Free Dance at Socrates Sculpture Park to be Held in August

Norte Maar, a committed international think-tank dedicated to the creation, promotion, and presentation of collaborations in the disciplines of the visual, literary, and the performing arts, presents the Dance at Socrates choreographic and performance residency, August 3- 27. In it's third season, and in collaboration with Socrates Sculpture Park, this summer dance series brings New York-based choreographers and their dancers to the East River waterfront to develop a site-specific dance on a newly constructed stage within the park. This year's choreographers include Randy James (10 Hairy Legs Projects), Edisa Weeks (DELIRIOUS Dances), Christopher Rudd (RudduR Dance), Gierre Godley (Project 44), Laura Gemitti and Katharine Morales (L & K Dance), Meagan Woods, Julia K. Gleich (Gleich Dances), BOOMERANG, and Brynt Beitman.

For three weeks during the month of August, a different choreographer will be in residence to create or further develop a new work. Visitors to the park will enjoy not only the unique contemporary sculpture the park is well known for, but also cutting edge dance and movement in the making. Throughout their creative process, participating choreographers in Dance at Socrates will be in full view of the public while developing their work, culminating in a final performance at the close of each week. With innovation and exploration at the center of the residency, choreographers are provided ample time and resources to bring a work through each stage of development with no lines between dance and the audience itself. Norte Maar's Dance at Socrates also supports aspiring choreographers by pairing teens (ages 13-18) with experienced choreographers each week.

"With our stage nestled in the grove of Aspen trees, visitors will encounter live dance in creation during the week, just as they discover each of the unique structures currently on exhibit in the park", explains Julia Gleich, Norte Maar co-founder. "Norte Maar's Dance at Socrates, now in its third year in collaboration with Socrates Sculpture Park, provides an incubator for new choreography and is a terrific way to enjoy Saturday afternoon dance performances in a fun and inspiring setting."

Dance at Socrates is made possible in part by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. Norte Maar's Dance at Socrates is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

VENUE INFORMATION and SCHEDULE

Socrates Sculpture Park is located at 32-01 Vernon Blvd (at Broadway) in Long Island City, Queens. The admission to this festival is free to the public. The park is accessible by the N or Q to Broadway in Queens or the Q103, Q104 to Broadway and Vernon Blvd. The Q19A to Broadway and 21st Street is also available.

Residency Schedule:

August 3-8: Edisa Weeks (DELIRIOUS Dances) and Randy James (10 Hairy Legs Projects)

Public Performance: August 8 at 4:00 p.m.

August 10-15: Christopher Rudd/RudduR Dance and Gierre Godley (Project 44)

Public Performance: August 15 at 4:00 p.m. L & K Dance and Jenni Hong Dance will also be performing.

August 17-22: Julia K. Gleich (Gleich Dances) and Meagan Woods & Company

Public Performance: August 22 at 4:00 p.m. BOOMERANG Dance and Brynt Beitman will also be performing.

REPERTORY DETAILS

Randy James (10 Hairy Legs Projects) | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Preview

Music: Mozart

C. S Lewis' beloved and magical novel comes to life through dance! The classic story, set in the fictitious Narnia, features all of your favorite characters: the heroine Lucy and her siblings, the White Witch, Tumnus, Maugrim, Mr. & Mrs. Beaver, Nymphs, The Wolf and of course Aslan the Lion.

Edisa Weeks (DELIRIOUS Dances) | Three Rites, Work in progress

Music: Circle, Circle, Circle, Occidental Brothers; Snowden's Jig (Genuine Negro Jig), Carolina Chocolate Drops; Flying Tent, Perpetual E-Motion

The United States Declaration of Independence states that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable rights, which governments are created to protect. Three Rites explores how do we protect and nurture these rights, how do they manifest in the body, and how do they inform the fabric of American society.

Christopher Rudd (RudduR Dance) | Siren's Realm, premiered August 2011

Music: Mike Murphy's Sail By Night

Siren's Realm is an exploration of losing one's innocence. It depicts the seductively alluring qualities of desiring flesh.

Gierre Godley (PROJECT 44) | No Strings Attached, World Premiere

Music: Stromae and Balanescu Orchestra

No strings Attached explores the personal experience of transitioning into and out of life experiences. Some of us are less attached while others try to hang on by a thread.

Jenni Hong Dance | I am You (excerpt)

Music: Brian Eno, Sylvain Chauveau, Tindersticks

I am You, a dance about mirror images, identity shifts and associating nostalgia, was developed in part through Triskelion Arts Space Subsidy Program made possible with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Lara Gemitti and Katharina Morales ( L & K Dance) | I hope it's not too late

The process of this work calls for an extreme focus on a potent memory and to identify and extrapolate the gesture, sound, rhythm and structure of such and how it translates into movement. This specific impetus results in solos that are highly individualistic in movement style.

Meagan Woods & Company | Where Can You Be? , World Premiere

Music: Johnny McEvoy, Andrew Sisters, Black Keys, John Hopkins

Where can you be? offers a comedic, though heartfelt look at city dwellers that desire both intimacy and detachment. A pair of male dancers seeks nearness and craves independence, while finding the line between strange company and meaningful companionship. When nearing the grips of attachment, dancers decide whether to hold on or drift back to the swallowing mass of choice and solitude.

Julia K. Gleich (Gleich Dances) | Knight Moves, Work-in-progress

Brief Description: Knight Moves is inspired by the rarely seen late paintings of Abstract Expressionist painter Jack Tworkov (1900-1982), which take as their start the movements of the knights in chess. The dance, like these paintings will present a geometric field of advances, which the dancers will develop in repetitive patterns and embellish with the spontaneity of gesture. Creating a collage of explorations moving from the abstract to the potentially narrative and back again, Knight Moves hints at relationships both on the chessboard and off.

Matty Davis/Kora Radella (BOOMERANG) | Gut Check

Text: playwright/filmmaker/writer Will Arbery.

Gut check is a journey. It progresses, stalls, rewinds, and changes direction through a series of ritual-like preparations, verbal miscommunications, and demanding, intimate challenges. The performers' relationship alternately fortifies and corrodes as they pursue their collective and individual journeys.

Brynt Beitman | WAKE, World Premiere

WAKE is a dramatic contemplation of the many facets of memory. It considers how the beautiful or painful memories of a person can remain separate but profoundly influences one another. It is related through a non-linear narrative of images and emotional explorations depicted by two characters "Le Bouvier" and "Joano".