Soaking WET Dance Series Begins Tomorrow

The Soaking WET dance series, curated by David Parker and Jeff Kazin, returns to intimate home base of West End Theater, May 18-21, with two different programs, two performances daily. Program A features Cornfield Dance; Program B will be shared by Boink!, Boston-based Lorraine Chapman & Bronwen MacArthur, Ben Munisteri, and Deirdre Towers. Since 2003, the Soaking WET (W=West, E=End, T=Theater) has presented 137 choreographers and hundreds of dancers performing a stunning variety of works.

PROGRAM A: (Thursday-Saturday at 7 PM; Sunday at 2 PM)

ELLEN CORNFIELD and CORNFIELD DANCE:
Dancers: Ellen Cornfield, Pierre Guilbault, Ruth Howard, Vanessa Knouse, Logan Pedon, and Joshua Tauson
The Company will perform Ms. Cornfield's newest work, "Close-up," which continues her investigation of depicting the emotional and psychological forces that shape people in their behavior.
Collaborators are costume and set designer Andrew Jordan and composer Andreas Brade, who will perform his work live. "Close-up" is supported in part by the Harkness Foundation for Dance and the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust.

Active in the dance field for over 45 years as dancer, teacher and choreographer, ELLEN CORNFIELD began her modern dance studies at UC Berkeley, moved to NYC to perform with the Merce Cunningham Company, and formed her own ensemble, Cornfield Dance, in 1989. Her work has been seen regularly in NYC, throughout the U.S., and in London, Holland, France, and Belgium. Her performers have been described by Gus Solomons jr as "...among the most proficient, technical and kinetically expressive dancers around."

PROGRAM B: (shared program - Thursday-Saturday at 8:30 PM; Sunday at 4 PM)

BOINK!:
The Company will present an excerpt from "Falling," a dance and film collaboration between dancer/choreographer Dylan Baker, editor Christopher Huth, and producer Lauren Haffner Addison. Why do we dream? What from our dreams do we carry into our conscious lives? As something we all experience, so little is still understood about why we dream and what it all may mean.

BOINK! aims to connect communities through performance and outreach by way of modern dance and dance on film.

LORRAINE CHAPMAN and BRONWEN MacARTHUR
The choreographers collaborate here for the second time on a duet created via long-distance exchanges and intensive shared time. The piece progresses out of responses to movement material sent back and forth and includes improvisational structures. MacArthur's riveting physicality and Chapman's ability to develop character promises a unique experience. LORRAINE CHAPMAN danced in NY with Feld Ballets/NY, in Canada with Ballet British Columbia, and in Boston with Amy Spencer, Marcus Schulkind, Jose Mateo, and others. She has received many awards in her home base of Boston, and presents her work in regular home seasons. BRONWEN MacARTHUR is a member of Bebe Miller Company and director of the MacArthur Dance Project, which she formed in 2007. She has also been on faculty at the U of the Arts in Philadelphia and currently serves as Lecturer in the Yale School of Drama, at UMass/Amherst and at Smith College.

BEN MUNISTERI presents the premiere of Tin (50), the second in Munisteri's elemental series. Like every element, tin has a fixed number of protons (50) and other quantitative information that lends itself to Munisteri's brand of formalist choreography. The duet is set to original music by Derek Muro. Native New Yorker BEN MUNISTERI and company have appeared at The Joyce, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the Whitney Museum, Central Park SummerStage, and other NYC venues. Supported by several grants from the NEA, the company has toured to Jacob's Pillow, other U.S. Festivals, and to Germany.

DEIRDRE TOWERS presents the world premiere of Por La Noche Me Llaman, (In the night they call to me) which she choreographed to music by Paul Jared Newman. Dancers: Amy Ashley, Elena Notkina, Francesca Marisol Cabrera, Amy Schofield Musicians: Nelson Ojeda, piano - Brian Ford, violin The work was inspired by the Siguiriyas, one of Flamenco's "deep songs" stemming from experiences of existential doubt.

DEIRDRE TOWERS and composer PAUL JARED NEWMAN have been performing flamenco and classical Spanish dance and music together for 15 years. Towers trained in Ghana, Spain, and New York in a variety of styles, Newman, a native New Yorker, studied classical guitar and composition at the U of Ca/Berkeley and SUNY/Stony Brook. www.thebanggroup.com

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