New York Live Arts Presents John Jasperse's WITHIN BETWEEN, Now thru 5/31

New York Live Arts presents the world premiere of John Jasperse's Within between, today, May 28 - 31 at 7:30pm in the New York Live Arts Theater. Known widely as a "choreographer who combines formal purity and pungent social commentary...one of the best of the truly experimental artists" (The New York Times), Jasperse presents his newest evening-length work in a four-day run concluding New York Live Arts' 2013-14 season.

In Within between, Jasperse seeks to both embrace and resist the habits of his own history, creating a cross-pollination or catalytic mating of sensibilities. In this way, the work emerges out of a space between seemingly mutually distinct terrains. Inspired by sourcing isolated formal attributes of movement, energy and structure, Jasperse has drawn from both his historical work as well as from the broader cultural landscape. Many of these outside sources include known choreographic practices and styles-often focusing on how these practices constitute ensemble or community-as well as the physiological dynamics of social interaction. Movement undergoes a metamorphosis of de-familiarization and integration, as seemingly disparate starting points are addressed in tandem. Within between includes an original, commissioned score by composer Jonathan Bepler, which will be performed live during each performance by musicians Mick Barr, Megan Schubert and Jonathan Bepler. The work also features dancers Maggie Cloud, Simon Courchel, Burr Johnson and Stuart Singer; lighting design by Lenore Doxsee; and dramaturgical assistance by Ariel Osterweis.

"Contemporary performance has long been concerned with how self and other are constructed," writes Jasperse. "We tease out these questions in and through our bodies. As a choreographer, my questioning takes shape through making dance. The way we dance alternately reveals and conceals our identities and the groups to which we belong. It also affords us the inventive space of the imaginary, giving license to alternative self-fashioning and social mutability. Nevertheless, the possibility of belonging implies the equally real possibility of exclusion. Within between began with a desire for a creative space that could transcend this inside-outside binary, rendering a work that was both mine and not mine. I have structured the results of our experiments by (re)constructing and imagining evolutions and juxtapositions that aim to highlight atypical similarities," he continues. "The goal was to render physical states that subtly resisted definitive classification and instead hovered in interstitial spaces between known entities and approaches. In the end, everything begins to look like something; it is difficult, if not impossible, to keep the original duality at bay. There is an aspirational nature to the work towards a utopian ideal that exists in the ephemeral nature of doing, rather than as a fixed result of something already done."

Within between is commissioned by New York Live Arts and the American Dance Festival, Durham, NC. The work is made possible by the support of the MAP Fund, a project of Creative Capital; New Music USA's Commissioning Music USA and Live Music for Dance Programs; James Robison Foundation; Peter S. Reed Foundation; Mertz Gilmore Foundation Late Stage Production Fund; the Harkness Foundation for Dance; the New York State Council on the Arts; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs. Portions of the work were developed during an LMCC Process Space residency on Governor's Island in Spring 2013. Additional development residencies in support of the project took place at the American Dance Institute in Rockville, MD.

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 are $30 and may be purchased online at newyorklivearts.org/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 12 to 8pm. The May 29 performance will be live streamed in collaboration with live streaming startup 2ndline.tv.