February 2016 Dance Events at Dixon Place
Company:
Monstah Black, MElder Dance & the Erica Essner Performance Co-Op!
Monstah Black. Photo Credit: Sareen Hairabedian
February 2016
Dance Events at Dixon Place
Featuring Monstah Black, MElder Dance
& the Erica Essner Performance Co-Op!
Dixon Place is proud to announce our February 2016 dance events, including a special preview work-in-progress showing of Monstah Black’s HYPERBOLIC! (The Last Spectacle), which will premiere as a Dixon Place commission in July 2016. Detailed show listings below.
Tuesday, February 2 at 7:30pm
Crisálida ~PLUS~ HYPERBOLIC!
De Funes Dance ~PLUS~ Monstah Black
Estimated runtime: 60 minuutes
Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 at the door, $10 students / seniors / ID NYC
Crisálida (Diego Funes)
Artistic Director & choreographer Diego Funes
Associate Choreographer Monica Hogan
Rehearsal Director Joanna Fisher
Choreography in collaboration with the dancers
Crisálida explores the process of reflection & resolution in the wake of prolonged familial alienation.
MORE: Crisálida is an exploration of reflection & resolution. The works follow the soloist through her reintroduction with her past, beginning with her initial unwillingness to confront these memories, through to her ultimate reconciliation with them. The program follows a narrative arc with the soloist’s confrontation of her past as the climax. The full program is comprised of two ensemble pieces, two solos, a duet, a trio & a sextet. The final piece culminates with the union of the dancers, suggesting that the individual they form has reconciled these parts of herself & achieved solace.
Diego Funes has taught & choreographed all over the world. He studied at The School of American Ballet & danced with Cincinnati Ballet, New York City Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma & Baletto del Sud. His musical theatre credits include Broadway & National Tours, such as Cats, Hello, Dolly!, Riverdance, Anything Goes, A Chorus Line, & Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular. He has choreographed productions of Beauty and the Beast, Hello, Dolly!, And the World Goes Round, Zorba!, Leader of the Pack, Subways Are for Sleeping, Tokyo Disney. Film: choreography for P.S. I Love You, starring Gerard Butler & Hilary Swank.
Monica Hogan is a contemporary choreographer, teacher & dancer who has performed professionally with De Funes Dance, Gaspard&Dancers, BalaSole Dance Company & Phyzix Urban Dance Theatre. .On screen, Monica has performed in music videos for artists Delta Rae & Vienna Teng, as well as in work for AdCouncil & The College Board. She was a featured dancer in the opening ceremonies of the 2011 Universiade Olympic Games in Shenzhen, China. Her own company, Monica Hogan Danceworks, has presented on national & international stages. Monica graduated with distinction in Dance from Duke University as the winner of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Creative & Performing Arts. Among her favorite performance repertory there were Twyla Tharp's Eight Jelly Rolls & Torelli.
JoAnna Fisher received her BA in Dance from Hunter College under the direction of Jana Feinman. During her undergraduate career, she learned repertory work by Donna Uchizono, Kendra Portier, Laura Peterson & Alwin Nikolias. JoAnna trained under David Capps, Maura Donohue, Natalie Desch & Gerald Otte. Currently, she works at the School Coordinator at Peridance Capezio Center & volunteers her time teaching dance at her high school.
HYPERBOLIC! The Last Spectacle (Monstah Black)
A special preview showing of workshopped material from the Dixon Place commission of Monstah Black’s HYPERBOLIC! set to premiere in July 2016.
Choreographer, musician, club superstar & 2015 Tommy Award winner Monstah Black is “amazing, really” (NYTimes). Monstah’s genre-crossing, provocative work returns to the Dixon Place stage, creating the centerpiece of the 2016 HOT! Festival, our annual celebration of LGBTQ culture, in July.
Using music, dance, theater & fashion as main ingredients for a sensual feast, HYPERBOLIC! (The Last Spectacle) imagines the very last party on earth. The spectacular, musical noir evening of post-apocalyptic pretty-glam gore, oozes sensual debauchery, greed, disgust, mistrust & laughter.
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Tuesday, February 16 at 7:30pm
Fast Forward
Curated by Sangeeta Yesley
(Additional 2016 Dates: Tuesdays, March 15, April 12, May 17, June 21, July 12, Sept 20, Oct 18, Nov 15 at 7:30pm)
Featuring: The Erica Essner Performance Co-Op & MElder Dance
Estimated runtime: 60 minutes
Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 at the door, $10 students / seniors
Fast Forward provides opportunities for choreographers working in all dance forms to workshop 25 – 35 min pieces on a shared bill curated around a theme.
In February, Fast Forward’s theme is ‘‘Mind the Gap.’’ MElder Dance will present Helluva Fella. The Erica Essner Performance Co-Op will present Versailles Undone.
Helluva Fella (MElder Dance)
Choreography by Mat Elder
Dancers Tarik O'Meally, Darren Rabinowitz, Matthew Rock & Robert Roddy
Understudy Charles Scheland
A male quartet exploring brotherhood through laughter, friendship, bravery & shame. Where are the lines drawn between acceptance & rejection within a community? What happens when one member steps out of line in pre-established ideas of the Southern ‘‘good ol' boy?’’ Through contemporary dance, text/theatrics & bluegrass, these men facilitate a dialogue concerning the causality of stereotypes & community norms.
Versailles Undone (The Erica Essner Performance Co-Op)
Choreography by Erica Essner
Dancers Courtney Drasner, Sarah Housepian & Julia Jurgilewicz
Versailles Undone references the French Revolution & the decline of the monarchy & is loosely based on the novel Farewell My Queen by Chantal Thomas. The gap between rich & poor & the social unrest due to inequality both historically & in contemporary society form part of the exploration in the piece.
Featuring Marie Antoinette as the central character who is portrayed as both matryr & naivete, Baroque dance informs the physicality of the project & hanging ropes are used throughout as a metaphor for merrymaking, execution & as a lifeline for the destitute.
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Wednesday, February 24 at 7:30pm
8 in Show
Curated by Sangeeta Yesley
Estimated runtime: 75 minutes
Tickets: $15 in advance, $18 at the door, $12 students / seniors / ID NYC
Emerging & established choreographers of all dance forms showcasing short new work. Featured choreographers TBD.
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