New York Live Arts to Premiere Neil Greenberg's THIS, 12/3-6

New York Live Arts presents the world premiere of Neil Greenberg's This, December 3 - 6 at 7:30pm. As mentioned by The New York Times, "Mr. Greenberg's [artistry] resonates through its confluence of the random and the necessary; the continuous stream of motion in which no one moment is particularly important and each is beautiful; the almost magical quality of occasional formal symmetries."

Continuing Greenberg's ongoing investigation of meaning-making, This works against the grain of performance conventions of representation and interpretation through dance. Instead, the work presents dance as an experience of the performance moment, in and of itself. Featuring collaborators Steve Roden (music), Joe Levasseur (lighting design) and James Kidd Studio (costumes), Greenberg's new working relationships with Roden and Levasseur (as well as with the dancers) were used as source material for This, positing the investigation occurring onstage as an embodiment of relationship. Performed by Greenberg with dancers Molly Lieber, Mina Nishimura, Omagbitse Omagbemi and Connor Voss, the complex and idiosyncratic movement featured in This was culled from videotaped improvisations painstakingly learned verbatim. This movement, along with lighting and musical materials, will be continually recast, reconfigured and recoded -- sometimes radically, sometimes subtly. Building on questions introduced in Greenberg's past works, This explores the "isness" of performance and the seemingly inescapable human desire to make meaning. As Deborah Jowitt has noted in the Village Voice, "Neil Greenberg has a way of tangoing with meaning; he pulls it close, stares at it, and spins it away -- never quite losing control."

This is commissioned by New York Live Arts and made possible, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts and by contributors to the Dance Theater Workshop Commissioning Fund at New York Live Arts.

Performances will take place in New York Live Arts' Theater. Come Early Conversations and Stay Late Discussions will also be featured with two shows (see complete schedule below). Tickets start at $30 with select $15 seats available. Tickets may be purchased online at newyorklivearts/season, by phone at 212-924-0077 and in person at the box office. Box office hours are Monday to Friday from 1 to 9pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 9pm.

Schedule of Related Events:

Dec 4 at 6:30pm Come Early Conversation -- Beth Gill and Danielle Goldman discuss the creative practice of Neil Greenberg

Dec 5 Stay Late Discussion -- Meaning, Reconsidered: Jen Rosenblit in Dialogue with Neil Greenberg

About the Artists:

Neil Greenberg has been making dances since 1979. He came to New York from Minnesota in 1976 and danced with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1979-1986. He formed Dance By Neil Greenberg in 1986, and his choreography has since been presented in twenty New York City productions and on tour. He is known especially for his Not-About-AIDS-Dance, which employs his signature use of projected words as a layering strategy that complicates the performance moment while also opening doors into potential meanings in the dance. His most recent projects -- Really Queer Dance With Harps (2008) and (like a vase) (2010) -- continue his investigation into the nature of meaning-making.

Greenberg has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and two New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Awards, as well as repeated fellowships from the NEA and NYFA, a fellowship from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, a National Dance Project Production grant, a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Creative Exploration Award and repeated support from the MAP Fund and NYSCA. He has created two commissioned works for Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project and two works for Ricochet Dance Company of London. His works have twice been cited as among the Ten High Points of the Year in The New York Times: his dance/video work Two in 2003 and Not-About-AIDS-Dance in 1994. Greenberg is currently a Professor of Choreography at Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, and has previously taught at Purchase College, Sarah Lawrence College and UC Riverside. He served as dance curator at The Kitchen from 1995-1999.

Joe Levasseur has collaborated with many dance and performance artists including: John Jasperse, RoseAnne Spradlin, Sarah Michelson, David Dorfman, Jodi Melnick, Beth Gill, Maria Hassabi, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Lee Saar the Company, Anna Sperber, Megan Sprenger and Christopher Williams. He has received two New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Awards for his design work, including one with Big Dance Theater for Comme Toujours Here I Stand. In 2009 his Drop Clock installation was featured in the lobby of Dance Theater Workshop (New York Live Arts). In 2010 he showed a collection of original paintings at Performance Space 122. Ongoing projects include lighting work for Jennifer Monson, Big Dance Theater, Wendy Whelan and Palissimo.

Steve Roden is a visual and sound artist living in Pasadena, CA. His work includes painting, drawing, film/video, sound, writing and performance. Recent exhibitions and performances include: Berkeley Art Museum, CA; Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Strasbourg Museum, France; First international Biennial of Contemporary Art, Cartagena de Indias, Columbia; Susanne Vielmetter LA Projects, CRG gallery New York. Grants and fellowships include: Harvestworks, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Chinati Foundation Artist in Residence, and a Civitella Ranieri Foundation residency. From 1978-1982 Roden was the lead singer of the Los Angeles punk band, Seditionaries.

ABOUT NEW YORK LIVE ARTS - New York Live Arts is an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry offering audiences access to art and artists notable for their conceptual rigor, formal experimentation and active engagement with the social, political and cultural currents of our times. At the center of this identity is Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director, a world-renowned choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer.

We commission, produce and present performances in our 20,000 square foot home, which includes a 184-seat theater and two 1,200 square foot studios that can be combined into one large studio. New York Live Arts serves as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, provides an extensive range of participatory programs for adults and young people and supports the continuing professional development of artists.

Photo Credit: Frank Mullaney