GOLD SHOW/ROSE SHOW to Run 6/13-16 at The Off-Center in Austin

Critically acclaimed dancer/performers Heloise Gold and Julie Nathanielsz join artistic forces to showcase new, exciting work in the Gold Show/Rose Show June 13-16 at The Off-Center, 2211-A Hildalgo in Austin.

The Gold Show/Rose Show marks the first time these two award winning artists have co-produced a performance. Heloise says, "The idea of putting a collection of our work together offers our audience a rare opportunity to view a series of pieces that have many overlaps; an opportunity to see, sense, perceive, and think about work in a rich context of juxtaposition. We thought it would be much more fun to share the challenges of producing by doing it together." The show also incorporates work from composer/sound artist Nick Hennies and features dancers Elaine Dove and Leigh Gaymon-Jones with light design by Stephen Pruitt.

The works appear as two separate shows, with three pieces comprising the Gold Show and two pieces in the Rose Show. Both women incorporate voice, visual media and many different ways of moving, sourced from the senses, perception and spontaneity, rather than a single particular dance technique.

In the Rose Show, Julie Nathanielsz' What is Common, investigates the tangibility of relations between bodies as it simultaneously dispenses with the evidence of individual difference. She describes it as, "... a sequence of augmented and changing steps, a dance for mermaids, lighthouses, and a fantasy band in which each player revels in the details of form."

Nathanielsz' piece was first performed last year at the Fusebox Festival in Austin. For the Rose Show, the dance is reworked from its original staging in-the-round, using what was learned from the original configuration, and radically shifting audience and performers' perspective.

Gold's three pieces are distinct yet connected. The film "Quiet/Noisy Movie" combines movement, texture, landscape, and natural sound into that cinematic medium. Another piece, "Dream Birds" a piece originally premiered in Austin in 1982 to critical acclaim, works with the theme of capturing the underlying essence of these winged creatures in all of their variety, color, and spectacle. "The dances are not imitations but distillations and imaginings of what it must be like to be in the extraordinary body of a variety of birds with their wondrous and unearthly songs. Birds to me are so ordinary, yet they are so completely extraordinary. That is what I am hoping to capture in this dance," she says.

Both dancers have an incredible body of work, with Gold having performed and trained throughout the world with many renowned artists and companies, including the Bolshoi Ballet when she was a young teen. She is also a published author and co-founded non-profit organization Art From The Streets, in addition to teaching T'ai Chi for over 30 years. Nathanielsz has also performed and trained throughout the world notably London and Amsterdam, and has taught improvisation and dance composition at the University of Texas' Department of Theatre and Dance as well as Austin Community College.

For more information visit www.deeplistening.org/heloise or www.julienathanielsz.com and for ticket purchase visit http://bpt.me/346223.

Gold Show - by Heloise Gold

The QuietNoisyMovie: Spare, elegant, raw and insistent; a visual and aural glimpse through time.

Resonance: A movement and sound duet; Points of meeting where the essence of vibration creates distilled interactions. Performed by musician/sound artist Nick Hennies and dancer Heloise Gold.

Dream Birds: A playful reprisal of Heloise's work "Bird Dream Dances And Songs" first premiered in Austin in 1982 and performed through the years in a variety of settings with many performers and collaborators. Featuring dancers Leigh Gaymon-Jones and Heloise Gold.

Rose Show - by Julie Nathanielsz

What is Common: A work for three dancers, "What is Common" investigates the tangibility of relations between bodies as it simultaneously dispenses with the evidence of distinct individual difference. What is Common is an inventory of augmented and changing steps, a dance for mermaids, lighthouses, and a fantasy band in which each player revels in the details of form. First showed as work-in-process at Fusebox Festival 2012.

Yo, Genesis: "To care about a table setting is to appreciate that we are animals, and that we use tools." (Jan Zwicky). Yo, Genesis is an investigation of structure and cadence in embodied story telling. It is an exploration of interconnections between animal, aesthetic, and context-building elements of dance.

About Heloise Gold: Front and center in Heloise's creations: her commitment to experimentation; her trust in the intelligence of the body; her love of the absurd; her passion for collaboration.......

Heloise Gold lives in Austin Texas. She is a performing artist, dancer, choreographer, comedian, T'ai Chi/Qi Gong instructor and co-founding director of Art From The Streets (a project for homeless artists).

Her performance career traverses numerous paths beginning with childhood appearances with the Bolshoi Ballet (1962) to performing in Robert Wilson's legendary 12 hour opera The Life And Times Of Joseph Stalin (1973); to participating in many experimental happenings in NYC in the late 1970's; to touring with The Deborah Hay Dance Company (1980's) to being a key player in the inventive work being spawned in Austin (1980's and 90's) to creating numerous original pieces spanning 30 years. She currently collaborates with performers in Austin, New York, California and Canada and her work was presented in Austin in the Fusebox Festival in 2009 and 2010. She most recently was an Artist-In- Residence at The Women and Identity Festival in Kingston NY (2013). Heloise has been the recipient of numerous grants for performance from The City of Austin and The TCA and the NEA. She has been a sponsored artist of Women and Their Work (Austin) Diverse Works (Houston); Jumpstart (San Antonio); and The Deep Listening Institute (NY). Her work has been presented by Lincoln Center Out-Of-Doors Festival; International Society For Improvised Music (Chicago); SITE Santa Fe (New Mexico); Quiet Music Ensemble, University of Cork (Ireland) amongst others. For more information, see: www.deeplistening.org/heloise.

About Julie Nathanielsz: Julie has been researching, the connection between sensation and dance composition, in solo and group forms, for ten years. Her choreographic work digs into character and narratives embedded in touch, sight, and vibration. Julie currently directs The Meeting Point project, which began life engaging real-time ensemble (dancer and musician) performance, and continues to evolve new directions in choreography.

In Austin, Julie has taught independently, as well as at Austin Community College and UT's Department of Theatre and Dance. She has led workshops for Body Shift, Grrl Action, Sisters Midwifery, VSA Texas, Forklift Danceworks, Caritas of Austin, American College Dance Festival, and Performing the World, among others.

Based in Austin since 1996, Julie trained in London, Seattle, Austin and Amsterdam. She was a member of dance-theatre company Margery Segal/NERVE for eight years (1998-2006). Julie Co-Founded the Improvisational Movement Project in Austin in 2004. As an organizer, Julie coordinates the annual intensive Body Shift, for people with and without disabilities.

Julie's work has been presented by Fusebox Festival, Musical Bridges Around the World, the David Cohen New Works Festival, Church of the Friendly Ghost, the Blanton Museum, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, Forklift Danceworks, and the American Dance Therapy Association. Her work has been nominated for several Austin Critics' Table awards; Working the LIne was awarded Outstanding Short Work in Dance (2011). She also holds an MFA from University of Texas, Austin, has taught Skinner Releasing since 2001.

GOLD SHOW/ROSE SHOW is set for June 13,14,15,16, 2013, Thursday-Saturday 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinee 2:00 pm. at The Off Center - 2211-A Hidalgo Austin Texas 78702. Tickets on sale at: http://bpt.me/346223. Ticket price includes both shows; sliding scale price $18-$35.

Photo Credit: Greg Headley

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