Kinesis Project Dance Theatre Presents IN OUR WAKE

Kinesis Project dance theatre will present the site-specific dance performance In Our Wake on August 10 and 11, 2019 at 5pm and 7pm, at Seattle's Waterfront Park.

In Our Wake is the third part of Kinesis Project's signature large-scale, multidisciplinary art performance for Friends of Waterfront Seattle's Waterfront Awakening series. This new work, choreographed by NYC-based Melissa Riker, is full of comedic, architectural and dynamic dancing by Kinesis Seattle dancers - offering unforgettable visual moments with the landscape and beauty of Seattle's Waterfront.

Kinesis Project will return to the waterfront and their collaboration with Filthy FemCorps and Seattle artist Celeste Cooning, as well as visionary New York costume designer, Asa Thornton.The performances will feature Seattle dancers Margret Behm, Kimberly Holloway, Lorraine Lau, Robert Moore, Madeline Morser, and Hendri Walujo. Riker is also inviting in a small ensemble of student dancers from University of Washington and Cornish College.

In Our Wake will continue to celebrate the future Waterfront Park's union with live art in public spaces, while the coast-to-coast artistic collaborations represent an emphasis on the growing relationship between inspiring diverse cultural and geographical art scenes across the country.

Performances of In Our Wake will take place Saturday, August 10 and Sunday, August 11 at 5pm and 7pm on both days, at Seattle's Pier 58 located at 1401 Alaskan Way. The performances are free and open to the public. For more information, visit https://www.kinesisproject.com.

There are VIP Passes available to support the performance and enjoy a reception between shows. See more at kinesisproject.com/support.

ABOUT THE COMPANY'S LAST SHOW:

"Large scale and transformative, Kinesis Project took on the space between an urban backdrop and the natural world beyond in Traces of Us last weekend. From their scattered shouts over the noise of the Alaskan Way Viaduct to their tight gathering at the waterfront edge, gesturing at the sunset, the dancers delighted and awed throughout." - Seattle Dances

Friends of Waterfront Seattle is the City of Seattle's nonprofit partner helping to build the park and ensure its lasting success. Following the public-benefit partnership model, we educate the public about the park and its benefits, raise philanthropic funds to build the park, and will partner with the City to manage, fund, and program the park long-term. Our goal is to make the central waterfront a public mixing ground where all communities can share cultural, recreational, and civic experiences in a beautiful environment. Waterfront Seattle / Friends is a founding member of the High Line Network, a movement in cities across the world to reclaim underutilized infrastructure and reimagine it as public space. Explore the future park at our project showroom, Waterfront Space, located at 1400 Western Avenue in Seattle, and open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

Gia Kourlas, The New York Times wrote about the company's most recent piece:

"Melissa Riker explores ideas about how vulnerability exists both in people and in structures; it comes to life within an immersive environment of movement and whispers."

Melissa Riker is Artistic Director and Choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. She is a New York City dancer and choreographer who emerged as a strong performance and creative voice as the NYC dance and circus worlds combined during the 90s. Riker's dances and aesthetic layer her training as a classical dancer, martial artist, theatre choreographer and aerial performer. She creates dances on site - and in context. Riker invents large-scale outdoor performances and spontaneous moments of dance for individuals and corporate clients. Audiences and critics have called Riker's work "a Marx Brothers' routine with soul," "A movable feast." And from The New York Times, her choreography is: "comically acrobatic, gracefully classical, visually arresting."

The M.F.A. Painting Program at University of Washington first brought Celeste Cooning to Seattle. Twelve years later, she is best known for creating large-scale, hand-cut installations. Aside from various exhibitions, her work adorns city parks, storefronts, special events, and the stage. 2013 marked the transformation of Cooning's signature cut paper aesthetic into a permanent outdoor sculpture through 1% for Public Art and Seattle's Office of Arts and Culture. Bounty functions as a threshold for Jackson Park Perimeter Trail in Seattle's Pinehurst neighborhood. The stylized, ornate fronds harken to the lush, abundant beauty of the Pacific Northwest landscape. More of Celeste Cooning's permanent installations reside in Seattle at Harborview Medical Center, Theo Chocolate, and Starbucks Global Art program. Collaboration is an important facet of Cooning's studio practice. Her childhood experiences as a performer come full circle as she works with Kinesis Project to create an immersive and layered site-specific production. For additional information, please visit www.CelesteCooning.com.

Kinesis Project is a dance organization that produces dance concerts, facilitates educational programs and creates site-specific performances with diverse communities. A company at the forefront of the international discussion of placemaking, art engagement and the cultural imperative of art in public space, Kinesis Project dance theatre invents large scale, space-changing, breath-taking experiences.

Since 2005, Kinesis Project's work has been experienced in San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Vermont, Florida and in New York City at such venerable venues as Danspace Project, Judson Church, Joyce Soho, The Minskoff Theatre, The Cunningham Studio, West End Theatre and Dixon Place. In 2019, the company's work will be experienced in Seattle, Brooklyn, NY, Riverside Park, supported by New York City Parks, and in Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. The company dances outside in sculpture gardens, universities, and annually since 2006 in Battery Park's Bosque Gardens and The Cloisters Lawn as well as hosting more than 30 surprise performances all over New York City and the tri-state area as an element of the company's earned income and outreach programming with volunteer populated flashmobs. Residencies include: Earthdance 2006, Omi International Arts Center 2008, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center 2011, TheaterLab 2014, Adelphi University 2014. Ms. Riker is a 2016, 2017 and 2019 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency Fellow, 2015 LMCC Community Arts Fund grantee, 2019 Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Grantee. She has been commissioned by The Brooklyn Botanic Garden for a surprise large-scale work and performances of her work Secrets and Seawalls at Omi International Arts Center, Long House Reserve, Gateway National Park in partnership with Rockaways Artist Alliance. Ms. Riker has received commissions from Carson Fox and the Ephemeral Festival in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for large-scale outdoor events, NYU in 1998, for an outdoor work long before "flash mob" was coined, 2006 and 2008 grants from the Puffin Foundation for her work Community Movements, a dance work with community volunteers, Fellowships from the Dodge Foundation, Space Grant Residencies from 92nd St Y, The New 42nd St Studio, Gibney Dance Center, and The Joyce Theatre Foundation, and grants from The Bowick Family Trust and John C. Robinson to support the continued work of Kinesis Project dance theatre.

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