Sam Kim's Studio Series Set for This Weekend at New York Live Arts

New York Live Arts will present the Studio Series showing of Sam Kim's Sister to a Fiend tonight, January 31 and Saturday, February 1 at 6:00pm in the third floor studios at New York Live Arts.

Sister to a Fiend is a new, ritualistic dance for three performers that reveals the secret and magic rites of a closed culture of three potent, feminine and liminal creatures. The work features dancers Erin Beneze, Ashley Handel and Rebecca Warner, and examines the psychic landscape they occupy. Colliding the dance form with "known cultures/almost references" it includes the strange and awkward, sexy dance from "Vampyros Lesbos," and the solo at the lonely disco in Claire Denis's film "Beau Travail." Oblique inspiration is also taken from the work of conceptual clothing designer Martin Margiela and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."

Studio Series work-in-process showings will take place in New York Live Arts' studios. Tickets are $5. There will be free in-process talks after each showing with an array of moderators. Tickets are available online at newyorklivearts.secure.force.com, 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. New York Live Arts is located at 219 West 19th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. There will be no late seating.

Sister to a Fiend was developed in part during a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY. Sister to a Fiend was made possible, in part, through The Movement Research Artist-in-Residence Program, funded, in part, by the Jerome Foundation and the Davis/Dauray Family Fund. Sister to a Fiend was supported, in part, through a commission from New York Live Arts' Studio Series program with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Sister to a Fiend was also developed, in part, at The MacDowell Colony and Djerassi Resident Artists Program.

DETAILS:

Sam Kim

Fri, Jan 31 at 6:00pm (in-process talk moderated by Jen Rosenblit)

Sat, Feb 1 at 6:00pm (in-process talk moderated by Jeanine Durning)

3rd Floor Studios, New York Live Arts

Tickets: $5

T: 212-924-0077 | www.newyorklivearts.org

219 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011

Box Office hours: Monday-Friday 1 - 9pm | Saturday-Sunday 12 - 8pm

About Sam Kim: Since 2002, Sam Kim has created several, long works presented as seasons in NYC: Darling (Performance Space 122, 2009), dumb dumb bunny (The Kitchen, 2007), Cult (Dance Theater Workshop, 2007), AVATAR (Mulberry St Theater, 2006), Nobody Understands Me (Dance Theater Workshop, 2004), Placid Baby (Performance Space 122, 2003) and Valentine (Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, 2002). Kim has also created several shorter works since 1997.

Kim has received commissions for original work from The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, Mulberry St Theater and Performance Space 122. Kim's work has also been presented nationally by other progressive venues such as Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), Studio 303 (Montréal), the Unknown Theater (Los Angeles), Bryant Lake Bowl Theater (Minneapolis), the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Galapagos Art and Performance Space and Movement Research, among many others.

Kim's work has been supported by grants from organizations such as the Lucky Star Foundation (2009), the MAP Fund (2006) and the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation (2004). Kim was a Spring 2010 Dance Theater Workshop Outer/Space Creative Resident at Brazil, a 2007-09 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Dance Artist-in-Residence and a 2004-05 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence. She has also received space grants from the Brooklyn Arts Exchange (2002) and the 92nd St Y Harkness Dance Center (2001).

Kim has been awarded residencies at New York Live Arts Studio Series (2013-14), Movement Research (2013-14), Baryshnikov Arts Center (Fall, 2013) Djerassi Resident Artists Program (2013) Baryshnikov Arts Center (Spring, 2013) and The MacDowell Colony (2012) to develop her latest evening-length work, Sister to a Fiend.

Kim has been deeply engaged with and responsive to the NYC downtown dance community through various leadership roles. She served on the Artist Committee of the Board at Dance Theater Workshop (2006-2010). She was also a member of the Artist Advisory Committee at Performance Space 122 (1999-2003). Kim was a panelist for Dance Theater Workshop's "Fresh Tracks" series numerous times, the Movement Research at the Judson Church series, and the Brooklyn Arts Exchange dance and theater residencies, amongst other programs.

In addition, Kim is a certified hatha yoga instructor and founder/moderator of Real Feedback, a workshop devoted to looking at choreography through a contemporary, critical lens. She has taught classes and workshops in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and NYC. She has also served as an artistic advisor to residency programs and individual choreographers. In 2005, Kim attended the third annual Balkan Dance Platform in Skopje, Macedonia as an invited guest of Dance Theater Workshop with funding provided by The Suitcase Fund.

From 1995-2005, Kim performed with numerous companies and choreographers, including downtown experimentalists Jennifer Monson, Susan Rethorst and DD Dorvillier (she was a principal performer in Dorvillier's 2002 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award-winning Dressed for Floating). Kim was also a member of Sarah Skaggs Dance (1999-2001) and Li Chiao-Ping Dance (1999-2000), and was invited to apprentice with Elizabeth Streb and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.

Shortly after Kim's birth in Seoul, Korea, her parents immigrated to the States, eventually settling in Minnesota. When she was 17, via a chance encounter with movement and strong guidance from a ballet teacher, she began to pursue dance. In 1991 she moved to NYC to attend Barnard College, Columbia University where she earned a B.A. in English summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1995. Kim began making dances at 19. She has been committed to the dance form ever since and now lives and works in Brooklyn as a choreographer and performer.

About the Studio Series: Created in 2005 by Dance Theater Workshop and continued by New York Live Arts, the Studio Series residency program uses a strong focus on creative process to encourage artist's examinations of movement-based art. Each Studio Series artist receives a commission, 100 hours of creative residency time and is invited to conduct two informal showings. These in-process showings create a framework for the artist to share ideas with an audience in the intimate working space of the studio. Each year, a select number of mid-career artists are given a Studio Series residency as part of a one- to two-year program of support, leading up to a commission and season presentation. Studio Series artists are curated by Artistic Director Carla Peterson in conjunction with Benjamin Kimitch, Producing Associate/Assistant to the Artistic Director, and Marya Wethers, former Studio Series Program Manager (current International Project Director).

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, Executive 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. Our influence extends beyond NYC through our international cultural exchange program that currently places artists in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.