Abrons Arts Center Presents NYC Premiere of Lionel Popkin's RUTH DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE This Weekend

Abrons Arts Center presents the New York City premiere of Los Angeles-based choreographer Lionel Popkin's RUTH DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, an evening-length work performed by Popkin, Emily Beattie and Carolyn Hall, with an original score by avant-garde accordionist Guy Klucevsek, performed live by Klucevsek with Mary Rowell on violin.

Popkin's performance is part of Abrons' Travelogues dance series, curated by Laurie Uprichard. Performances will take place tonight to Saturday, October 29-31, at 7:30pm, and Sunday, November 1, at 3pm, at Abrons Arts Center's Experimental Theater, 466 Grand Street (at Pitt Street), in Manhattan.

Inspired in part by the career of modern dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis, RUTH DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE is an evening-length work by Lionel Popkin that addresses acts of cultural sourcing, representation, and transmission. St. Denis was famed for her lavish "Oriental" dances built from her fascination with Eastern cultures and a love of elaborate costuming. Popkin delved into St. Denis' archives in Los Angeles, New York, and at Jacob's Pillow inquiring into the iconic artist's work and complicated legacy. Popkin writes, "Was St. Denis' Orientalism an act of cultural appropriation or a legitimate examination of sources of dance?" The multilayered piece serves as a way for Popkin, who is half Jewish and half Indian, to playfully wrestle with his own uncertainties and awkwardness with representations of South Asia. With wit, piles of fabric, a microphone, three dancers, two musicians, and a leaf blower, Popkin attempts to sort through it all and asks: "Can a century of perspective help a contemporary choreographer reach his own point of equilibrium?"

Laurie Uprichard notes that "Popkin's talent lies in his ability to seamlessly blend his intellectual, personal, and kinetic approaches. He alternates between disarmingly informal narrator and highly structured creator of movement. The intermittent 'pure dance' sections are solidly constructed yet the audience is never at a loss for finding its place within the humorous texts."

The creative team includes Marcus Kuiland-Nazario (costumes and set design), Christopher Kuhl (lighting design), and Cari Ann Shim Sham (video design).

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through Abrons Arts Center's box office at 212-352-3101, or online at www.abronsartscenter.org.

Lionel Popkin (choreographer/performer) has had his choreography presented nationally and internationally at numerous venues including Danspace Project and Dance Theater Workshop in New York City, the Getty Museum, REDCAT, and Highways in Los Angeles, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Series, On the Boards in Seattle, the Wilma Theater and Philadelphia Dance Projects in Philadelphia, Sushi Performance in San Diego, Dance Place in Washington, D.C., the Place Theater in London, and the Guangdong Modern Dance Festival in Guangzhou, China.

From 1999 to 2000 Popkin was a choreographer-in-residence at the Susan Hess Studio in Philadelphia. He has been commissioned by San Diego's Lower Left Performance Collective, the Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company, Carolyn Hall, and Nejla Yatkin. As a dancer, Popkin has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe in the companies of Trisha Brown (2000-2003), Terry Creach (1996-2000), and Stephanie Skura (1993-1996).

Popkin has received grants from the National Performance Network's Creation Fund and Forth Fund, the National Dance Project Touring Subsidy, the Center for Cultural Innovation, the City of Los Angeles' Department of Cultural Affairs, the Santa Monica Artist Fellowship, the Puffin Foundation, Danspace Project's Commissioning Initiative through the Jerome Foundation, the Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the New York State Music Fund, and the Durfee Foundation. He has served on the faculty of Bates College, London's Laban Centre, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University, and the University of Maryland.

Popkin is the Chair of the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA, and professor of choreography and performance. He is a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique.

Laurie Uprichard (Travelogues curator) is Executive Director of the Stephen Petronio Company as well as an independent curator and producer. She was the director of the Dublin Dance Festival in Ireland (2007-2011) and executive director of Danspace Project in New York (1992-2007). Travelogues introduces Abrons' audiences to new dance works by choreographers Uprichard has come across in her frequent travels.

The Abrons Arts Center is the 2014 Obie Award-winning performing and visual arts program of the Henry Street Settlement. The Abrons supports the creation and presentation of bold multidisciplinary work; cultivates artists in all stages of their practice through residencies, educational programs, and commissions; and serves as an international intersection of cultural engagement for artists and audiences. Each year, the Abrons offers more than 250 performances, 12 gallery exhibitions, and 25 residencies for emerging and international performing and visual artists. The Abrons also provides New York City public schools with teaching artists, involving more than 3,000 students annually. abronsartscenter.org