Isabel Lewis, Tami Stronach Dance and More Set for Dance New Amsterdam 2012-13 Season

Given Dance New Amsterdam's (DNA) recent legal victories regarding the renewal of its Lower Manhattan lease, it is all the more satisfying to announce an impressive roster of returning artists for the DNA PRESENTS 2012-2013 season, opening September 12, 2012.

A year marked by multiple homecomings, NYC's foremost progressive dance education and performance center welcomes back resident artists such as Isabel Lewis, Giulia Mureddu and Monstah Black & Major Scurlock and showcases teaching artists Kendra Portier and Tami Stronach. In addition, this season highlights LateNite alums Neal Beasley and Bradley TeAl Ellis as well as curated evenings by Victoria Libertore (back for a fourth consecutive year), Neal Medlyn and Jaamil Olawale Kosoko.

DNA PRESENTS continues to be New York's hot spot for dance discovery in its revered downtown studio and theater space through full evenings of solo works, SPLICE and the raucous LateNite series as well as new works by up-and-coming choreographers who have participated in DNA's RAW Directions and RAW Material intensives. As usual, the season will be sprinkled with performance and gallery innovations by category-defying artists whose talents exceed the boundaries of the stage.

"It's extremely gratifying to have the opportunity to present and support such a diverse representation of dance artists from across the U.S. and the world. This year's line-up spotlights extraordinary curatorial, choreographic and performative talent," says Artistic and Executive Director Catherine Peila. "Not only are they bringing great art to the stage, but they are tapping into all that is DNA, from teaching our daily technique classes to participating in extensive and rigorous residencies in our downtown institution. There's truly no place like DNA – it's a home for artists and we are all fighting to keep it that way."

Founded in 1984, Dance New Amsterdam is NYC's foremost progressive dance education and performance center, providing a community hub for dance that offers the highest quality modern and contemporary dance training and creative programming. DNA develops new audiences and bridges diverse communities through its performances and service to the field. Additionally, it provides valuable opportunities for the aspiring, emerging and established artist, including commissions of new choreographic works, daily classes, certification courses, artistic residencies, and studio and administrative office subsidies. DNA encourages entrepreneurial spirit, inventiveness, rigorous professionalism and community engagement through a lens of career longevity and diverse artistic expression. For more information, visit www.dnadance.org.

Tickets (on sale August 1) for DNA PRESENTS performances are $17 for the general audience, $14 for students and seniors, $12 for DNA members or if purchased in advance. Purchase tickets online at dnadance.org, by calling 212.625.8369 or on site two hours before curtain. Discounted tickets are available by phone for groups of 6 or more. All sales are final.

Dance New Amsterdam is located at 280 Broadway (entrance at 53 Chambers Street), New York, NY 10007, near the R/W to City Hall, 4/5/6 at Brooklyn Bridge, J/M/Z, A/C/E or 1/2/3 at Chambers Street, and 2/3 at Park Place.

DNA PRESENTS 2012-2013 SEASON DETAILS

Isabel Lewis/LEWIS FOREVER | September 12-15, 7:30 p.m.
Opening night reception September 12 and post show discussion September 13*

The season begins with the world premiere of A Guide to Kinship and Maybe Magic, a new work conceived and directed by Isabel Lewis and performed by Brooklyn-based playwright, dramaturg and performer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The work will feature the 2011 film, SISTER, by LEWIS FOREVER, a performance collective Isabel formed with her three siblings, Sarah, Ligia and George Jr., as its point of departure. Part director's commentary and part lecture on the web of the intricate social relationships we understand as kinship, A Guide to Kinship and Maybe Magic is a complex portray of collaboration and the artistic process-with personal relationships at stake.

Tami Stronach Dance | September 19-22, 7:30 p.m.
Opening night reception September 19 and post show discussion September 20*

The world premiere of Me and Not Me, choreographed by Tami Stronach, questions how our sense of self expands and contracts, making room for loved ones and memories, and at other times, excluding them. Crushing, slippery and bumpy partnering gives way to delicate solos throughout this deeply inquisitive work with visionary designs by Jane Shaw and Deb O and lush original violin melodies by Jacob Lawson.

RAW Material | October 4-5, 7:30 p.m.
Opening night reception October 4 and post show discussion October 5*

Featuring work by: Tough Cookie Dance/Michael Philip Richman & Josselyn Levinson-Dustin, Ashley Brown, Hadley Smith, Tara Burns & Kellie Lynch, Anna Marie Shogren, and Abigail Zbikowski

DNA's RAW Material+ series has been supporting new and emerging artists since 2000. Up to six budding dance-makers are selected each year to work closely with a seasoned choreographer. They receive feedback and develop their work through a six-month-long workshop intensive leading up to their performances in DNA's theater. Choreographer Yanira Castro acts as mentor and artistic advisor for this fall's promising artists.

LateNite | October 5-6, 10:00 p.m.
Curated by Neal Medlyn

DNA's LateNite+ series is a triannual event that gives a voice to artists working within the mediums of performance art, burlesque and experimental theater. Presented late in the evening, the theater's wilder-than-average transformation is contemporary cabaret at its finest. This fun evening of performances will feature Neal Medlyn and a crew of collaborators in a freeform jumble of music and performance, mayhem and insanity.

Sunhwa Chung / Ko-Ryo Dance Theater | October 17-20 (Wed-Fri at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
Opening night reception October 17*

Choreographer Sunhwa Chung will present Arirang – We Go Beyond the Crossroad, an autobiographical work about leaving her native Korea, attempting to remain close to her roots and learning to grow beyond her culture to accept the new customs and ideas of another. This piece offers the audience a rare glimpse into a world that bridges Korean tradition and contemporary American sensibilities, using movement and visual elements both on stage and in DNA's Gallery.

