LA MAMA MOVES! Festival to Celebrate 10th Anniversary

Uncork the Champagne and raise a glass. La MaMa Moves! dance festival is readying itself for its 10th anniversary festivities while its artists are busily preparing a dozen world, U.S. and New York premieres to celebrate its decade of dance.

The 2015 festival will feature fully-developed productions that commandeer all four La MaMa venues: the Ellen Stewart Theatre, the First Floor Theatre, the Galleria and the Club, plus, new this year, the John H. Tishman Auditorium at The New School, where French choreographer Thierry Micouin will present the U.S. premiere of "Double Jack" as the festival's opener, April 30-May 1. The festival continues May 21 with an opening night gala performance to celebrate choreographer and dance teacher Ellen Robbins.

In a substantial new move this year, La MaMa Moves! has shortened its list of performers while extending their performing dates. "In our early years, we would have over 50 different soloists and groups crammed into a single month," said Nicky Paraiso, La MaMa Moves! curator since its beginning. "While such hyper activity had its own glorious madness, we decided to give the performers and choreographers an opportunity to more deeply experience their work on stage and audiences more time to catch their shows." The extraordinary range of talent remains the same.

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"Dusk Ahead"
by Ireland's Junk Ensemble, headed by the award-winning sister duo Megan and Jessica Kennedy
May 22 at 8pm, May 23 at 3 & 8pm, May 24 at 3pm
at The Ellen Stewart Theatre
Presented by La MaMa in partnership with Irish Arts Center

Of special note this year is the American premiere of "Dusk Ahead" by Ireland's Junk Ensemble, headed by the award-winning sister duo Megan and Jessica Kennedy. Co-presented with Irish Arts Center, the compelling hour-long dance/theater work, which makes its U.S. debut with four performances in the Ellen Stewart Theatre, May 22-24, is set against a darkening sky -- that time of day when nothing is clearly discernible. The intermittent use of blindfolds signals the theme of unseeing, seeing and invisibility and exploring human attachment, employing metaphors such as a prolonged kiss, interweaving hair and leashes to examine the ways in which we bind to each other. Violinist Zoe Reardon provides the live accompaniment along with musical and vocal contributions by the five dancers themselves.

"Double Jack"
by Thierry Micouin
April 30 at 8.30pm & May 1 at 8.30pm
at John L. Tishman Auditorium University Center at The New School
Presented by La MaMa in partnership with The New School with the special participation of the French Cultural Services, French Embassyr

Thierry Micouin's duet, "Double Jack," is the third section of a triptych that mixes dance and video to explore gender issues, most especially male identity. Trained first in theater, then dance, Micouin studied at Tanztheater Wuppertal and with Peter Goss in Germany, and has performed with Philippe Minyana, Karine Saporta, Felix Ruckert, Mié Coquempot, Jesus Hidalgo, among other European artists.

A Shared Program
"What a Horse!" by Gwen Welliver, "Fingertips Toward Floor, Head Follows or The Lazy Sexy Peepshow," by Eric Geiger and Anya Cloud and "Soft Forms" by Brandon Collwes
May 22 & 23 at 7:30pm, May 24 at 2pm
at The First Floor Theatre

Three works by four choreographers Gwen Welliver, Eric Geiger/Anya Cloud and Brandon Collwes mark the only shared program in this year's festival. Gwen Weiller's "What a Horse!" inspired by Paul Klee's "What Horse," is set to a score by Jake Meginsky; Eric Geiger and Anya Cloud's "Fingertips Toward Floor" is performed to music by Lmfao comprised of high school drumming bands, and Brandon Collews's "Soft Forms" is set to music by John King and Kato Hideki.

"persephone Pomegranate seeds, huny"
by Stanley Love
May 22 & May 23 at 10pm, May 24 at 6pm
at La MaMa The Club

Stanley Love's world premiere, "persephone Pomegranate seeds, huny," uses a cast of 30 to create a continual flow of movement to music ranging from Meredith Monk to Barry White.

"Hyperactive"
by John Scott/Irish Modern Dance Theatre
May 28, 29, 30 at 7:30pm, May 31 at 2pm
at The First Floor Theatre
Presented by La MaMa in partnership with Irish Arts Center

Now let's hear it again for the Irish. Dublin's dance darling John Scott returns to La MaMa, this time with the New York premiere of "Hyperactive," featuring Marcus Bellamy, Kevin Coquelard, Luke Murphy and Ryan O'Neill in a wildly energetic romp combining dance and boy-happy high jinks. Barely containing its breathless charm, the dance, set to music by James Everest, takes place in La MaMa's First Floor Theatre, May 28-31.

