10 Hairy Legs 2017 New York Season
Company:
10 Hairy Legs
2017 NEW YORK SEASON
Entire Program of 10HL Exclusive Commissions
BAM Fisher, Fishman Space
321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn
World Premieres by
Al Blackstone and Raja Feather Kelly
World Premiere Composition by Bryan Strimpel
Performed Live
Thursday June 8, Friday June 9 at 7:30 pm
Saturday June 10 at 7:30 pm/Benefit Performance and Dessert Reception
Sunday June 11 at 2:00 pm
Highland Park, New Jersey --- 10 Hairy Legs, the all-male repertory dance company, debuts at BAM for its fifth consecutive New York Season for four performances June 8-11. Continuing to showcase the company’s extensive repertory and aggressive commissioning of World Premiere Commissions, our New York Season features 2 World Premieres to bring the number of exclusive works to 14 and 4 musical scores since its founding in 2012. The program is completed by the Brooklyn premiere of 2016 Commissions by Doug Varone and Megan Williams. Tickets are $25 for Adults and $20 for Students and Groups of 10 or more through the BAM Box Office on line or by calling 718.636.4100.
Al Blackstone’s “Brian,” is a vibrant and playful quintet set to “Say I Wanna Know” by Nick Waterhouse that showcases the dancers’ storytelling abilities, playfulness and the spirit that they bring into the space. Blackstone noted: “Working with 10 Hairy Legs is an opportunity to blur the line between dance and theater, comedy and drama, classic and cutting edge. The men in the company differ from dancers in most other companies in that they themselves transcend labels. They are classically trained yet commercially viable, exquisitely sophisticated and somehow also scrappy and humorous.”
Raja Feather Kelly’s “Andy Warhol’s Blue Movie,” will have a newly commissioned score by Bryan Strimpel that will be played live at all performances. Kelly noted: "I am obsessed with the life and work of Andy Warhol and the development of popular culture over the last thirty years. I am inspired by Warhol’s philosophy and aesthetic as a model for my own use of repetition, iconography, and cinematic sensibilities. I am invested in amplifying mundane and/or pedestrian movement so that it becomes scientific and virtuosic. I use performance making and exhibition as a way to promote empathy. My practice identifies and magnifies opportunities where popular culture and human desire intersect ... all of my training and background—Speech and Debate, Musical Theatre, social dance styles of the 90’s, my academic study of Modern Dance and English—have prepared me for the uniquely Warholian way that I re-humanize our over-mediated experience of reality. Working with 10HL is a dream. It takes a special kind of dancer to work in a Repertory Company. It's not for everyone. Having to adhere to so many choreographers’ visions is no easy feat. Each of the dancers do it differently and so well. I dedicate my piece to them, because they have worked so hard in realizing my vision. Each dancer and performer has shown a personal interest in my work and the work we are creating together. They have integrity, they have investment and it is a treat to see them live through movement.” This work is underwritten in part by a Major Grant from The O’Donnell Green Music and Dance Foundation.
Varone’s work “mark,” is a quartet set to the music of Holly Herndon. Varone noted, “It was great to work through this and find a place that looked like the sound but also had its own structural identity.” Artistic Director Randy James commented, “It’s riveting, deeply complex yet so simple and clear - rhythmically rich.” Deborah Jowitt noted in her review in Arts Journal: “Varone’s mark mates strongly designed movements with cool precision.”
Megan Williams’ quartet “Quadrivium” is set to “New York Counterpoint,” a lush Steve Reich score, “Quadrivium” digs into the intrinsic space held by memories of boyhood play and social behavior, male preening rituals, and the desire to create a folk dance for the 21st century. “… tricky individual paths come together in elaborate counterpoint.” --- Deborah Jowitt, Arts Journal.
On Saturday, June 10, 10 Hairy Legs honors Baraka Sele with its Arts Advocacy Award. Baraka Sele has served as an Advisory Board Member to 10 Hairy Legs since our founding in 2012. Her holistic approach to community building in the arts has had a direct impact on the company’s exponential growth in audience and scope of programs and services extending our reach beyond traditional dance audiences. Her insistence upon the highest of standards of excellence day in and day out keeps us true to the authenticity of our mission.
Tickets for the Benefit Performance and Dessert Reception on June 10 are $150/Gold in support of New Commissions and $75/Silver in support of Education Program Scholarships and include one ticket to the performance and the post-performance reception. Tickets to the Benefit sold exclusively through 10 Hairy Legs at 10hl.org until June 5 when they may be purchased at the BAM Box Office. Proceeds support and. The Bosco Instant Photo Booth sponsors the Benefit, and a Photo Booth will be at the post-performance reception for guests to enjoy.
Patrons with Visual Disabilities may request a Large Print Program by contacting Executive Director Elizabeth Shaff Sobo at bsobo@10hl.org by June 2, 2017. BAM Fishman is barrier-free.
10HL "Quadrivium." Photo by Megan Williams.
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