http://philadelphiadance.org/blog Making dance and dance writing in Philadelphia more accessible to everyone Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:04:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2011/06/02/susan-hesss-choreographers-project-brings-a-season-of-development-to-in-performance/ http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2011/06/02/susan-hesss-choreographers-project-brings-a-season-of-development-to-in-performance/#comments Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:18:32 +0000 Steven Weisz http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/?p=4312
Raphael Xavier, photo by Raphael Xavier Article written by Joanna L. Mullins for The Dance Journal Susan Hess Modern Dance (SHMD) closes its season at the Performance Garage on Saturday, June 11 and Sunday, June 12 with “In Performance: The 2010-2011 Choreographers Project,” showcasing the latest works by resident artists Bronwen MacArthur, Gabrielle Revlock and Raphael [...]]]>
Raphael Xavier, photo by Raphael Xavier Article written by Joanna L. Mullins for The Dance Journal Susan Hess Modern Dance (SHMD) closes its season at the Performance Garage on Saturday, June 11 and Sunday, June 12 with "In Performance: The 2010-2011 Choreographers Project," showcasing the latest works by resident artists Bronwen MacArthur, Gabrielle Revlock and Raphael Xavier. After their opening "48 Hours" performance in December 2010, MacArthur, Revlock and Xavier worked with the 2009 Guggenheim Award-winning New York performance artist Ralph Lemon in a three-day Masters Exchange session over March 25-27, 2011. The local artists, Lemon, and Artistic Director Susan Hess engaged in intense studio work probing such concepts as risk in performance (including the multiple types of risk that come from encounters with a stool). All three local choreographers performed in the Dance Affiliates and Joyce Theater Foundation co-presentation of "The A.W.A.R.D. Show!" (Artists With Audiences Responding to Dance), May 18-21, 2011, at the Arts Bank. SHMD alumnus Meredith Rainey won the competition, and Revlock was one of the two runners-up. The pieces presented June 11-12 reflect a clear line of development from the "48 Hours" exercises through the work with Lemon. Ideas explored in the packages of directions that the artists exchanged for the opening performance have surfaced in work throughout the season, expanding beyond the 48-hour time restriction on a piece's development. Pushing past internal limits and dedicating themselves to exploration, the choreographers have integrated their work with Lemon into the artistic process. The SHMD Choreographers Project /Masters Exchange (CP/ME) has funded space at the Performance Garage for these dance artists' regular rehearsal and development of work over 2010-2011, as well as for the two performances and the master teaching session. MacArthur, Revlock, and Xavier have all been invited back for a second season of residency in 2011-2012. With a history of over 30 years of serving dancers, choreographers and performance artists in Philadelphia, SHMD continues to play a leading role in fostering talented independent dance artists and bringing their innovative concepts to local audiences. The activity of CP alumni in venues throughout the city, nation, and world is a testimony to the importance of dedicating close attention and resources to the career development of emerging artists. Gabrielle Revlock and Kristel Baldoz, photo by Bonnie Friel About the Artists Bronwen MacArthur has danced with many companies in New York and Denmark, including those of Bill Young, Gina Gibney, Robin Becker, Donna Uchizono, Sara Gebran and Tim Feldmann. She formed MacArthur Dance Project (MDP) in 2007 as an umbrella for her choreographic work, which has been performed in Philadelphia, New York, New England, Russia and France. MDP has been featured in the documentary Coming to Grips, produced and directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Lori Petchers and installed at New York's Dance New Amsterdam. It is also featured in webisodes of the Mr. Nice series Haute & Bothered on Teen.com. MacArthur has international teaching experience and was guest instructor at Connecticut College and taught in the Theater Studies department at Yale University. Native Philadelphian Gabrielle Revlock is director of Mano/Damno Projects and has shown her work at the Joyce SoHo (New York) and the Korzo Theatre (The Hague, The Netherlands), among other venues. She was resident choreographer at Bryn Mawr College in 2010 and received a Rocky Award the same year. Revlock is a company member of Jeanne Ruddy Dance and has worked with local choreographers Myra Bazell, Lisa Kraus, Leah Stein and Matthew Neenan, as well as international artists Sean Feldman (UK), Willi Dorner (Austria) and Butoh master Katsura Kan (Japan). She is also a filmmaker, whose works were shown at Philadelphia Dance Projects' 2007 and 2008 dance film festival "Moving Pictures," and a published photographer in Smithsonian and Bust Magazine. Raphael Xavier is an award-winning artist from Wilmington, Delaware, now living in Philadelphia. A Pennsylvania Fellow of the Arts in Folk and Traditional forms, he has been a Breaker for over two decades and has worked as a professional