Tag: DANCEROULETTE

[DANCEROULETTE] Susan Rethorst with Gregory Holt and Gabrielle Revlock: Stealing from Myself

What: Blending old and new work from her 30-year career, choreographer Susan Rethorst creates a dance for and with performers Gabrielle Revlock and Gregory Holt.
When: June 13–15, 2018
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost:  $20 Door, $15 Presale
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368

Brooklyn, NYStealing from Myself engages the personal archive of beloved choreographer Susan Rethorst to create new material for and with performers Gabrielle Revlock and Gregory Holt. Rethorst draws on 30 years of material to create a physical vocabulary for the two dancers utilizing small gestures that build into a large work over 30 minutes. Rethorst strings her gestures into passages and then paragraphs that become evocative stories, exploring “movements that are like found objects,” and has no fear of making ambitious work. Some say the experience is like being transfixed by a great painting.

Since 1975 Susan Rethorst has steadily created dances out of New York and Philadelphia. Rethorst’s work has been presented by The Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Marks, The Whitney Museum, and others. Internationally her work has been produced by The Holland Festival, Spazio Zero Rome, The Kunsthalle Basel, The Aix-en-Provence Festival, Jerusalem’s Room Festival, and more. Rethorst has been instrumental in devising BA and post-graduate programs in Copenhagen, Cork, Salzburg, and Amsterdam. She initiated a program for the Amsterdam School of the Arts, a study of choreography in Studio Upson in Pennsylvania (SUPA), and the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn. Rethorst was among the first to receive a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Outstanding Achievement in 1985. In 2008, she received her second Bessie for 208 East Broadway: Suitcase Dreams.

Gregory Holt is a choreographer from Philadelphia, where he also works as a community organizer. His dances are refined, process-based works, looking for social structures in somatic experience. His organizing work is in developing the local cooperative economy and direct action for climate justice. His work has been shown across the US, in Canada, and in Europe.

Gabrielle Revlock is a dance-maker known for her work with the hoop and her “inventive,” “rambunctious,” and “mesmerizing” choreography. Presenters include American Dance Festival, JACK, Gibney Dance Center, FringeArts, Joyce SoHo, and Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Internationally she has performed in Japan, The Netherlands, Singapore, Hungary and Russia.

CURATOR-TO-CURATOR

DANCEROULETTE-GRAPHIC

Jennifer Lafferty In Conversation with Alexis Convento

Since 2014, dancer and curator Jennifer Lafferty has invited choreographers to present as part of [DANCEROULETTE]’s New Movement Series. As she begins her fourth season this February, Alexis Convento, curator of the CURRENT SESSIONS contemporary performance series, speaks to Jennifer about the “emerging” artist, non-curation, and fluidity between curatorial and performance roles.

Alexis Convento: Hi Jennifer, thank you for taking the time. I’m excited to speak with someone else who moves between artistic and curatorial roles. Having experience on both sides can bring a lot to a curatorial practice. To begin, I’d like to learn a little more about how you started with the New Movement Series.

Jennifer Lafferty: It was good timing, really. The New Movement Series was my first curatorial opportunity. Most days I still call myself a performer–I work with a number of choreographers, most recently Rebecca Lazier and Beth Gill. But I also try to see as much performance as possible. I love how many ways dance can be presented to the audience. Works-in-progress at Movement Research, mixed-bills at Center for Performance Research, and seasoned choreographers at The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, and The Chocolate Factory… I try to see as much as I can. The city is always changing and filled with good ideas. After each performance, I like to start a conversation about the choreography presented. This is what led me to where I am now. After seeing one another at several shows, a former Roulette curator reached out about programming the New Movement Series. This was back in 2014, and February will now be my fourth series.

AC: Yes, great timing. So tell me more about the New Movement Series. What artists are involved? What sets this series apart?

JL: The New Movement Series was established as an “emerging” artist platform. I found that term a bit challenging at first and spent a lot of time trying to define for myself who I considered an “emerging” artist. Ultimately I decided to interpret the term broadly and focus on young artists who can create suspense through movement and experiment with different techniques. What’s most important is that I find choreographers who are always curious. It doesn’t matter to me if artists are classically-trained, but rather that they are immersed in a personal practice, and that they continuously explore their craft.

And to answer your second question, what separates New Movement is that I try to work towards an idea of non-curation. I think it’s particularly important when working with artists in the early stages of their choreographic development–

AC: –I’m so used to doing just the opposite. Whenever I put together a show I am always searching for a through-line, trying to fit narratives and themes together. It’s nice that you can let go of control in that way. Can you elaborate on what you mean by non-curation? Why is it crucial for emerging platforms like the New Movement Series?

JL: There are so many practices out there,  I want to let them come into contact with one another. As an organizer, I try to listen and keep an open mind. I also think it’s important to provide opportunities for emerging artists. With New Movement I want to give young artists the space they need to explore, make mistakes, and take risks. To allow room for failure as part of the research in early stages of making. If these choreographers have the opportunity to explore it’s unfair for me to limit their creativity by restricting them to a certain concept, style, or focus.  My first concern is to provide the resources, time, space, and personnel, for these artists. What I ask in return is trust, transparency, and a shared commitment to the presentation of great dance for an audience that is curious.

