLEY DANCE
I Just Want to See You Underwater
World Premiere
Choreography by Jordana Che Toback
Performed and in collaboration with Meredith Fages, Lea Fulton, Josselyn Levinson
Music Composed by Here We Go Magic, Edited and Arranged by James Sparber, Inspired by Neilly Rosenblum
Costumes by Lark & Wolff

While affected by a brain disease, Motley experienced a hallucination in which she believed herself to be a living watercolor. I Just Want to See You Underwater is inspired by this reverie. Dancers Meredith Fages, Lea Fulton and Josselyn Levinson reflect upon distorted memories of their own while calculating brushstrokes with their forms. Mountains of blue ribbon become water, relaying the maddening, fortuitous nature of watercolor making.

Hailing from Virginia, Elisabeth Motley received her BFA from the Juilliard School where she was awarded the Hector Zaraspe Choreography award and was mentored by Pat Catterson and Martha Clarke. She has returned to Juilliard to set her work on students in the college program and has been on faculty three consecutive years at the Juilliard School’s Summer Dance Workshop. Motley founded DOORKNOB COMPANY in 2005 and MOTLEY DANCE in 2010. She has held residency, created and performed work for: Joyce SoHo and as a finalist in its AWARD; DTW’s Fresh Tracks; Dance New Amsterdam’s RAW Material, RAW Directions and OBjectobJECT Series; HERE’s American Living Room Festival; LMCC’s Sitelines and Swing Space; and Movement Research at the Judson Church, among others. Motley is a Sponsored Artist with The Field and has been a certified Pilates instructor and personal trainer for the last 7 years.