'Quiet to Departure' Plays PS122, 7/13-18

Leigh Evans' new work, Quiet to Departure, has been selected to premiere at the 4th Annual undergroundzero festival of experimental theater, presented at PS122, July 13-18. Combining Butoh dance, video, and original music by Peter Whitehead, the duet Quiet to Departure explores the illusory nature of form through the shifting perceptions of self and other. Reflection, refraction, disjunction, shadow, and presence reveal our simultaneous transparency and visibility in this journey of self and memory.

The piece is choreographed by Leigh Evans and performed by Leigh Evans & Megan Nicely, with music by Peter Whitehead, video by David Rogers & Joel Kurtz, sculpture by Therese Lahaie, costume design by Tiziana Agnello, and lighting design by Bruce Steinberg. Quiet to Departure will run July 13-18, 2010. All shows are at 7:30pm, except Thurs July 15 at 9:30pm, as part of the 4th Annual undergroundzero festival at Performance Space 122 (150 1st Avenue at 9th Street). Tickets ($20) may be purchased online at www.PS122.org or via phone at (212) 352-3101.

Leigh Evans, Choreographer At the intersection of dance, visual art, meditation, and theater, Leigh Evans' performance work explores the nature of perception by re-inventing our relationship to viewing the body. Evans' dance theater illuminates the darker aspects of human nature with the beauty of the physical form in rituals of invocation. Her explorations are fed by her fascination with the performance and meditative traditions of Asia. Integral to her work are her extensive travels and studies in the meditative and performance traditions of Asia, including Indian Odissi dance, Butoh, Yoga, Bulgarian singing and North Indian singing.

Presented at the soloNOVA Arts Festival in May 2009, her work, Traces, was nominated for three New York Innovative Theater Awards (Best Solo Performer, Best Choreography, & Best Performance Art Production). Her work has also been presented at The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Dixon Place, PS122, New York Butoh Festival (at CAVE), CRS "Tribute to Butoh", Manhattanville College, and Studio 303, Montreal. Her Film, Eighth Avenue, created in collaboration with David Rogers, has been presented at the Dance on Camera Festival (2007), BAC International Film Festival (2008), and the Chashama Film Festival (2008). Her work has also been presented on the West Coast at the SF International Butoh Festival, Seattle Butoh Festival, Theater Artaud, Tsunami Festival, Women on the Edge Festival, and Noh Space.