Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre to Host Choreography Workshop

Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre announces a choreography workshop based around the motifs and structures of Habit Formed on February 21, 2023 at 2pm at The BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of the Borough of Manhattan Community College, 199 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007. For more info on the workshop, visit https://tribecapac.org/event/amanda-selwyn-dance-theatre-workshop. For CUNY students interested in participating in the workshop, please email marketing@tribecapac.org.

In this choreography workshop, Selwyn and her company of dancers will introduce some of the over-arching movement motifs that weave throughout Habit Formed. Then, she will guide students to develop short choreographic studies that explore these motifs and add their own nuance, musicality, and point of view. Students will share their creations and collectively, we will explore how these different studies can be combined into different patterns to create a larger work of choreography. Students should come prepared to move, to be creative, and to collaborate with one another.

The workshop is in anticipation of the world premiere of Habit Formed, which will take place March 1-2, 2024 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $40 general admission. Tickets to the 3/2 gala are $250 and include access to the performance and the reception immediately following, as well as a $50 tax-deductible gift to support Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre. Patron-level gala tickets are available for $500 and include the performance, reception and a $300 tax-deductible gift. Tickets may be purchased at https://tribecapac.org/event/amanda-selwyn-dance-theatre-presents-habit-formed/?instance_id=2240. For more information, visit https://amandaselwyndance.org/habit-formed-world-premiere/.

Habit Formed is an evening-length work that will premiere at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center as the company's 24th Annual Performance Season. The piece explores how habits are created and broken in our lives. These habits can manifest strength, ease, and freedom and also create limits, boundaries, and affliction. The piece is set in a world of shifting physical structures (cages, netting, rocks) embodying the delicate balance between the growth potential and entrapment of habitual action. The piece lingers between the comfort of routine and the desire for change, as dancers break away from established patterns and embark on solo journeys of self-discovery.

Habit Formed weaves fluid, sensuous movements with sharp, distinctive gestures. The ensemble of ten dancers move from moments of synchrony to disruption, illustrating the tension between conformity, individuality, and the struggle to break free from ingrained patterns. The piece traverses a spectrum of emotions associated with habits, from euphoria to restlessness to liberation. From the shackles of habit to symphonic moments of self-awareness and agency, the dancers face personal change and the potential for transformation. The ultimate journey of the work is a story of discernment, unpacking how we can be empowered by intentional habits and not impaired by them. Habit Formed includes Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre's company dancers, scenic design by Rob Dutiel and Anna-Alisa Belous, costume design by Anna-Alisa Belouw, lighting design by Dan Ozminkowski, and sound design by Joel Wilhelmi.

Habit Formed was created with the support of a 2023-24 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency at The BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, located on the campus of the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, the longest operating performance venue in lower Manhattan, is dedicated to identifying, supporting and presenting established and emerging artists in a variety of disciplines, including music, dance and children's theatre to the diverse Metropolitan audience. Located at 199 Chambers Street in a burgeoning downtown business and residential district and within a city-owned college facility (serving over 20,000 students), BMCC Tribeca PAC is Downtown Manhattan's premiere presenter of the arts, reaching audiences from the college community, Downtown residential and business communities, schools, and audiences of all ages. BMCC Tribeca PAC strives to present a broad global perspective through the presentation of high quality artistic work in music, theater, dance, film and visual arts. We support emerging and established artists who create, inspire creativity and imagination, celebrate diversity and change, as well as instill emotional, social, and political awareness. Services

Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre creates dynamic dance theatre that activates emotional expression in a rich and abstract collage. Through an interplay between athletic and articulate motion, we present theatrical and immediate works that engage audiences from start to finish and beckon a response of thought, feeling, and soul.

Founded in 2000, Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre has presented over 95 productions at NYC venues including Baruch Performing Arts Center, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, New York Live Arts, Dance Theatre Workshop, Dance New Amsterdam, Danspace Project, Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Kumble Theater, John Jay College, and Mark Morris Dance Center. The company has been presented twice at Jacob's Pillow, at Westfest, DUMBO Dance Festival, Dixon Place, Dance Teacher Summit, COOL NY, Movement Research, Wassaic Project, and Pushing Progress Series. Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre has toured to festivals, presented open rehearsals, interactive performance events and workshops, and offers arts education programming through Notes in Motion to students and families in the NYC public schools. For more information, visit www.amandaselwyndance.org.