Marlene Myerson Jewish Community Center Shows Works From Artists From New Orleans, New York, and More

Three multidisciplinary showcases, curated by producer Philip Sandstrom, choreographer/curator Shannon Stewart, and curator Laurie Uprichard, offer new works by new voices in a new location. Presented during the 2019 Association for Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference, the showcases will be held at the Marlene Myerson Jewish Community Center, 334 Amsterdam Avenue (at 76th Street), in Manhattan.

These shared showcases featuring the work of a dozen artists will take place Sunday, January 6, at 10am, 12pm, and 2:30pm, and Monday, January 7, at 4pm and 8pm.

Two full-length works will also be presented: Creep Cuts by Evan Spiegelman and Dylan Hunter (Saturday, January 5, at 8:30pm and Sunday, January 6, at 8pm) and Custodians of Beauty by Pavel Zuštiak (Sunday, January 6, at 5pm and Monday, January 7, at 6pm).

Tickets for Custodians of Beauty are $15 online/$20 at door (cash only) - www.palissimo.org/jcc/. Other performances/showcases are free and open to the public.

ARTISTS PERFORMING ON THE SHOWCASES WILL INCLUDE U.S. ARTISTS:

Kelly Bond - Based in New Orleans, Kelly Bond creates dance/theater works that involve choreographing the audience. She will show Unfortunately it was effortless (working title), a sometimes solo, sometimes duet, and never the same work that explores human thought as a construct.

Donna Costello and Jennifer Sargent - Based in New York City and New Orleans, respectively, Donna Costello and Jennifer Sargent have collaborated on Jitterbug & the Aftermath, a dance/theater work that explores an unmoored mid-life feminine identity.

Helen Gillet - Belgian-born, New Orleans-based musician Helen Gillet is a classically trained cellist who plays acoustic cello, looped electronics, vocals, a vintage E.V.I. trumpet (Steiner), and anything else she can reach both at home and around the world.

Goat in the Road - Based in New Orleans, this devised theater company supports work by its members in theaters, at festivals, and on tour. Excerpts will be shown from Foreign to Myself, a deeply researched work examining PTSD among military returning from both Afghanistan and the Civil War.

Jarrell Hamilton - A conceptualist choreographer and performer working in both New Orleans and New York, Jarrell Hamilton will show excerpts from the installation Watermelon Dreams and the performance work Episodes.

Marcus Hayes - A faculty member at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN, Marcus Hayes will present a solo investigating food and body image.

Meryl Murman/FLOCK - New Orleans-based choreographer Meryl Murman is collaborating with an Israeli percussionist on mis-Place, a new work in progress.

Shannon Stewart/Screaming Traps - New Orleans-based choreographer Shannon Stewart will present an excerpt from the duet Relatives, exploring, symmetry, repetition, feminine iconography, and duration with good humor.

THREE ARTISTS FROM THE U.K. WILL ALSO PRESENT THEIR WORK:

Christopher Matthews - U.S.-born, London-based artist Christopher Matthews will present Lads, an installation dance work for galleries and social media deconstructing masculinity in the lobby of the JCC.

Janine Harrington - London-based artist Janine Harrington will show video and speak about her current touring work Screensaver Series.

Matthias Sperling - London-based choreographer and scholar Matthias Sperling will present a solo work in progress, No-How Generator.

FULL-LENGTH WORKS TO BE PRESENTED:

Creep Cuts by Evan Spiegelman (New Orleans/New York) and Dylan Hunter (New Orleans) follows agitprop surrealists and anti-fascist clowns Mz. Asa Metric and Mqr En Between as they accidentally present an evening of genre-queer cabaret. Careening between dada drag, social media diatribes and malfunctioning sketch comedy, Creep Cuts pairs original electronic music with glitchy dreamscapes. Spiegelman tours as a "Dandy Minion" with Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music.

Custodians of Beauty by Slovak-American choreographer Pavel Zuštiak and Palissimo Company (NYC), is a richly multisensory work that questions our preconceptions of what we consider beautiful and why. Incorporating dance, music, and scenography, the work explores the human body as a sculpture, an emotional trigger, and a political symbol through formal abstraction and restrained, minimalist movement. Custodians of Beauty was co-commissioned by the Walker Art Center, New York Live Arts, Lumberyard, and Legion Arts and continues to tour internationally since its creation in 2015.

For more information and a detailed schedule, visit: www.shannonstewart.org.