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Maureen Fleming premieres B. MADONNA with music by Philip Glass

October 17 - November 3, 2013

New Dance Work Honors La MaMa Founder Ellen Stewart
B. MADONNA
by Maureen Fleming
with text by  David Henry Hwang and music by Philip Glass
October 17 - November 3 at La MaMa
 
"Fleming did amazing things…She seemed to transcend the material world
and enter a realm of pure spirit… Wondrous choreographic metamorphosis.”
-– The New York Times
 
La MaMa presents Maureen Fleming in the New York premiere of B.
MADONNA. Created, choreographed, and performed by Fleming, it features
text by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, music by Philip Glass
performed live by pianist Bruce Brubaker, original accordion by Guy
Klucevsek, Taiko drumming by Kaoru Watanabe and three-dimensional
video projections by longtime collaborator Christopher Odo.
Performances begin October 17 at The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa.
Please note: This performance contains nudity.
 
Inspired in part by La MaMa founder Ellen Stewart, B. MADONNA is a
contemporary unveiling of the myth of Persephone. It is a meditation
on the possibility of 'miracles'.

Born in Japan to American parents, Maureen Fleming brings the
discipline of a classicist and the imagination of an iconoclast to her
unique interpretation of butoh. Fleming is inspired by butoh
conventions, but she is concerned with eros, alchemy and spirituality
rather than social dissolution. Her choreography emphasizes aligning
the body's spiritual center, and also uses the female body as a symbol
for the earth's cycles of regeneration. Fleming studied extensively in
Japan with Kazuo Ohno, the co-founder of this minimalist art form. She
went on to perform with his son, Yoshito Ohno, and to tour
internationally with performance artist and choreographer Min Tanaka.
Fleming continued her training in the United States as a scholarship
student under the Cecchetti master Margaret Craske. Since 1994, she
has conducted workshops at N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts and was
recently a guest artist at The Juilliard School. She has gained
international recognition on five continents for her singular form of
multimedia performance at such venues as Italy's Spoleto Festival,
Japan's Butoh Festival, Mexico's Jose Limon Dance Festival, Iceland's
Reykjavik Arts Festival, Colombia’s International Danza Contemporanea,
France's International Mime Festival and Korea’s Seoul Performing Arts
Festival, among others. For more information visit www.MaureenFleming.com.

B. MADONNA runs October 17 - November 3, Thursday - Saturday at 7:30
PM and Sunday at 2:30 PM.  The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa is
located at 66 East 4th Street, 2nd floor (between 2nd & 3rd Aves --
accessible from the F train at 2nd Ave). Tickets are 5 / 0 for
students/seniors, available at 212-475-7710 or www.lamama.org.