Cynthia Berkshire's "VEIL: Two Sisters at Tibet House"
Company:
Cynthia Berkshire
Tibet House US
presents
VEIL: Two Sisters
Choreographer: Cynthia Berkshire
Friday & Saturday, July 14 & 15 at 8:30 pm
Tibet House, 22 West 15th Street, 2nd floor
Tickets: $25; $20 for students/seniors
Reservations: https://events.thus.org
(https://events.thus.org/programs/veil-two-sisters-performance-cynthia-berkshire/)
Video Design, Automatic Release (Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty)
Soundscape: audioscape includes music by Poppy Ackroyd and sound elements by Skip LaPlante
"...smart, adventurous, talented and innovative....fully impressed."
---Anne Bogart, Co-Founder SITI Company, Professor of Directing, Columbia University
"...Cynthia has a gift of an unusually deep connection to movement."
---Zvi Gotheiner, NYC choreographer, ballet teacher
"...a poem."
---Sally Silvers, NYC choreographer
Tibet House US presents the original multimedia performance work VEIL: Two Sisters, created by NYC choreographer Cynthia Berkshire, July 14 & 15, 8:30 pm, at Tibet House, 22 West 15th Street, NYC. Berkshire reveals two sisters lured into a link between the earthly and heavenly realms. A poignant vision of our emotional and psychic lives, VEIL is inspired in part by the Celtic notion of "thin places", where heaven and earth meet, considering this meeting as a connection to oneself and to another. The July program will feature a projected video of the performance and incorporate live performers, with an ending ritual leaving a path of light on which the audience will be invited to walk.
Cynthia Berkshire's work is distinctive and original. Blending realistic and abstract gesture and phrasing, VEIL progresses with both a sense of unraveling and holding back. Refined simplicity expands into motion and emotion as circles, white flowing fabric, falling marigolds, and celestial stars accompany the reunion of two sisters. Weaving repetition, mirroring and support from a mysterious chorus of spirits, VEIL: Two Sisters explores the thin veil of relation on multiple levels, considering the ways the process of forgiveness can take place between these sisters and others.
The concept of VEIL was inspired, in part, by Cynthia's bond to a sister who passed before they met, along with her travels to India and the death of her father during the project's development. As the younger sister calls to her older sister, who has passed, a chorus of three women offer guidance. Within a striking video environment, the sisters' fervent dream of connection becomes an enchanting poem.
A Forgiveness Workshop based on VEIL will be held Saturday, July 15, 4 to 6 pm, at Tibet House. Fee: $25. The creative movement workshop will explore the theme of forgiveness through simple and playful exercises, including a warmup, improvisation, learned and group movement. For more information on the Workshop, please visit the Tibet House website.
Cynthia Berkshire is a Manhattan-based choreographer and performer who has worked as a graphic artist, filmmaker and theater collaborator. Her projects investigate the interrelationship and possibilities within these forms. Developed through residencies including White Oak Plantation, her work has presented at PS122, Knitting Factory, CRIPA India, and Washington Theater Festival, among others. Cynthia has appeared in projects by Kei Takei, Sally Silvers and Noemie LaFrance, performing at Abrons Art Center, La MaMa, Judson Church. Her design projects have been seen in The New York Times, Fashion Week and sold at the Walker Art Center. She has created theatrical choreography for ‘King Lear’ and ‘Ghost Sonata‘ at Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre and the Strindberg Festival. Cynthia participated in ‘A Tribute to Judson’ at Washington Project for the Arts, and received her Masters in Dance at George Washington University. Her performance work is available through the Department of State’s Arts Envoy program. She is the co-creator of a music documentary series with Jahmani Perry, executive produced by Emmy Award-winning Sam Pollard. Cynthia has a yoga practice, holds a brown belt in Shorin Ryu Karate, and studies meditation with Martin Alyward and at New York Insight. www.cynthiaberkshire.com
photo by Craig Marsden
"VEIL: Two Sisters" is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC.
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