"Altiplano"
by Jane Comfort and Company
May 28, 29, 30 at 8pm, May 31 at 4pm
at The Ellen Stewart Theatre

The world premiere of Jane Comfort's "Altiplano," a collaboration with her dancers and design team, also takes place May 28-31, but next door in La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre. Using movement ranging from spare to complex, "Altiplano," an essentially abstract work, incorporates imagery of the desert and animals to explore issues currently challenging the survival of our planet. The show's creative team -- Jane Comfort, Joe Levasseur (lighting design) and Brandon Wolcott (sound and music composition) -- is comprised of Bessie winners.

"Provision Provision"
by Jon Kinzel
May 29 and 30 at 10pm, May 31 at 6pm
at The Club

Jon Kinzel, whose own performances are enlivened by his understated charisma, presents "Provision Provision," set to music by Kinzel and Jim Dawson in the Club, May 29-31. Performed by Kinzel and Edisa Weeks, the duet touches on a range of subjects as it metaphorically explores the transition from the corporeal to the immaterial in human experience.

"Wet Clutch"
by Dance Cartel/Ani Taj
May 28, 29, and 30 (8:30pm installation, 9pm live performance)
at The Gallery La MaMa

Reasserting her dedication to dance as a social art, Ani Taj, whose work has been seen in such diverse places as The Ace Hotel New York, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Glasslands, the Manderley Bar, has chosen to present the world premiere of "Wet Clutch" at La MaMa's La Galleria on Great Jones Street, May 28-30. The dancers - Emily Bass, nicHi douglas, Audrey Hailes, Sunny Hitt, Justin Perez and Taj - share the space with examples of iconic female imagery from Hollywood pop and cult films. Clearly to Taj, the joy of dancing should not be limited to the pros. There will be a dance party event following the May 28th show.

"?= 3.14.. NOTHINg, or EVERYTHINg
With dry tech endless peripheral border
Fukushima - Kabul - Amman - Ramallah - Berlin"
by Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks
June 4, 5, 6 at 8pm, June 7 at 4pm
at The Ellen Stewart Theatre

The world premiere of "? =3.14...NOTHINg, or EVERYTHINg" by the intrepid innovator Yoshiko Chuma, whose commitment to social and political justice permeates all her work, takes place June 4-7 in the Ellen Stewart Theatre. Wildly geographic in reach -- think Fukushima, Kabul, Amman, Ramallah and Berlin, all places that Chuma visited and was inspired by -- and wildly international in its 14-member collaborative cast of performers and artists, "?" explores the effects of colonization and displacement on national and personal levels.

"Milkdreams"
by Alexandra Beller
June 11, 12, 13, 18,19,20 at 8pm, June 14 & 21 at 4pm
at The Ellen Stewart Theatre

In "milkdreams," the former Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dancer Alexandra Beller is determined to present a dance stripped of "ego, agenda and shame," and in turn, returning her dancers -- Carly Berrett, Lea Fulton, Edward Rice, Simon Thomas-Train -- to a state of naturalness inspired by sensation, desire, joy, curiosity, intimacy and finally, love. "Milkdreams" receives its world premiere, June 11-21, in the Ellen Stewart Theatre.

On May 21, La MaMa Moves! celebrates dance educator and choreographer Ellen Robbins for her creative achievements and her remarkable work with children in whom she inspired a life-long love of dance. Ellen Robbins will be honored during La MaMa Moves! 10th Anniversary Gala that evening. Special thanks will also be given to the Harkness Foundation for Dance, Mertz Gilmore Foundation and The Jerome Robbins Foundation for their decade-long support of La MaMa Moves!

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La MaMa Moves! will take place at the Ellen Stewart Theatre, The Club, The First Floor Theatre at La MaMa, and La Galleria. The Ellen Stewart Theatre is located at 66 East 4th Street, 2nd floor. The Club and The First Floor Theatre are located at 74A East 4th Street, and La Galleria is located at 47 Great Jones Street, between Bowery and Lafayette Street.

Ellen Stewart Theatre: General Admission $25, Students/Seniors $20
First Floor Theatre & The Club: General Admission $20, Students/Seniors $15

The Galleria performances of WET CLUTCH - The Dance Cartel
May 28 Opening night with party and performance: $30
VIP Opening night with party and performance: $100
May 29 & 30 performances General Admission $20, Students/Seniors $15

Thierry Micouin's "Double Jack" at The New School's Tishman Auditorium is free of charge. Tickets can be reserved online by going to www.lamama.org. All tickets can be purchased at the box office or online. They are also available for purchase at the Ellen Stewart Theatre 90 minutes before the show. The box office phone number is 646-430-5374.