DARK LARK, THE HUMANS and More Set for BAM's Nov 2013 Next Wave Festival Lineup

The BAM Next Wave Festival performances at the BAM Fisher continue this November with thought-provoking dance and theater offerings.

BAM's first-ever Artist-in-Residence Kate Weare Company expands on the choreographer's examination of sexuality in Dark Lark. The Humans, created by award-winning visual artist Alexandre Singh, tells the story of creation modeled on the comic writings of Aristophanes. Susan Marshall & Company returns to BAM with Play/Pause, an interdisciplinary exploration of the intersection of high art and popular culture. Designed as an intimate and flexible performance space for both emerging and established artists, the BAM Fisher became part of the BAM campus in the fall of 2012. All BAM Fisher Next Wave Festival tickets are $20.

Dark Lark

Kate Weare Company Choreography by Kate Weare

Costume design by Sarah Cubbage Lighting design by Brian Jones
Set design by Kurt Perschke

TONIGHT, Nov 6-9 at 7:30pm

Kate Weare Company, the inaugural BAM Fisher Artist-in-Residence, make its BAM debut with the New York premiere of Dark Lark. In this provocative new work, Weare draws and expands on her fascination with sexuality as a portal toward self- definition. Using imagery around fantasy and erotic imagination, Dark Lark explores how sexuality-and its potential for darkness-ultimately offers both a manifestation and an affirmation of creativity and self-awareness. An original cello score by Chris Lancaster accompanies Weare's dream-like, surrealist movement language in this evening-length work.

Founded in 2005, Kate Weare Company is a New York-based contemporary Dance Company known for its startling combination of formal choreographic values and visceral, emotional interpretation. As artistic director, Kate Weare cultivates the individuality of each of her dancers to unleash a chemistry onstage that is heartfelt and seductive. "Weare gets under the skin of movement with almost surgical exactness, inflames it, and then makes it glow with a strange, yet familiar light. No one else is making work quite like hers," wrote Deborah Jowitt in The Village Voice. The company made its name after winning The Joyce Theater Foundation's The AWARD Show in 2007, and has since been presented by the Joyce, New York City Center (Fall for Dance), Symphony Space, Joyce SoHo, Skirball Center, Joe's Pub (DancemOpolitan), Dance Theater Workshop, Dance New Amsterdam, and Danspace Project. Nationwide the company has been presented by Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, ArtPower at UC San Diego, Dance Celebration Philadelphia, and ODC Theater, among others. Kate Weare Company has also been supported through artistic residencies awarded by The Joyce Theater Foundation Mellon Foundation Fellowship and Joyce SoHo Residency, The Princess Grace Foundation, Dance New Amsterdam's A.I.R. Program, ODC Theater, MANCC, Jacob's Pillow, NDF, NEFA, The Greenwall Foundation, and The O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, among others.

Additional events for Dark Lark
Master Class: Kate Weare Company with Kate Weare Oct 25 at 12pm
Mark Morris Dance Center (3 Lafayette Ave) Fee: $25 BAM.org/master-classes

Talk: Members of Kate Weare Company

Nov 8, post-show (free for same-day ticket holders)
For press information contact Joe Guttridge, jguttridge@BAM.org, 718.636.4129 x4.

BAM and Performa present

The Humans

Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art Written and directed by Alexandre Singh

Choreography by Flora Sans
Music by Touki Delphine
Costume design by Holly Waddington Lighting design by Guus van Geffen

Nov 13-16 at 7:30pm; Nov 17 at 3pm

Created by British award-winning visual artist Alexandre Singh, The Humans tells the story of two spirits named Tophole and Pantalingua, who would rather see the Earth not created. The work is modeled on the comic writings of Aristophanes and set during the dawn of time and space. In a battle against the egomaniacal Creator, Tophole and Pantalingua conspire their way to an accidental Paradise Lost, ultimately corrupting the eponymous humans-portrayed as a vast, songful, and statuesque Greek chorus-into the flawed mortals we are today.