artist in a variety of fields, including music, photography and film. He co-founded olive Dance Theatre (oDT) in May 2002 with Jamie Merwin, and his choreography has been performed by oDT and by Companhia Urbana de Dança of Brazil. He has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Dance Theater Workshop in New York; the Wilma Theater and the Painted Bride Arts Center in Philadelphia; and in Lithuania. An alumnus of Rennie Harris Puremovement, Xavier has established Breaking as a traditional folk art in the City of Philadelphia, as well as in master and apprentice programs funded by Pennsylvania's Institute for Cultural Partnerships. The 2010-2011 Choreographers Project at SHMD has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through Dance Advance. Additional support has been generously provided by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Suzanne F. Roberts Cultural Development Fund, RBC Wealth Management, the SHMD Board of Directors and individual contributors. "In Performance: The 2010-2011 Choreographers Project" runs Saturday, June 11 and Sunday, June 12, at 8:00 p.m., at the Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street. For more information, visit www.hessdance.org.]]> http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2011/06/02/susan-hesss-choreographers-project-brings-a-season-of-development-to-in-performance/feed/ 0 http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2010/12/04/in-performance-48-hours-at-performance-garage/ http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2010/12/04/in-performance-48-hours-at-performance-garage/#comments Sat, 04 Dec 2010 23:13:26 +0000 Steven Weisz http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/?p=3460
Photo by Anja Hitzenberger Susan Hess Modern Dance, the 2010-11 Choreographers Project launches its season with two weekend performances of “48 Hours” on Saturday, December 11, and Sunday, December 12, 7:30 pm, at the Performance Garage on Brandywine Street. New residents Bronwen MacArthur, Gabrielle Revlock, and Raphael Xavier will be tackling the “48 Hours” assignment, [...]]]>
Photo by Anja Hitzenberger Susan Hess Modern Dance, the 2010-11 Choreographers Project launches its season with two weekend performances of "48 Hours" on Saturday, December 11, and Sunday, December 12, 7:30 pm, at the Performance Garage on Brandywine Street. New residents Bronwen MacArthur, Gabrielle Revlock, and Raphael Xavier will be tackling the "48 Hours" assignment, adapted from the Philadelphia 48 Hour Film and Theater Projects to dance performance by CP alumna Devynn Emory in 2005. In "48 Hours," each artist works under the directions provided in two mission packages by fellow residents, creating a short piece within the two-day time limit. The choreographers do not realize their own packages but may interpret the prompts - for instance, use of certain music or props, or incorporation of certain movement phrase - in whatever way they wish. Photo by Raphael Xavier "48 Hours" places the artists firmly in the midst of confronting limits and risks in their artistic process. In the past, ideas explored in this season-starting exercise have developed into larger works later in the season. Taking this exercise to Jeanne Ruddy Dance's Performance Garage is an exciting venture for SHMD, after 30 years in our own studio. The goal for CP showings in the In Performance series is to provide a laboratory in which the choreographers can explore their ideas and interact with their audiences. Gabrielle Indivisibility - Photo by Bonnie Friel In Performance: 48 Hours, with works by the SHMD 2010-2011 Choreographers Project, runs Saturday, December 11, and Sunday, December 12, at 7:30 pm at the Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street in Philadelphia. Tickets are $15 ($10 for senior citizens and students with ID). A "talk-back" between artists and audiences follows the Saturday-night performance.]]> http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2010/12/04/in-performance-48-hours-at-performance-garage/feed/ 0 http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2010/01/07/shmd-in-performance-2009-10-choreographers-project/ http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2010/01/07/shmd-in-performance-2009-10-choreographers-project/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:46:41 +0000 http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/?p=2039
On Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17 at 7:30 pm, Susan Hess Modern Dance (SHMD) will present “In Performance: 2009-10 Choreographers Project” . For this first “In Performance” showing of the season, SHMD will present innovative works in dance from new resident Megan Mazarick, as well as dynamic works from returning residents Meg Foley [...]]]>
On Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17 at 7:30 pm, Susan Hess Modern Dance (SHMD) will present "In Performance: 2009-10 Choreographers Project” . For this first "In Performance" showing of the season, SHMD will present innovative works in dance from new resident Megan Mazarick, as well as dynamic works from returning residents Meg Foley and Erin Foreman-Murray. Megan Mazarick says she grew up drinking Dr.Pepper and watching Dr. Who reruns in suburban North Carolina. The self-professed movement geek uses dance to physicalize images, characters, and ideas. Utilizing a never-ending interest in the minutia of American life, she finds inspiration for movement within snippets of cell phone messages, through the transformable toys of 1986, between the tentacles of calamari from the local Vietnamese market, or inside the rusty gears of a diesel engine. Citing America's MTV Generation as influence, her work portrays themes of alienation set within a gritty, plastic, and absurdist landscape. Layering intricate movement material with visual design, her dances are dark comedies based on mundane events. Currently, Mazarick teaches modern technique and other dance courses at University of the Arts and Rowan University. She received her M.F.A. from Temple University in January 2007 and has been an active performer, teacher, choreographer in the Philadelphia community since 2004. Meg Foley, joyfully in her second stint as a Choreographer's Project resident, has been making dances and performing in Philadelphia since 2005. She directs Moving Parts, a company through which she aims to create elusive yet emotionally evocative performance experiences that straddle the fine line between focus and freedom. Her work has been presented at Susan Hess Modern Dance Studio, Mascher Space Cooperative, Vox Populi, the Community Education Center, and by Bowerbird. As a dancer, she works with Nichole Canuso and Lisa Kraus, and danced with Devynn Emory from 2005-2009. Foley was educated and influenced by the good people at Scripps College and Laban Centre London. She loves to teach both technique and critical theory and has led workshops on whether authentic movement really exists and on locating meaning within and constructing self-referential movement. Some of her favorite dances that she has recently seen are Bird Song by Siobhan Davies, Rammed Earth by Tere O'Connor, Keely Garfield's Limerance, and Jen Rosenblit's greatest hits duets. Second-year resident Erin Foreman-Murray makes dances, experimenting in kinetic physicality and acknowledging the intelligence of the dancing body. Erin's choreographic research seeks to redefine the relationship between audience and performer by building live performance experiences that are multi-layered, individually engaging, and relevant in contemporary society. Her creative work has been presented regularly in Philadelphia, with recent presentations by StudioSeries at Studio34, Susan Hess Modern Dance, Here[begin]'s Current, the Field/Philadelphia, and in the Philly Fringe. Erin was a two-year artist in residence at the Mascher Space Cooperative. Currently, she dances with Ring Dance Theater and readySetGO.  Erin holds a B.F.A. in contemporary dance from Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance. SHMD has a played a leading role in the Philadelphia dance community for more than 25 years by offering programs of consistent excellence and originality.  The only independent modern dance institution in the area to invest in the professional development of choreographers and dancers, the organization’s mission is to serve choreographers, dancers, performance artists, and audiences in an environment where creativity and experimentation flourish. The Choreographers Project provides rehearsal space, performance opportunities, and other benefits each year to four select local artists. The Choreographers Project/Masters Exchange has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through Dance Advance.  In Performance showings of the Choreographers project receive additional support from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Suzanne F. Roberts Cultural Development Fund, RBC Dain Rauscher, and individual contributors. In Performance: 2009-10 Choreographers Project Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17, at 7:30 pm Tickets: $12 Susan Hess Modern Dance Studio, 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia For more information go to http://www.hessdance.org]]> http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2010/01/07/shmd-in-performance-2009-10-choreographers-project/feed/ 0 http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2009/05/13/susan-hess-modern-dance-celebrates-the-life-and-work-of-daniel-nagrin/ http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2009/05/13/susan-hess-modern-dance-celebrates-the-life-and-work-of-daniel-nagrin/#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 02:23:39 +0000 http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/?p=1253
On Saturday, May 30, at 8 pm, Susan Hess Modern Dance (SHMD) will present In Performance: Remembering Daniel Nagrin, a special one-time performance that will offer rare glimpses at the life and work of late legendary dancer, choreographer, author and teacher Daniel Nagrin, one of the most highly regarded figures in American Modern Dance.  Through [...]]]>
