Maria Hassabi's PREMIERE at The Kitchen
Company:
THE KITCHEN + PERFORMA
Photo © Marialena Marouda.
THE KITCHEN AND PERFORMA PRESENT MARIA HASSABI’S ‘PREMIERE’ NOVEMBER 6-9
Explores the Public Expectations of the Premiere Event
New York, NY –The Kitchen and Performa will present PREMIERE, a new dance work by Maria Hassabi, as part of Performa 13. The title, PREMIERE—equally suggestive of expectation and reveal—amplifies the conditions of the work’s reception. PREMIERE brings together a team of five outstanding performers, including Biba Bell, Andros Zins-Browne, Hristoula Harakas, Robert Steijn, and Hassabi, with dramaturg Scott Lyall and original sound design by Alex Waterman.
PREMIERE will take place November 6–9 at 8:00 p.m. at The Kitchen (512 West 19th Street). Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online at www.thekitchen.org; by phone at 212.255.5793 x11; or in person at The Kitchen (512 West 19th Street), Tuesdays – Saturdays, 2:00 - 6:00 P.M.
How can one value a premiere without expectation? It is a highly anticipated event, representing the first meeting with the public, as viewer and critic. PREMIERE explores the transformative appeal of the over-emphasized moment that validates the existence of any creation as a “work of art.” Comprised of five solos occurring simultaneously onstage, the work unravels through impossibly slow movement with attention fixed on the intricacies of every shape, shift, and negotiation of space. Through the performers’ shared state of being-in-motion—the connectivity in space and gesture, exhibited and endured—each dancer is implicated by the other’s presence, yet defined by their singularity.
Over the past ten years, Hassabi has developed a practice focused on the relation of the body to the image and defined by the sculptural physicality and extended duration inherent in her choreography. Extending from Hassabi’s past works, PREMIERE underscores movement in a space shared with others, but also highlights the figurative role of the performer as body and object. The presentation of PREMIERE marks Hassabi’s third performance to be presented at the Kitchen, following Still Smoking (2006) and SHOW (2011). Hassabi’s SoloShow (2009) was featured in Performa 09.
About Maria Hassabi
Maria Hassabi is a New York-based director, choreographer and performer. Her works are presented in theaters, museums, art galleries, public spaces, and on film. Throughout her career she’s had numerous ongoing collaborations with artists from various disciplines. Hassabi is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2009 Grants to Artists Award. In 2012, she received The President’s Award for Performing Arts from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and in 2013 she represented The Cyprus Republic as part of ‘oO,’ the Cyprus and Lithuanian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale.
Her evening length performances include an 8aAAhour long live installation INTERMISSION (2013), CounteraAARelief (Kaai 2013), SHOW (2011), Robert and Maria (2010), SoloShow (2009), Solo (2009), GLORIA (2007), Still Smoking (2006), Dead is Dead (2004) and LIGHTS (2001). She has also created several shortaAAform pieces, art installations including CHANDELIERS (2012), and recently her first short film, The Ladies (2012).
Hassabi’s works have been presented at venues in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States, and have received funding, from The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital, the Jerome Foundation, The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, the National Performance Network Creation Fund, LMCC’s Extended Life Program, Foundation 2021, and from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the LMCC.
Funding Credits
Co-presented by The Kitchen and Performa as part of Performa 13. PREMIERE is also a co-production of Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, Belgium), Kaaitheater (Brussels, Belgium), steirischer herbst (Graz, Austria), Dance4 (Nottingham, UK) and is produced with the support of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Program. The work has received additional funding from the MAP Fund, the Jerome Foundation, LMCC Manhattan Community Arts Fund and Mertz Gilmore Foundation’s Late-Stage Production Stipends.
The Kitchen's presentation of PREMIERE is made possible with support from Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, and with public funds from 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.
About The Kitchen
The Kitchen is one of New York City’s most forward-looking nonprofit spaces, showing innovative work by emerging and established artists across disciplines. Our programs range from dance, music, performance, and theater to video, film, and art, in addition to literary events, artists' talks, and lecture series. Since its inception in 1971, The Kitchen has been a powerful force in shaping the cultural landscape of this country, and has helped launch the careers of many artists who have gone on to worldwide prominence.
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About Performa
Founded in 2004 by art historian and curator RoseLee Goldberg, Performa is the leading organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century. The fifth new visual art biennial, Performa 13, will take place November 1-24, 2013. More information at performa-arts.org.
For more information, please contact Patrick Leonard or Blake Zidell at
Blake Zidell & Associates, 718.643.9052, patrick@blakezidell.com or blake@blakezidell.com.
