DANCE NEW AMSTERDAM PRESENTS
ELKE LUYTEN, KIRA ALKER AND KENDRA PORTIER IN FIRST SPLICE SERIES OF THE SEASON
DANCE NEW AMSTERDAM PRESENTS ELKE LUYTEN, KIRA ALKER AND KENDRA PORTIER IN FIRST SPLICE SERIES OF THE SEASON
Six-night Run Includes Premieres from BANDportier as well as Duo Luyten and Alker
NEW YORK, October 29, 2012‹Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) welcomes back 2011 2012 RAW Directions artists Elke Luyten and Kira Alker, as well as DNA faculty member Kendra Portier, joining for the first of two SPLICE series this season. The series provides a collaborative performance setting that juxtaposes contemporary artists that share a common thread, however subtle or tangential. Luyten and Alker¹s Studies of Inertia is a world premiere encompassing Inertia, Part I, which was performed as part of DNA¹s last season¹s RAW Directions program. After almost a decade of extensive work with choreographers such as David Dorfman, DNA gives Portier the spotlight for her world premiere of Beautiful Weather for an Air Raid. Six performances will run over two weekends, November 30 December 1 and December 7 8. All shows are at 7:30 p.m., with additional Saturday matinees at 3:00 p.m.
Luyten¹s solo, Studies of Inertia, investigates the fundamental difficulties and paradoxes of the act of performing. Directed by longtime collaborator Kira Alker, the piece is a determined approach to the everyday execution of tasks; the struggles of moving the body from shape to shape. Luyten¹s desire to distill movement down to its simplest form gives birth to an arresting vulnerability. The team creates a visceral and dramatically charged environment through silence, durational exhaustion and the absence of a narrative structure. This finalized 45-minute piece has seen various performance incarnations, first taking shape during a residency at the Hooyong Performing Art Centre in South Korea and later at Judson Church¹s Movement Research, Dixon Place¹s Body Blend series, and the Brooklyn-based FLICfest, in addition to its development as part of RAW Directions and residency with LMCC.
Portier¹s first professional staging, Beautiful Weather for an Air Raid is a profound inquiry of the body¹s intangible and kinesthetic response to grief and grace. Based on personal experiences, the work is a tribute to families surpassing external and emotional hardship and the hope that propels them out of their internal storms. Hyperaware of the imagination's ability to construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct a new reality of past events that is easier to grasp, Portier¹s dancers engage in movement that manages to be both fluid and off-kilter. Effortless partnering, dense physicality, and seamless transitions between various groupings, the quintet produces a voluminous and luminous aesthetic that is raw and determined, yet luscious and exposed.
Although Studies of Inertia and Beautiful Weather for an Air Raid vary drastically in staging and movement style, both examine the nuances of memory and performance: the body¹s varied attempts to reconstruct movement and remembrances has become an infinite breeding ground for all three artists.
³It is our pleasure to welcome these compelling artists, all members of the DNA family, to our SPLICE series,² says Artistic and Executive Director Catherine Peila. ³A vital aspect of DNA¹s mission is to give horizontal artists such as Elke and Kira multiple residency and performance opportunities, in order for the artists to thrive and grow. DNA is proud to serve as a breeding ground for creativity, offering opportunities for creators to experiment and emerge. We are equally excited to present Kendra¹s work‹as a familiar artist on the contemporary stages in New York and abroad, she¹s a beloved faculty member and recognized artist; DNA is proud to foster such a symbiotic educational and performance relationship.²
Duo Elke Luyten and Kira Alker have created collaborative movement performances for nearly ten years. Their work has been showcased internationally at such venues as the REDCAT in Los Angeles, the International Conference on Performance Art Theory in Mexico, the Dream Shot festival in Belgium, and Honen-in Temple in Japan. Luyten, originally from Hasselt Belgium, has worked with Thomas Leabhart, Marina Abramovic and is currently performing in Robert Wilson acclaimed new work The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic. She is the first to receive the position of Artist Advisor at the Watermill Center in Long Island. Alker will be a featured choreographer at The Kitchen¹s Dance and Process series in the spring. She is assistant to Sarah Michelson performed in Michelson¹s Devotion Study #1‹The American Dancer at the Whitney Biennial in 2012.
Kendra Portier is honored to currently perform with mvworks, Michael and the Go-Getters, Annie Kloppenberg Dance, Vanessa Justice Dance, Alexandra Beller/Dances, and David Dorfman Dance. She teaches regularly: she is on faculty at Dance New Amsterdam and as a guest artist at a variety of colleges, festivals, workshops, and dance facilities. BANDportier¹s choreographic endeavors have just begun: solos, commissioned works, collaborative duets, and new group endeavors.
PERFORMANCES
Friday, November 30, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 1, 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 1, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, December 7, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 8, 3:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 8, 7:30 p.m.
An opening night reception will be open and free to the public one hour before curtain on November 30.
TICKETS
Tickets may be purchased online at www.dnadance.org, by calling 212.227.9856, or on site two hours before curtain. Cost is 7 for general audiences, 4 for students and seniors, 2 for DNA members and advanced sales. Discounted tickets are available by phone for groups of six or more. All sales are final.
VENUE INFORMATION
DNA is located at 280 Broadway (entrance at 53 Chambers Street), New York, NY 10007, near the R to City Hall, 4/5/6 at Brooklyn Bridge, J/M/Z, A/C/E or 1/2/3 at Chambers Street, and 2/3 at Park Place.
ABOUT DANCE NEW AMSTERDAM
Founded in 1984, DNA provides a community hub for the highest quality dance training, choreographic exploration and innovative performance, developing new audiences and bridging communities. It provides valuable opportunities for the aspiring, emerging and established artist, including daily classes, certification courses, commissions, artistic residencies, along with studio and administrative office subsidies. DNA encourages professionalism, entrepreneurial cross-discipline initiatives, community engagement and diverse artistic expression. It was the first nonprofit arts organization to move to Lower Manhattan after 9/11, serving as a renewing force in NYC's cultural landscape. To learn more about DNA and supporting its programs through charitable donations, visit www.dnadance.org.
³Studies of Inertia² was created, in part, during a residency at Hooyong Performing Art Centre, South Korea.
³Beautiful Weather for an Air Raid² was created, in part, during residencies at Bates College and University of Utah. This work was supported, in part, by Edward Shimmin.
The 2012-2013 DNA PRESENTS Season is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts.
DNA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and its 2012-2013 programming is made possible through the generosity of its supporters. As of July 2012, public funding provided by: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Private funding provided by: Bloomberg Philanthropies, with support from the Kennedy Center/DeVos Institute; The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; Jerome Robbins Foundation; Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; and FJC, a Foundation of Philanthropic Funds. In-kind support from: Arts & Business Council, Fox Rothschild LLP, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and Materials for the Arts. Additional support provided by our Advisors, Programming Partners, Neighborhood Partners, International Partners, and DNA¹s community of individual donors. Dance New Amsterdam is part of The Lower Manhattan Arts League¹s Fall Downtown, made possible by generous support from The New York Community Trust LuEsther T. Mertz Advised Fund. For a full list of DNA¹s partnerships, visit www.dnadance.org.