Incorporating music, theater, sculpture, Nesquik bunnies and Greco-Roman masks The Humans is a highly collaborative and multi-dimensional work featuring choreography by Flora Sans, costumes by Holly Waddington, music by Touki Delphine (with Amir Vahidi, Annelinde Bruijs, and Robbert Klein), light design by Guus van Geffen, and masks and set design by Alexandre Singh.

Alexandre Singh is a native of Bordeaux who currently lives and works in New York. His work utilizes multiple sources and heterogeneous tales favoring analogies and the emergence of a new reality and arborescence. His texts, performances, plays, and installations characteristically include eclectic mass cultural references ranging from Ikea catalogues to the Essays of Montaigne, H.P Lovecraft to Walt Disney, and scientific imagery to Cicero and Aristophanes. His work has been presented at the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Frac des Pays de la Loire, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, among others.

The Humans was commissioned by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art and Performa. The Humans is co-produced by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art; Productiehuis Rotterdam; Rotterdamse Schouwburg and Performa 13. It is presented in partnership with festival De Keuze and BAM.

Support for The Humans provided by Agnes Gund

Additional events for The Humans
Talk: On Truth (and Lies) in Greek Comedy Co-presented by BAM and the Onassis Cultural Center NY Hosted by Simon Critchley with Alexandre Singh
Nov 17 at 12:30pm
BAM Fisher (Hillman Studio, 321 Ashland Pl)
Tickets: $15 ($7.50 for Friends of BAM)

For press information contact Sarah Garvey, sgarvey@BAM.org, 718.724.8025.

Play/Pause

Susan Marshall & Company Choreography by Susan Marshall Music by David Lang

Costume design by Diana Broussard
Lighting design by Eric Southern
Video design and cinematography by William Cusick

Set design by Andrea Mincic
Music played by Taylor Levine and James Moore (DITHER) and Michael McCurdy (Mantra Percussion)

Nov 20-23 at 7:30pm

Susan Marshall & Company returns to BAM with the New York premiere of Marshall's latest work, Play/Pause. This evening-length piece for six dancers is an immersive, interdisciplinary exploration of the intersection of high art and popular culture. Referencing the dance moves and sleek production value of popular music videos, Marshall strips away the high-gloss aesthetic to reveal these popular movements in their simplest and at times fragmented form. This mash-up of dance-theater and pop culture is enhanced by a live performance by members of the electric guitar quartet Dither and Mantra Percussion ensemble, who bring to life the iconic pop sound of the electric guitar and abstract polyrhythms of Pulitzer Prize- winning composer David Lang's original score.

The work of Susan Marshall & Company has been presented regularly in New York City, including six seasons as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival and six at Dance Theater Workshop. Other notable engagements include presentations at Jacob's Pillow, the Edinburgh International Festival, Spoleto Festival, Vienna Tanz, Springdance Festival (The Netherlands), and The Los Angeles Festival. The company was honored to perform selections from its Bessie award- winning work Cloudless at Pina Bausch's Internationales Tanzfestival Gala Concert in November 2008. In addition to performances by her own company, Marshall's works have been performed by Hubbard Street, Nederlands Dans Theater, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, among others. Marshall is known for her innovative body of work that weaves ordinary movement, gesture and touch into intricate formal structures. Critically acclaimed dances by Marshall include Arms, Fields of View, Kiss, The Most Dangerous Room in the House, Sawdust Palace, and Spectators at an Event. Marshall was a 2000 recipient of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award, and has been the recipient of numerous other awards and fellowships including the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1990, a Brandeis Creative Arts Award in 1993, a Dance Magazine Award in 1995, and three Bessie awards in 1985, 1997, and 2006. Marshall is the director of dance at Princeton University, having assumed that post in 2009.

Additional events for Play/Pause
Master Class: Susan Marshall & Company with Kristen Hollinsworth Nov 21 at 12pm
Mark Morris Dance Center (3 Lafayette Ave) Fee: $25 BAM.org/master-classes

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn's only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue - Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue

Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal - Barclays Center
Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM.

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.