SPCO's Liquid Music Series Presents Ashwini Ramaswamy

Minneapolis-based Bharatanatyam dancer/choreographer Ashwini Ramaswamy, celebrated for her ability to "[weave] together, both fearfully and joyfully, the human and the divine" (The New York Times) discusses her multidisciplinary original work Let the Crows Come featuring collaborator and "genre-busting" (The Guardian) composer/DJ/author Jace Clayton and Twin Cities dancer Alanna Morris-Van Tassel, who "embodies the power of dance to create deep and lasting connections where words cannot" (Dance Magazine, "25 to Watch"). Using the mythography of crows as a framework to explore memory as a source of guidance and dislocation, the work layers Ramaswamy's visceral interpretation of ancestry, ritual, and tradition with a genre-defying evolution of movement and music across cultural and corporeal boundaries. Presented at the newly-renovated Parkway Theater in South Minneapolis, the work-in-progress conversation is part of the SPCO's Tapestry19 Festival and will include video footage of Ramaswamy's Space Residency at The Baryshnikov Arts Center.

"With my work," says Ramaswamy, "I aim to create opportunities to access an unfamiliar culture yet appreciate its mystery. I gravitate towards concepts that have an underlying duality, and are potent with imagistic possibilities. The Liquid Music Artist-in-Residence program and the subsequent commission of Let the Crows Come has been an invaluable experience, allowing me the opportunity to further investigate the ancestral using a personal artistic compass."

CONCERT DATE AND LOCATION

Monday, Feb 11, 2019

Parkway Theater, Minneapolis

Music at 7:30pm

TICKETS

Pay as you wish in support of this project

liquidmusicseries.org | 651.291.1144

ABOUT ASHWINI RAMASWAMY, dancer/choreographer

Ashwini Ramaswamy has studied Bharatanatyam with Ragamala Dance Company's Artistic Directors Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy-her mother and sister-since the age of five. She now has the honor of studying under Bharatanatyam legend Alarmél Valli, one of the greatest living masters of the form. She has toured extensively with Ragamala, performing throughout the U.S. and in Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, the UK and India. Ashwini is a McKnight Artist Fellow for Dance, as well as the recipient of three Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB) Artist Initiative grants, a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) Next Step Fund grant and a Jerome Foundation Travel Study Grant. Her work is supported by MSAB, MRAC and the New England Foundation for the Arts' (NEFA) U.S. Artists International program.

Ashwini's choreographic work has been presented by Augsburg College, the Ritz Theater and the Red Eye Theater (Minneapolis), and Triskelion Arts, The Joyce Theater (NY, NY), The Just Festival (Edinburgh) and The Yard (Martha's Vineyard). Ashwini was the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music Series' Artist in Virtual Residence in 2017.18, followed by a commissioned work to premiere in 2019.

ABOUT JACE CLAYTON, composer/DJ/author

Jace Clayton is an artist and writer based in Manhattan, also known for his work as DJ /rupture. Clayton uses an interdisciplinary approach to focus on how sound, memory, and public space interact, with an emphasis on low-income communities and the global South. His book Uproot: Travels in 21st Century Music and Digital Culture was published in 2016 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Recent projects include Sufi Plug Ins, a free suite of music software-as-art, based on non-western conceptions of sound and alternative interfaces; Room 21, an evening-length composition for 20 musicians staged at the Barnes Foundation; and The Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner, a touring performance piece for grand pianos, electronics, and voice. Clayton's collaborators include filmmakers Jem Cohen, Joshua Oppenheimer, poet Elizabeth Alexander, singer Norah Jones, and guitarist Andy Moor (The Ex).

Clayton is the UNC-CH/Duke Nannerl Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor. He is a 2014 New York Foundation for the Arts Nonfiction Literature fellow, a 2013 Creative Capital Performing Arts grantee and recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Art award. He joined the Music/Sound faculty of Bard College's MFA program in 2013. Clayton has been an artist-in-residence with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Eyebeam Art + Technology Atelier, and a USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism fellow.

ABOUT ALANNA MORRIS-VAN TASSEL, dancer

Professional contemporary dancer, teaching artist, choreographer and artist organizer, Alanna Morris-Van Tassel is one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" for 2018. Morris-Van Tassel is the Artistic Director of Alanna Morris-Van Tassel Productions (AMVTP), created in 2017 as a vehicle to produce, teach and share uplifting and inspiring solo dance works in collaboration with talented artists as well as commission International Artists.

Morris-Van Tassel danced 10 years with Minnesota-based TU Dance (Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands, Co-Artistic Directors) and has worked professionally with Nathan Trice/RITUALS, Andrea Miller (Gallim Dance) and Janis Brenner & Dancers. During her tenure at TU Dance, she danced featured roles by celebrated choreographers, Kyle Abraham, Gioconda Barbuto, Camille A. Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Greggory Dolbashian, Katrin Hall, Francesca Harper, Dwight Rhoden and Uri Sands. She has also helped to restage and coach some of Sand's ballets with the TU Dance company.

ABOUT LIQUID MUSIC
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music Series, named "Best of Classical" by The New York Times, develops innovative new projects with iconoclastic artists in unique presentation formats. Liquid Music performances invite adventurous audiences to discover the new and the fascinating within the flourishing landscape of contemporary chamber music. Visit liquidmusicseries.org to learn more.

ABOUT THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Renowned for its artistic excellence, remarkable versatility of musical styles and adventurous programming, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is widely regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world. Now in its 60th season, the SPCO has recently undergone transformational change with the opening of its new home, the Ordway Concert Hall, the addition of a new generation of players, and significant changes in its artistic vision. The SPCO is primarily an unconducted ensemble that performs a broad range of repertoire from Baroque to new music and works in close collaboration with a diverse series of artistic partners. The virtuoso musicians of the SPCO present more than 130 concerts and educational programs each year, and are regularly heard on public radio programs that reach more than 2 million listeners each week on over 300 stations. The orchestra also reaches more than 250,000 listeners annually through its free online Concert Library, and has recently begun offering both live and on-demand videos of concerts that can be viewed anytime, anywhere, on any device, completely free of charge.. Additionally, the SPCO has released 67 recordings, including the 2017 Grammy Award-winning recording of Schubert's Death and the Maiden with violinist and Artistic Partner Patricia Kopatchinskaja. The SPCO is nationally recognized for its commitment to broad community accessibility, its innovative audience outreach efforts, its pioneering Liquid Music Series and its educational and family programming. The SPCO offers the most affordable tickets of any major orchestra in the United States, with over 50 percent of tickets available for $15 or less, and has expanded accessibility even further by offering free tickets for children and students starting in the 2016.17 season as a part of the New Generation Initiative. For more information, visit thespco.org.

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