FLICfest, the first dance festival dedicated to presenting feature-length alternative works, will give 6 choreographers the opportunity to present work over two weekends -- January 22-24 and January 29-31, 2015. Produced by Irondale, located in the heart of Brooklyn Downtown Arts District, the first performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. and the second will follow at 9:00 p.m. on all six nights. A single ticket guarantees audience members entry to both shows and the late-night cabaret that takes place in the theatre's balcony lounge, following the performances. Audiences will have two opportunities over the festival to capture the works of FLICfest's 2015 choreographers Jun Ju Song-Begin, CatScratch Theater, Mana Hashimoto, Nicole Wolcott, Andre Zachary and John Zullo.
In addition to the change of format for the festival's 5th Anniversary, all six artists participated in a residency, which included workshops, choreographic mentorships, rehearsal and tech time, to work on their creative development in the space where they will be presenting the final presentations.
Founded and curated by Jeramy Zimmerman of CatScratch Theatre and produced by Irondale, FLICfest is dedicated to presenting dance and physical theater pieces from artists who are making work outside of the traditional presenter/creator relationship. The curated festival simultaneously offers these independent choreographers a mentored and supportive creative laboratory, diverse audiences and a risk-encouraging platform in a focused and supportive artistic community. Irondale and FLICfest are focused on serving alternative, spectrum-ranging artists who are unused to the advantages of being produced -- particularly within a space as transformational and boundless as Irondale.
Irondale is located at 85 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn, New York. The theater is accessible by Subway: C to Lafayette; B, D, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, or 5 to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street; and G to Fulton Street. Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for working artists and students, and can be purchased online at http://irondale.org/FLICfest.html.
SCHEDULE:
Week 1:
Thursday, January 22 - Andre M. Zachary (7:30); Jin Ju Song-Begin (9:00)
Friday, January 23 - Nicole Wolcott (7:30); Mana Hashimoto (9:00)
Saturday, January 24 - John Zullo (7:30); CatScratch Theatre (9:00)
Week 2:
Thursday, January 29 - John Zullo (7:30); Mana Hashimoto (9:00)
Friday, January 30 - Jin Ju Song-Begin (7:30); CatScratch Theatre (9:00)
Saturday, Janurary 31 - Andre M. Zachary (7:30); Nicole Wolcott (9:00)
ARTIST DETAILS:
The Inscription Project | World Premiere
Andre M. Zachery
Andre M. Zachery presents a unique fusion of low floor flying technique, contemporary release forms, hip-hop and capoeira in The Inscription Project. This dance-theater work explores graffiti as a form of Afrofuturism through the use of movement, media and dramaturgy and delves into this anonymous art and its transformation of the urban landscape.
NEVEREND | U.S. Premiere
Jin Ju Song-Begin
Korean-born Jun Ju-Begin has created a dance for eight that explores the journey from birth to death through a musical mediation on the four seasons. Stemming from a Buddhist upbringing honoring re-incarnation, this work reflects on life and the delicacy of its existence even after the cycle completes itself and only memories remain.
PaperPieces | Encore Performance
Nicole Wolcott
In PaperPieces, Nicole Wolcott uses dance theater, spectacle and papered architecture to explore a world of awkward moments exposed, tender collision, and mundane survival. Performed in Fall of 2014 to sold out audiences, the protagonist is naïve in a snow globe of memories -- resurrecting paper into a costume, a place, a lover and a metaphor for disappearing memories.
Stories of the Blind; Light, Shadow and Wind | U.S. Premiere and Re-Staging
Mana Hashimoto
Mana Hashimoto presents a contemporary solo that conveys her personal experience of life before and after losing her eyesight. She candidly displays the inherent projections the world places on the disabled, and the anxieties one walk through each day in accomplishing basic tasks that no longer seem basic. This honest account of reality provides audiences with an authentic experience -- one of overcoming being marginalized and pitied, to be put on a pedestal as an idealized hero and to transform the perceived weakness into a source of strength.
The Architecture of Proximity| World Premiere
John J Zullo/Raw Movement
Movement architect John J Zullo combines elements of modern dance, vogueing, gestural and impulse generated movement in The Architecture of Proximity. This immersive performance experience explores the relationship between the architecture of spaces and the physical, psychological and emotional effects on the body. What happens when more bodies are introduced into a smaller and smaller space? The work navigates between spectator and performer as borders are created, established and erased.
Kiri no Jikan (In the in Between) | World Premiere
Kaoru Ikeda and Jeramy Zimmerman/CatScratch Theatre
In Kiri no Jikan, two women struggle for harmony and search for stability in an ever-changing landscape. Separated at first by time and geography, the women find support and common ground in and among hundreds of pounds of rice. Combining minimalist formality and improvisational structure, CatScratch Theatre creates a world that allows each viewer to experience the work uniquely.
About FLICfest - FLICfest was founded by CatScratch Theatre's Artistic Director Jeramy Zimmerman in 2010 and is produced by Irondale. It is the first dance festival in New York City dedicated solely to producing feature-length dance and was conceived as a platform for choreographers who might otherwise fall through the cracks of traditional producing models. FLICfest has established itself as a performance platform for under-represented artists at various stages of their careers. The festival has featured the work of nearly 50 choreographers. In conjunction with the performances of the artists presented, FLICfest offers panel discussions and workshops to further cement itself as a destination for creativity and leadership in contemporary dance.
About Irondale - Irondale, the performance space, is home to the award-winning Irondale Ensemble Project (founded in 1983)-the ensemble has created over 60 Off-Broadway productions, from intimate chamber productions of Shakespeare to company devised epic work that reflects the values, myths and cultural mores of the American character. The transformational 250-seat theater serves as a laboratory for emerging and alternative artists of diverse disciplines. Opened in 2008, Irondale is the first performing arts space to open in the BAM Cultural District. A beautiful and historic space, the theater has been created in the ruins of the old Sunday school building.
Pictured: FLICfest 2012 image by Julie Lemberger.
Videos