On Saturday, May 30, at 8 pm, Susan Hess Modern Dance (SHMD) will present In Performance: Remembering Daniel Nagrin, a special one-time performance that will offer rare glimpses at the life and work of late legendary dancer, choreographer, author and teacher Daniel Nagrin, one of the most highly regarded figures in American Modern Dance.  Through solo dance performances, never-before-seen video and first-hand recollections and remembrances from those who knew and worked closely with him in his five decades-plus career, SHMD will pay tribute to Nagrin’s lifeand legacy. “Danny’s approach to dance was revolutionary,” says *SHMD founder and Artistic Director Susan Hess*, who studied with Nagrin at the age of 19, prior to enrolling in Julliard. “His impact on the world of dance was profound and has proved to be a lasting influence for me throughout my career.” The evening’s showing will feature Nagrin’s classic solos “Strange Hero,” “Path,” “Wordgame,” and “Someone” performed by *Shane O’Hara*, associate professor at James Madison University and a dance-theater artist. O’Hara, who collaborated with Nagrin for more than 20 years and reconstructs the artist’s work through “The Nagrin Project,” was selected as Artistic Director of the Nagrin Foundation by Nagrin himself, prior to his passing last year. “Daniel had an unyielding passion and dedication to the art of performing,” O’Hara says of his longtime mentor and collaborator. “And that’s something that I took from him that’s always helped me push my work forward.” In addition to O’Hara’s faithful interpretations of these works, Donald Laney, co-Artistic Director of West Virginia Dance Company, will perform another of Nagrin’s most famous pieces, “Spanish Dance.” Along with performances of Nagrin’s celebrated works, the show will feature original video materials provided by The Nagrin Project and never before-seen clips from the SHMD’s archives that chronicle Nagrin’s participation in SHMD’s Five American Dance Pioneers, a lecture and film series the studio hosted in 1984.  Susan Hess who studied and worked extensively with Nagrin, will share her firsthand experiences and memories of the pioneering choreographer. From Broadway where he was once named Best Male Dancer, to film, to being celebrated as the “Great Loner of American Dance,” Nagrin’s illustrious career spanned five-plus decades.  His groundbreaking style, which brought together a passionate life-long commitment to humanism and a keen inclination to gesture, defied the status quo and gave way to an entirely new approach to the craft that was unmistakably his own. Celebrated for his intensely dramatic solo pieces, which have become modern-dance classics, his works consistently earned the praise of critics throughout his career. “For him, jazz was not a finger-popping, torso-twisting genre of self-involvement but a tool to explore character,” wrote Don McDonagh in Dance  magazine.  “The gesture is the movement, and gesture, as acting, is never imposed upon the movement,” Anna Kisselgoff wrote in a 1994 review in The New York Times.  “And when Mr. Nagrin put together those gestures and steps,” Ms. Kisselgoff wrote in another review, “no specific technique springs to mind, no school or tradition provides a ready context.” As a performer, Shane O’Hara has shared his work with audiences throughout the United States and Europe.  He has worked with the Thompson & Trammell Dance Company in residencies in Poland, Denmark, Portugal and Germany. O’Hara was also a guest instructor at the Pro Danza Italia Summer Workshop in Tuscany in 1998 and at the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival in 2005. He has received grants from the USIS/American Embassy, Pennsylvania Council for the Arts and Virginia Commission for the Arts as well as a Fulbright Fellowship to Portugal. Presently O’Hara is a Professor of Dance and Coordinator of the Dance Program at James Madison University and works professionally setting commissioned dances throughout the U.S., performing a concert of Nagrin’s solo works entitled The Nagrin Project and touring as Shane O’Hara  Solo Dance. Dancer, choreographer and teacher Donald Laney graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with an MFA in Dance. He is currently the co-Artistic Director of the West Virginia Dance Company. Before entering the graduate program at UCI, Laney performed with the West Virginia Dance Company, Houlihan & Dancers (Miami, FL), Randy James Dance Works (NYC), X-Factor (NC), and the Charleston Ballet. While attending UCI, he had the opportunity to perform for Donald McKayle, Loretta Livingston, Lisa Naugle, and Christine Chrest, as well as presenting his own choreography, which was chosen to represent the university at ACDFA in 2003 and 2004. Laney was the 2005 WV Governor's School instructor in dance.  In 2008, he was honored to learn “Spanish Dance” from Nagrin and has been performing the work in recent concerts. SHMD has a played a leading role in the Philadelphia dance community for almost 30 years by offering programs of consistent excellence and originality.  Dedicated to investing in the professional development of choreographers and presentation of high-quality dance works, the organization’s mission is to serve choreographers, dancers, performance artists, and audiences in an environment where creativity and experimentation flourish. In Performance: Remembering Daniel Nagrin Saturday, May 30 at 8:00 pm, Susan Hess Modern Dance Studio, 2030 Sansom Street Tickets are $15. For more information, go to www.hessdance.org]]> http://philadelphiadance.org/blog/2009/05/13/susan-hess-modern-dance-celebrates-the-life-and-work-of-daniel-nagrin/feed/ 0