AC: It is important to make space for artists in early stages of development. Okay, last question: I feel like this may come naturally for you because you’re often around other artists, but how do you think the part of the curator differs from that of the performer. Do you find it challenging to switch between roles?

JL: Luckily, as a performer, I find myself among people who are constantly investigating, pulling apart, and discussing performance in a multitude of ways. This contact allows me to learn about new movement, and encounter artists as they are building work.

A question that I often revisit is how much my own aesthetic should read within the New Movement Series. I try to find balance by letting the space between performer and curator remain fluid while organizing evenings that allow for multiple perspectives and entry points.

[DANCEROULETTE]’S  New Movement Series runs from February 15-18, 2017, and presents choreography by Abby Levine, Anonymous – Cori Kresge, EmmaGrace Skove-Epes, Jessie Gold, John Hoobyar, Maddie Schimmel, Marc Crousillat, Marilyn Maywald, Melanie Maar, Netta Yerushalmy and Marc Crousillat, Rebecca Brooks, and Tatyana Tenenbaum.

[DANCEROULETTE] Kyli Kleven: Triangle Theory

What: Three nights of Kyli Kleven’s Triangle Theory, a dance-based preoccupation with the meaning and depth of shape-making.
When: Monday + Tuesday + Wednesday, November 28-30, 2016
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $15/10 Online $20/15 Doors $50 Series Pass
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $15, Members/Students/Seniors $10, $20/15 Tickets at the door, $50 Series Pass

Brooklyn, NY – Roulette presents three consecutive evenings of Kyli Kleven’s Triangle Theory, a dance-based preoccupation with the meaning and depth of shape-making, specifically of making meaning with/as triangles. The piece began as an exploration of dance’s relationship to form/precision, and has morphed into a dance-driven series of studies mixing craft values with pared down shapes/textures and abstract femme iconography. Making use of visual effects, foam props, and immersive projections, Triangle Theory pays homage to Wendy Carlos’ Beauty in the Beast album, Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet, and the very first tripod erected in Nenana, Alaska, which, every spring since, has floated down the broken Tanana river pulling a line of triangles behind it.

Kyli Kleven is an experimental dance artist and video artist based in Brooklyn and originally hailing from Nenana, Alaska. She owes much of her point-of-view to her participation in the art-making practices of Kim Brandt, Ryan McNamara, Jillian Peña, Milka Djordjevich, Jen Monson, Jen Rosenblit, Jen Allen, Kirstie Simson, and many others. She also worked extensively with Our Dads, a dance-making collaborative project with Stevie May, Tess Dworman, and Caitlin Marz, and as a video artist for knitwear designer Stephen West. She studied dance and gender studies at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a 2008 DanceWEB scholar at ImPulsTanz.

The ongoing [DANCEROULETTE] series reflects Roulette’s commitment to presenting experimental dance held since the organization’s founding in 1978, particularly the collaborative efforts of composers and choreographers exploring the relationship between sound and movement, choreography and composition.

Featuring:
Lydia Adler-Okrent
Jessica Cook
Tess Dworman
Angie Pittman

[DANCEROULETTE] Patti Bradshaw: Three Short Portraits

What: Roulette presents an evening of Patti Bradshaw’s recent works, featuring two works for solo dancer and one trio piece.
When: Wednesday, September 28, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $20/15 Online $25/20 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Patti Bradshaw makes new theater works of imagined lives of poets, shifting episodic images taken from nature, and the subject of a legendary photograph among other inspirations. Her shows employ puppets, elaborate costume, dance, original text, film and performing objects in collaboration with skilled performers of all disciplines. Visual charm, emotional impact, and metaphysical oddity combine to capture the humor, loneliness and piquancy of human circumstance.

Patti Bradshaw is a director, puppet artist, and choreographer. Bradshaw creates original dance theater projects using puppets, performing objects and elaborate costumes in a folk-like style. Her work has been supported by The Jim Henson Foundation and the Harkness Dance Festival at 92nd Street Y. She has been artist-in-residence at Sarah Lawrence College and at Brooklyn Studios for Dance. She was a multi-year member of St. Ann’s Warehouse and founding member of PEPATIAN, a performing and visual arts organization along with dancer/choreographer Merian Soto and visual artist Pepon Osorio. Bradshaw has collaborated on several projects with Roulette artistic director and producer Jim Staley at the original West Broadway location. She currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

The ongoing [DANCEROULETTE] series reflects Roulette’s commitment to presenting experimental dance held since the organization’s founding in 1978, particularly the collaborative efforts of composers and choreographers exploring the relationship between sound and movement, choreography and composition.

  • Marie-Helene Brabant – dancer
  • Jimmy Brenner – dancer
  • Pepper Fajans – dancer
  • Jane Stiles O’Hara – dancer
  • Valerie Striar – dancer
  • Cory Antiel – video
  • Patrick Gallagher – TBA