Brooklyn's FLICfest 16 to Feature 6 World Premieres

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 21-23 and January 28-30, 2016. Produced by Irondale, located in the heart of Brooklyn Downtown Arts District, the first performance will take place at 7:00 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 2016 choreographers Angel Chinn/Nona Lee Dance Company, Donofrio Dance Company, Taylor Drury, Beck Heiberg, Joya Powell and Movement of the People, and Hattie Mae Williams/Tattooed Ballerinas.

Throughout a 4-month incubation period, all six artists participate in a residency, which includes workshops, choreographic mentorships and consultations as well as 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 model. 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 artists who are less accustomed to being produced-particularly within a space as transformational and boundless as Irondale. Touching upon race, gender and socio-cultural issues, this selection of dance makers collectively open a discussion of the world viewed through a lens of creativity, candor and movement.

A Kickstarter campaign, already underway, will run until December 15, 2015 to raise money to provide artists residency space as well as stipends to cover the costs of costumes, sets, and dancers. The Kickstarter campaign can be viewed here: http://kck.st/1SVBJ8n

VENUE INFO

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.

FLICfest TICKET and PERFORMANCE Details

Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for working artists and students, and can be purchased online at http://irondale.org/onstage/current-season/flicfest/

Thursday, Jan 21

7:30 Taylor Drury

9:00 Hattie Mae Williams/Tattooed Ballerinas

Friday, Jan 22

7:30 Donofrio Dance

9:00 Angel Chinn/Nona Lee Dance Company

Saturday, Jan 23

7:30 Joya Powell/Movement of the People

9:00 Beck Heiberg

Thursday, Jan 28

7:30 Donofrio Dance

9:00 Taylor Drury

Friday, Jan 29

7:30 Angel Chinn/Nona Lee Dance Company

9:00 Joya Powell/Movement of the People

Saturday, Jan 30

7:30 Hattie Mae Williams/Tattooed Ballerinas

9:00 Beck Heiberg

ARTIST DETAILS

Look Up | World Premiere

Angel Chinn/NonaLee Dance Theatre

Music credit: Apparat, Karsh Kale, Eryhah Badu, Thom Yorke

Angel Chinn presents a unique and signature fusion of modern, improvisation and hip-hop in Look Up. An investigation on our need to stay connected, when we fail to look up from our electronic devices we loose out on the authenticity of experience. This work aims to define how this central and problematic attachment effects our daily decisions, connections to one another and the world around us.

CAPTURE | World Premiere

Taylor Donofrio/Donofrio Dance Company

Music credit: Ryan Campos

Set design: Carolyn Mraz

With its inception over a year ago across various New York venues, this bold and precise contemporary work reflects a constant propensity to encapsulate life's moments into a text, tweet, photo or status. This distraction from the awareness had in the now, CAPTURE investigates how we identify ourselves within a technological age and how our online personas effect the understanding of who we really are.

No Milk | 2014 World Premiere

Taylor Drury

Music credit: Jun Miyake. Trio Lescano, Bang on a Can All-stars, Roomful of Teeth

"No Milk" is a dance theatre piece exploring the dynamics of a close-knit group. It exposes the severe personalities and emotions of its members-a lighthearted look at the goofiness life can be. This piece was the result of Drury's final choreographic production series at Juilliard, where it premiered in May of 2014 in the Willson Theatre. It was then awarded choreographic honors and celebrated in a performance on Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp stage that same month.

Roots | World Premiere

Beck Heiberg

Music: John Frandsen

Fusing concert and urban dance rarely seen in a theatre context, Roots mixes vogue, waacking, jazz and contemporary to tell the narrative of a transgendered person living between genders. Creating a state between dream and reality, themes of love, sorrow, feelings of inadequacy, feeling lost, alone, scared, and finally, home, Roots describes something that can and does break through barriers.

Song and Dance You| World Premiere

Joya Powell/Movement of the People

Music credit: Zoe Aqua

Text: Amina Henry

Poetry: Joya Powell

Song and Dance You dissects the sociocultural and sociopolitical constraints that circumvent the underlying remnants of our nation's racial divide. The multimedia and multidimensional choreography will incorporate contemporary dance theater with house dance, vaudeville and early modern jazz movements from the age of Minstrel shows. Balancing sardonic humor with poignant foundations of contemplative yet powerful visceral movements, Song and Dance You will answer the question-what does it take for Black lives to actually matter in the eyes of all Americans?

Offerings | New York Premiere

Hattie Mae Williams/ The Tattooed Ballerinas (in collaboration with performance artist Loni Johnson and videographer Christian Salazar.

Offerings is a site specific interactive "happening" that pays homage to Sara Baartman, Ota Benga and Josephine Baker; a recognition of their narratives, and the parallels between their experiences and our own. This journey looks into the eroticism of the black female body in a racist, capitalist, patriarchal society. Recognizing the negative imprints of the imperial gaze on our psyche, through this project we attempt to take ownership of our beauty and ancestry through the collective building of altars.

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