CABULA6 | November 7-10 and 14-17, 7:30 p.m.
Opening night reception November 7 and post show discussion November 15*

A three-part series by CABULA6, The Angola Project, playfully straddles the worlds of performance and filmmaking by merging storytelling, dance, video, state of the art medical imaging, Chinese calligraphy and more. Co-Artistic Directors Jeremy Xido and Claudia Heu will share a dizzying journey through the history of colonial Portugal, the Travelogues of Burton Holmes, the films of Bruce Lee and Jim Kelly, the Detroit race riots, Berlin documentary film crews in Africa and the bloodthirsty business of international film finance, all the while dissecting a quickly changing poly-cultural world. These performances mark the world premiere of Part 3, "XIN – Heart of Hearts."

Performances of The Angola Project will follow the schedule below:

Part 1, "Lisbon": November 7 and 9
Part 2, "Angola": November 8 and 10
Part 3, "XIN - Heart of Hearts": November 14-17

SPLICE: Kendra Portier / Elke Luyten & Kira Alker | November 30-December 8 (Fri at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
Opening night reception November 30*

DNA's SPLICE series brings together unique artists that share a common thread, however subtle, into a performance setting that offers insightful perspectives on the conceptual complexities of contemporary dance.

In DNA's first SPLICE+ program this season, BANDportier will perform the world premiere of Beautiful Weather for an Air Raid, a work that questions the fidelity of our memories and grapples with exhaustion amidst turbulent weather, choreographed by Kendra Portier in collaboration with her dancers. The split bill also includes Studies of Inertia, an exploitation of the inherent vulnerability in performance, choreographed by Elke Luyten and directed by Kira Alker. Studies of Inertia originally premiered during DNA's RAW Directions+ program last year.

LateNite: Liza and Friends' Winter Cabaret | December 7-8, 10:00 p.m.
Curated and Emceed by Victoria Libertore

DNA LateNite+ veteran Victoria Libertore returns for her fourth consecutive year, hosting an evening of performance magic as an uproarious Liza Minnelli. Performers include the A.O. Movement Collective, Moe Angelos, Bougie, Aimee Brown, Robin Cloud, Jennifer E. Koltun, James & JF, Maddy Mann & Lexi Miller (Ryan Migge & Andrew Hansen), Allison Miller, Ernie Pappanastos, Elizabeth Whitney, Gretchen Winterkorn and Stella Woolf. With special appearances by Deb Bicknese, Drae Campbell, L Boogie, Luscious von Dykester, Prince Kim, Joanne Swanson and Ariel Speedwagon.

Association of Performing Arts Presenters | January 10-15

DNA is a proud participant in the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference. DNA's participation in the conference supports the careers of a multitude of dance artists by bringing their work to the stage for presenters around the globe. Schedule to be determined.

LateNite: other.explicit.bodies. | January 11-12, 10:00 p.m.
Curated and Choreographed by Jaamil Olawale Kosoko

Producer, poet, choreographer and performance artist Jaamil Olawale Kosoko will assemble a program featuring works by artists of color who deal explicitly with themes of eroticism, gender politics and otherness for DNA's third installment of LateNite+ this season.

Black Moon | January 23-26 (Wed-Fri at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
Opening night reception January 23 and post show discussion January 24*

Choreographer Monstah Black, composer Major Andres Scurlock and video designer Holly Daggers will stage the world premiere of their complete two-act electro-funk chamber operetta, Black Moon. (Act I was presented at DNA last year, Act II premieres this season.) Bringing Arnold Schoenberg's German expressionist melodrama "Pierrot Lunaire" to life as a multimedia cabaret, Black Moon demonstrates how an old world cynic has inspired a new generation of artists. This Pierrot Lunaire is a vaudeville clown, a romantic crooner, a street preacher and a "glam-fabulous" provocateur who presents the parable of the African American male as a world of contradictions, where the masks he wears are often not his own.

RAW Directions | January 30-February 2 (Wed-Fri at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
Opening night reception January 30 and post show discussion January 31*

DNA's RAW Directions+ is an annual program that bolsters the work of five emerging and mid-career choreographers who have more than ten years of professional choreographic experience. All selected artists participate in a series of supportive workshops shaped to introduce and encourage their aspirations of developing and exploring new methods of creating work, led by an artistic consultant. This year, each artist will present up to 15 minutes of choreography in each of the four performances. The application process begins July 2012 and artists will be announced by October 1, 2012.

SPLICE: Neal Beasley / Bradley TeAl Ellis | February 8-16 (Fri at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
Opening night reception February 8 and post show discussion February 9*

DNA's second SPLICE+ show this season pairs Neal Beasley, a Trisha Brown and John Jasperse alum, with Brooklyn-based improviser Bradley TeAl Ellis in an evening of overlapping vignettes, resulting in two distinct but interwoven world premieres. Beasley's every adam belonging to me makes use of movement and text to expose the archetypal myth of the "American Man," while TeAl Ellis tackles the many facets of guilt with his (American)Guilt. Expect cowboys, thugs and Mexican wrestling masks.

Giulia Mureddu | February 20-23 (Wed-Fri at 7:30 p.m., Sat at 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)
Opening night reception February 20 and post show discussion February 21*

Giulia Mureddu will share the U.S. premiere of Always Known Never Met, a performance that departs from the dialogue between a mother and her unborn child, inspired by Lettere a un bambino mai nato (Letter to a child never born), a book by Oriana Fallaci. Mureddu incorporates live video in this intimate and moving full-length production. This work was created in-part during a research residency at DNA in 2011.

*Opening night receptions begin one hour prior to curtain. Post show discussions begin immediately following the performance.

+Indicates one of DNA's yearly programs to support the development of dance artists through residencies, artistic advisement and more.