Above and Beyond Dance will present RAW, an evening of dramatic aerial dance at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center (MMAC) from Thurs Oct. 13 - Sat. Oct. 15 at 8pm; Sun. Oct. 16 at 7pm.
Tickets $22/$15 students, available through the MMAC box office
Online: www.manhattanmovement.com/calendar
Or call: (212) 787-1178
October 13-16, New York City-based Above and Beyond Dance will premiere RAW, its third season of circus-infused dance. A journey into raw emotion and raw physicality, RAW utilizes aerial techniques, acrobatic partnering and dance theater choreography to explore the vulnerability inherent in the human experience.
In the opening scenes, three dancer-aerialists grapple with emotions laid bare-experiencing conflict, frustration, loss, loneliness and passion. The new aerial silk solo Absentia, two company repertory works And Yet So Far Away and Duo de Amor, and a modern dance solo by collaborator Tomomi Imai combine to create a shifting emotional landscape in which dancers inhabit both vertical and horizontal dimensions.
The cast then unveils the world premiere of RAW, the title work of the evening. In this 30 minute piece, four performers delve into the exploration of the human body as raw flesh. Female dancers hang, fall and ascend heavy-weight black span sets, generating images of writhing, contorted animals in the slaughterhouse as a predatory male figure lurks below. The compelling choreography is juxtaposed with images of dancers hanging from meat racks in the meat packing district.
Artistic Director Chriselle Tidrick directs and performs with a cast of professional dancers highly trained in the aerial arts. The company's accomplished performer-collaborators include Fernando Francisco, Tomomi Imai and Lisa Natoli. The dramatic impetus of the evening's choreographic work is heightened by original chamber music by Berklee School of Music graduate Lauren Buchter as well as Juilliard-trained composers Nicholas Csicsko and Reinaldo Moya.
Ms. Tidrick founded Above and Beyond Dance in 2007 to explore the limitless potential in the fusion of dance and circus arts techniques. The company presented Ascendance, its 2009 season to sold out houses at
The Flea Theater. Its debut season, Seeking took place at Brooklyn's Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts in February 2008. The company has also appeared at Dixon Place, Galapagos ArtSpace, Streb, Sky Box, the 2010 New York Aerial Dance Festival, Brooklyn Arts eXchange, the La Mama Moves Festival 2009,
The Zipper Theater, and University Settlement Speyer Hall, among others. For additional information about Above and Beyond Dance, please visit:
www.AboveAndBeyondDance.com.
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center is located at 248 W. 60th St, between Amsterdam and West End Aves. in Manhattan and is easily reached by subways 1, A, C, B, D to 59th St./Columbus Circle.
