photo credits: Michael R. Faulkner, Frank Bicking, Michael Butcher
RealLivePeople, a local contemporary dance company whose work explores human experiences through firsthand stories and unspoken gestures, will be producing, for the third year in a row, RealLivePeople Presents, a performance series featuring new work of their own as well as the work of colleagues. This year, our series is entitled RealLivePeople Presents: Impacting Spaces. Performances will be at the Community Education Center (3500 Lancaster Avenue) on Saturday, February 18th at 8pm and Sunday, February 19th at 4pm. Doors open 30 minutes before performance time.
RealLivePeople Presents developed in 2015 from a desire to further investigate who we are as a company by connecting to the work of our peers. In the past six years we have had the pleasure of working with an incredible range of talented artists, and we are thrilled to be able to present a few of them. While our last iteration of the series focused on the work of international artists, this year in RealLivePeople Presents: Impacting Spaces we will be presenting two like-minded companies from the East Coast alongside our own work: RebollarDance (Washington D.C.) and Deep Vision Dance Company (Baltimore, MD). The production will also tour to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore as part of a joint-touring initiative from the Artistic Directors of each organization. Presenting works in their home cities and that of each other’s, the companies investigate “space” in unique ways – the space of creation, psychological spaces, and the perceived space between us.
- Deep Vision Dance Company’s Matter, Energy, Human delves into the nature of human existence and our connection to the greater universe.
- RebollarDance’s Space Junk parallels the folds of space-time with psychological spaces of the mind.
- RealLivePeople’s Presenting: You First, with the hope for reciprocation investigates the tenacious, inner conflict of identity as a motivating force for social behavior.
“Presenting: You First (with the hope for reciprocation)” is an athletic and intimate duet choreographed and performed by RealLivePeople Artistic Director Gina Hoch-Stall and collaborator Scott McPheeters. McPheeters has been working as a performer, choreographer and teacher in Philadelphia for 11 years. Wanting to pursue a career in both theater and dance, he chose Philadelphia as his artistic home because it is a community that strongly encourages interdisciplinary “puddle jumping.” He co-directs dance and technology company Subcircle and regularly performs for the Bearded Ladies Cabaret and Nichole Canuso Dance Company. “Presenting…” explores the presentation of self, an intense desire to be accepted and the concept of “winning someone over.” Costumes are by Michelle Yeager and dramaturgical consultation is by RealLivePeople Managing Director Sara Nye.
Deep Vision Dance Company’s Matter, Energy, Human delves into the intersections between quantum physics, metaphysical theory, and the human experience. Each section uncovers the visual beauty of unfolding physical phenomena while illuminating the complex, yet delicate, human condition – physically, emotionally, spiritually, and as a universal whole. Deepak Chopra’s writings in Everyday Immortality: A Concise Course in Spiritual Transformation impact the connective fabric of the work. Audiences witness two storylines – (1) energy and matter and (2) the seemingly concrete human experience – that parallel, impact, weave, crescendo, and eventually converge. Collaborator Timothy Nohe composes the evolving, oscillating sound score.
RebollarDance’s Space Junk is the result of an intensive collaborative process of experimentation between movement, light and sound, an original score based on mechanical algorithms, and unusual use of lighting design and projection. Space Junk, astronomy’s definition of orbital debris created by humans, is used by RebollarDance as a metaphor for the rubble that lives and dies within our minds as past experiences, outdated ideas and misfired thoughts. The work highlights the dialogue of the body as it negotiates interplanetary worlds and psychological spaces.
RealLivePeople strives to balance inventive, athletic movement with poignant and provocative interactions that resonate with an audience. We tackle our subject matter from multiple perspectives, bringing in composers, artists and filmmakers to collaborate and even incorporating our audience’s opinions and stories into the work in real time. For us the work is about being human onstage – part performance, part real-life. For RealLivePeople Presents: Impacting Spaces, we team up with colleagues who complement, investigate and challenge this mission. RealLivePeople is supported in part by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund and The Samuel S. Fels Fund.
Impacting Spaces
RealLivePeople Presents
Saturday, February 18th at 8pm
Sunday, February 19th at 4pm
Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia
Tickets are $18 for General Admission, $15 for Students / PhiladelphiaDANCE.org Members
General Admission tickets are available online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2724528 or at the door.
