Tiffany Mills Company Presents The World Premiere Of BLUE ROOM

Tiffany Mills Company presents the world premiere of Blue Room, an evening-length work that explores connections and boundaries created by various modes of human interaction. Performances are Wednesday-Saturday, September 12-15, at 7pm, at The Flea Theater in Tribeca.

Tiffany Mills's newest work, Blue Room, is inhabited by six distinct personalities who edge up against physical and emotional boundaries. Blue tape delineates a room laid out like an architect's floor plan. The dancers' interactions bring dimensionality and dynamic interplay to this room as they explore how we connect, if we connect, the inner world that isolates, the outer world that is full of contradictions, and the consequences of our actions. Moments of isolation are attempts to leave the room, disappear, or transform. Moments of connection are built upon collision, invasion of personal space, or attempted cohabitation. An eclectic array of music featuring New York-based composers Daniel Wohl, Angelica Negron, and others allows for radical shifts in soundscape, adding to the work's raw, multilayered rhythm. With this work Mills asks: Can our boundaries be porous? Can we truly connect with those around us?

Blue Room features choreography by Tiffany Mills, dramaturgy by Kay Cummings, sound design by Max Giteck Duyker, lighting design by Chris Hudacs, and costumes by Mary Kokie McNaugher. Blue Room is performed by Mills, Jordan Morley, Kenneth Olguin, Nikolas Owens, Emily Pope, and Mei Yamanaka.

Tickets are $20 (general) and $15 (students/seniors). Tickets for the company's benefit on Friday, September 14, are $50 (includes post-show reception). Tickets can be purchased by phone at 212-226-0051 or online at www.theflea.org. The Flea Theater is located at 20 Thomas Street between Church Street and Broadway, three blocks north of Chambers Street-accessible from the A/C/E, 1/2/3, and J/M/Z at Chambers Street, the N/Q at Canal Street, and the R/W and 4/5/6 at City Hall.

Tiffany Mills is choreographer and artistic director of the New York City-based Tiffany Mills Company. The company celebrated its 15th anniversary season in 2016 at La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival. Prior to that, the company participated in the inaugural session of BAM's Professional Development Program, culminating in a NYC season at BAM Fisher (2013). New York City performing highlights include: Guggenheim Museum Works & Process Series, Duke on 42nd Street, Danspace Project's City/Dans Series, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Symphony Space Dance Sampler, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Dancing in the Streets, Joyce SoHo, and Movement Research at Judson Church. The company's work has been presented nationally at PICA's TBA Festival (OR), Wexner Center (OH), Contemporary Dance Theater (OH), Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Residency (MA), and Dance Place (Washington D.C.), among others. Internationally, the company has toured to Russia, Italy, Mexico, and Canada. Mills holds an annual Summer Intensive in New York City (2006-present), has taught at Trisha Brown Studios, Dance New Amsterdam, Gibney Dance Center, Peridance, The Playground, ACDA, as well as at universities and festivals nationally and internationally. Most recent awards and residencies include: NYU's Tisch Summer Dance Festival, CUNY Dance Initiative, BAM/DVIAM PDP, The Joyce Theater's Mellon Anchor Tenant Program, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and LMCC Swing Space. Mills has received funding from the Asian Cultural Council, Mertz Gilmore (via La MaMa), Evelyn Sharp Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance (via HERE), New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Bossak/Heilbron Foundation, Sorin Charitable Trust, Puffin, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, and New Music USA, among others. Mills received a BA in dance from the University of Oregon and an MFA in choreography from Ohio State University. www.tiffanymillscompany.org

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Niegel Smith and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading Off-Off-Broadway companies. Winner of several Obie Awards, a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement, and an Otto Award for political theater, The Flea

has presented more than 100 theatrical, musical, and dance performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include premieres by Steven Banks, Thomas Bradshaw, Erin Courtney, Bathsheba Doran, Will Eno, Karen Finley, Amy Freed, Sarah Gancher, Sean Graney, A.R. Gurney, Jennifer Haley, Hamish Linklater, Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio, Itamar Moses, Anne Nelson, Qui Nguyen, Adam Rapp, Jonathan Reynolds, Kate Robbins, Roger Rosenblatt, Elizabeth Swados, and Mac Wellman. Successes include Drama Desk-nominated She Kills Monsters, These Seven Sicknesses, Restoration Comedy, and The Mysteries, and ten world premiere productions by A.R. Gurney, including the Wall Street Journal's selection of Best New Play of 2013, Family Furniture.

Blue Room is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. The development of this project has been supported by a 2017 CUNY Dance Initiative residency at Queensborough Community College with a performance at Queensborough Performing Arts Center; a Baker artist residency at Muhlenberg College, PA; and a residency at Kenyon College, OH. Blue Room printed materials are made possible with funds from the Destination Brooklyn program, funded by the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and NYC & Company Foundation, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.

Additional support for Blue Room comes from The Flea, where Mills is a 2018-19 Anchor Partner. Anchor Partners are a select group of seven emerging dance companies that receive subsidized rental rates, consistent access to one or more of The Flea's spaces, plus technical, marketing, and producing support.