Dance New Amsterdam Presents LateNight: With or Without Me 12/2-3

Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), NYC's foremost progressive dance education and performance center, announces LateNight: With or Without Me, a program of four new works curated by Jack Ferver. Hosted by Fervor clone, dramaturg Joshua Lubin-Levy, who becomes Ferver vis-à-vis Fervor's assembled note cards, the scripted tongue-in-cheek show gathers a coterie of queer choreographers - Benjamin Ford Asriel, Neal Beasley, Brynt Beitman, and Adam H. Weinert. LateNite Fervor is made possible through DNA's NYSCA commissioning grant; two nights of the program will be presented December 2-3, 2011 at 9:30 p.m.

The witty program will feature four new works. The athletic and cerebral wanderings of Benjamin Ford Asriel's work create a heady mix of intimacy in his solo Dance. Beasley's dynamism and internal fury play out in his work frun teer, an exploration of fantasy of art not yet made. In Cold Read, Beitman's attention to form and range of motion meld as he explores the interrelations between two people. Adam H. Weinert's solo Shadowboxer, which explores representations of the self, is executed with exquisite precision and intricacy. With the layer of Lubin-Levy as Ferver the evening illustrates how choreographers and artists are often spread so thin with their own work that perhaps the best solution is to start making clones of themselves.

"All of the choreographers are dancers with incredible facility and range. Their stirring works showcase them as choreographers in their own right," says curator Jack Ferver. "I curate artists who are not only invested but also hungry in their explorations."

DNA's triannual LateNight series was created in 2009 to support artists working within the issue aware and raucous mediums of performance art, burlesque and experimental theater. "We needed to find a way to support dance artists using the "a bit too edgy for early evening" alternative forms to express themselves and we created LateNite, where movement artists are masters at amplifying their own individuality," says Catherine Peila, Executive Director. "I'm excited that we received a NYSCA award to commission Jack Ferver as creator and curator. This is a way for DNA to support artists who stretch boundaries and provide an opportunity for the artists to investigate a creative curatorial performance experience that provides a non-restrictive platform for discovery."

Jack Ferver has curated for Danspace Project, Center for Performance Research, and Dixon Place. He has been creating full-length works since 2007. He has been presented in New York City at The New Museum, PS 122, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, Dance New Amsterdam, LaMaMa E.T.C, The Culture Project and NP Gallery. He has also been presented in Houston at Diverse Works in conjunction with the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston and in Paris at Théâtre de Vanves. His work has been written about in The New York Times, The Financial Times, The New Yorker, Artforum, Modern Painters, and Dance Magazine. His writing has been published in the magazine Novembre. He currently teaches at New York University and has set choreography at The Juilliard School.

Joshua Lubin-Levy is a writer and scholar working in queer performance, found text and historical research. A current doctoral candidate in the Performance Studies Department at New York University, his work crosses the boundaries between academics and performance, bridging theory and practice through a commitment to collaboration, research and performative explorations. His collaborations have been workshopped and performed at PS122, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York Live Arts, and Center for Performance Research.

The 2011-2012 DNA PRESENTS Season is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts and by private funds from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. Jack Ferver is a DNA Artist in Residence working to advance his creative process and also working with DNA to develop educational programs bridging both the physical and theoretical spectrums. The Artist in Residence program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

TICKETS and PERFORMANCE TIMES
Performances take place Friday and Saturday at 9:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at www.dnadance.org, in person at DNA's box office two hours before show time, or by calling 212.227.9856 x225. Ticket prices for performances are $10 for general audiences; $5 advance sales are also available. To arrange discounted tickets for groups of six or more, contact mingle@dnadance.org. All sales are final.

LATENITE - Curated by Jack Ferver, Hosted by Joshua Lubin-Levy

DANCE
Choreographed and performed by Benjamin Ford Asriel

Dance is a solo about the body in space and time and how it moves or doesn't. It aims to be beautiful, present, perceptive, wise, pithy and understanding.

Benjamin Ford Asriel dances with Walter Dundervill, Gabriel Forestieri, Liz Gerring, John Jasperse and Juliana F. May. He has also performed with Jack Ferver, Edisa Weeks, Daria Fain, Headwaters Dance, MiRo Dance, Susan Rethorst, and Pavel Zustiak. Ben is the resident choreographer for Hotel Savant Theatre Company and a recipient of a 2010-11 New York Choreographic Institute fellowship. The Chocolate Factory, Center for Performance Research, The Tank and Danspace Project has presented his work. Originally from Kentucky, Ben studied music theory at Brown University and holds a dance MFA from NYU Tisch.

FRUN TEER
Choreographed and performed by Neal Beasley

frun teer is an exploration of fantasy - the imagining and failure of works of art yet to be made, the myth of the pioneer spirit and escape to greener pastures, and the objectification of idealized physicality.

Neal Beasley is a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company where he received a 2004 Princess Grace Fellowship for his work with the company. Additionally, Neal was a member of Ballet Preljocaj in France and has worked with choreographers Beth Gill, Eleanor Bauer, Jeremy Wade, Larry Keigwin, Julie Bour and Johannes Wieland. He worked with the John Jasperse Company on the production Truth, Revised Histories, Wishful Thinking, and Flat Out Lies and also worked with Hinton Battle for the film The Great Observer. His own work has been presented at Dixon Place and The Kitchen. He is a graduate of Idyllwild Arts Academy and holds a BFA in dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

COLD READ
Choreographed by Bryant Beitman
Performed by Brynt Beitman and Delphina Parenti
Music created and performed by Francis Perron and Julie Trudeau

Cold Read is a non-narrative, contemporary dance, exploring the interrelations between two people; each the sum of their individual experiences. The piece features a new composition for piano and cello.

Originally from Dallas, Brynt Beitman is currently a guest artist for TAKE Dance. He has performed with Bruce Wood Dance Project, New York Baroque Dance Company and Contemporary Ballet Dallas. A graduate from The Julliard School he was nominated for A Presidential Scholar in the Arts for the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts.

SHADOWBOXER
Choreographed by Adam H. Weinert
Performed by Adam H. Weinert and Logan Frances Kruger
Visual Art by Matt Broach
Sound recorded and mixed by Adam H Weinert
Technical Direction by Nathaniel Basch-Gould

In collaboration with visual, music and projection artists, Shadowboxer is an intimate solo that explores representations of the self. It is personal, revealing, introspective, surprising and endearing.

New York City born artist Adam H. Weinert currently serves as the Artistic Associate to Jonah Bokaer and has danced with Shen Wei Dance Arts, The Mark Morris Dance Group and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company. He began his training at The Royal Ballet School in London and continued to The School of American Ballet and The Julliard School. He was awarded Scholastic Distinction and the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Outstanding Choreography in 2008 from Julliard.