Led by dancer, choreographer, singer, and artistic director Janis Brenner, the seven-member Janis Brenner & Dancers conveys a myriad of stories through movement in 5 Decades - an evening of both retrospection and celebration that reconnects generations past with the present. Featuring works from the 1960s to the present, 5 Decades highlights music and dance legends such as Meredith Monk's seminal solo Break (1964) and two solo works from Murray Louis' historical Figura (1978), to name a few. The fifth and current decade is represented by the world premiere of Dancing in Absentia; an homage to the friends, colleagues and well-known artists within the dance community lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Known as a contemporary dancer/choreographer who peppers entertaining movement with deep meaning, Janis Brenner continues to deliver riveting and thought-provoking work in Five Decades. "This program is connected around the theme of ‘memory' and acknowledges its importance in moving forward in the fields of dance, art, and humanity," explains Brenner.
The first half of the program includes a thematic work from each decade beginning with the revival of
Meredith Monk's seminal solo, Break, from 1964. Brenner, who has worked with the acclaimed
Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble for 19 years, was personally invited by Ms. Monk to revive Break, which Monk last performed herself in 1968. The 1970s will be represented by selections from Figura, choreographed by the legendary Murray Louis, whose company Brenner danced in from 1977-84. This revival is in honor of Murray Louis' 83rd year and marks the beginning of the Nikolais Centennial. Embodying the 1980s is Brenner's former "signature" solo Guilt which premiered in 1985. Dance Magazine hailed Guilt as, "riveting...Brenner presented an astonishingly encyclopedic catalogue of the movements one could perform while trapped in a small closet." Rounding up the 20th century is the revival of the 1995 12-minute quartet A Matter of Time, a work chosen for the American College Dance Festival at The Kennedy Center in 1998.
The stirring new piece, Dancing in Absentia, propels the audience into the current decade by "re-remembering" the many men the dance world lost to the AIDS epidemic through a 25-minute work melding dance together with music, photography and video. In hopes of shedding light on the ever-fading history of the artists who were lost to AIDS, Brenner recalls the enormous contributions that these artists made, and acknowledges that the crisis continues. "I became acutely aware that our younger generation of dancers has little knowledge and understanding of what occurred in the dance and art world for more than 15 years. Dancing in Absentia addresses this concern in an aesthetic, yet direct way perhaps to reeducate ourselves and certainly our young ones," says Brenner. Designed for six dancers and two vocalists (including Brenner herself), underscored by a video/photographic collage, Dancing in Absentia consciously recalls, through memory, moments from dances during the time of the AIDS epidemic - such as
Lar Lubovitch's Mozart Concerto No. 26, Ulysses Dove's Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven, and Brenner's own works, Pieces of Trust and Layers. The video portion, which has already been screened at events by Dancers Responding to AIDS and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, is inspired by Mark Rothko's late paintings and features 42 moving dance photographs of the artists now "absent" from the dance world.
About Janis Brenner & Dancers
Award-winning dancer, choreographer, singer, and teacher, Janis Brenner founded Janis Brenner & Dancers in 1985. "A proponent of decidedly theatrical, expressive modern dance, Brenner is a class act all the way and has the chops to back it up," (Gay City News). The company-consisting of seven dancers-has been widely recognized for its range of performance and residency activities and its musically diverse work. Since its inception, the company has performed throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe and has been presented by leading NYC organizations including Dance Theater Workshop, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Madison Square Garden Theater, Danspace Project, and Symphony Space. The company has also appeared at many national and international festivals, including the Kuan Du Arts Festival (Taipei), International Modern Dance Festival of Seoul (Korea), the Gedung Kesenian and Indonesian Dance Festivals (Indonesia), and the Open Look International Dance Festival (Russia), Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, 2000 FEET Festival (Philadelphia), New Moves Festival (Buffalo), and American College Dance Festivals in Salt Lake City and Boston.
Janis Brenner & Dancers Presents Five Decades
Choreography: Janis Brenner, Murray Louis, and Meredith Monk
Music: David Karagianis, Bang On A Can, Theo Bleckmann and Janis Brenner, Marianne Faithfull, Ernesto Lacuona, and Paul Winter Consort
Dancers: Kyla Barkin, Janis Brenner, Moo Kim, Sumaya Jackson, Carolyn Rossett, Aaron Selissen, and Pam Wagner
Costume Designer: Ramona Ponce
Lighting Director: Mitchell Bogard
Videography Designer: Jamie James Wenger
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