Lionel Popkin's THERE IS AN ELEPHANT IN THIS DANCE Comes To REDCAT 5/20-23

In May REDCAT culminates its 2009-2010 Sharon Disney Lund Dance Series with the Los Angeles premiere of There Is An Elephant In This Dance. After well received performances in New York and Washington DC, Los Angeles dance artist Lionel Popkin brings his latest work to REDCAT, featuring the original ensemble of Carolyn Hall, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Peggy Piacenza, Popkin, and a trio of musicians including composer Robert Een. Performances of There Is An Elephant In This Dance will take place at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater on Thursday, May 20, 2010 and run through Sunday, May 23, 2010.

Playing off a comically overlarge plush elephant costume, worn in pieces or whole, this vividly imagined, adroitly executed quartet looks at how an individual body can hold multiple histories and align itself with divergent cultural identities. By turns funny, uncanny and disquieting, There Is An Elephant In This Dance abounds with choreographic eloquence, clever direction and thematic layering. It organically elicits a set of meanings both obvious and unspoken, from the pachyderm in religious iconography to expressions of interior personal space.

Crafted as a solo with a series of interruptions, Popkin's original impulse evovled from his own complicated connection to Ganesh, revered in the Hindu religion as the Remover of Obstacles. The choreographer's childhood home in Bloomington, Indiana, was filled with images of the deity, but as the son of a Jewish father and South Asian mother, Popkin recognized early on that it's meanings were "always more complicated." In 2007 Popkin dove into this rich heritage, exploring the iconography of Ganesh, and by extension elephant imagery and associations, for physical metaphors. The initial investigation were seen at REDCAT during the 2008 New Original Works Festival.

In looking for collaborators to join the cast and help expand the work into a full-length piece, Popkin sought out performers with backgrounds different from his own. He first invited long-time collaborator and "Bessie" Award-winner Carolyn Hall, as well as Peggy Piacenza formerly of 33 Fainting Spells, with whom he last danced in 1996. However, with a piece so steeped in historically significant imagery, the need for a guide started to emerge in the dance's structure. Having studied with dance legend Ishmael Houston-Jones in 1990, Popkin assembled his dream ensemble by inviting Houston-Jones to not only perform in the work, but also to help steward the work toward its completed form.

With an exceptional cast of dances in place, Popkin then turned to fellow faculty member at UCLA's World Arts and Culture Deparment and accomplished composer Robert Een for an original score. Een has worked with numerous choreographers, including Ron K. Brown and the legendary Meredith Monk. Joining the world-renowned cellist to perform his original composition live at REDCAT are musicians percussionist Hearn Gadbois and vocalist Valecia Phillips. Completing the team of artists, Popkin assembled to create There Is An Elephant In This Dance are designers Jean Landry (costumes), Kathy Kaufmann (lighting), Kyle Ruddick (video) and Cari Ann Shim Sham (video).

There Is An Elephant In This Dance runs at REDCAT May 20-23, 2010. Performances will take place Thursday-Saturday at 8:30 pm, and Sunday at 3:00 pm Tickets are $20 ($16 for students with current I.D.) and are available at www.redcat.org or by calling 213.237.2800. REDCAT is located at the corner of W. 2nd and Hope Streets, inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex (631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012).

There Is An Elephant In This Dance is a project of 501 (see three) Arts, which is supported in part by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Additional funds for this performance provided by the Alma Hawkins Memorial Fund, Department of World Arts and Cultures, School of the Arts and Architecture, UCLA.

LINKS
Event's web page | www.redcat.org/event/lionel-popkin
Lionel Popkin's website | www.lionelpopkin.org
Video excerpt | www.youtube.com/user/CalArtsREDCAT#p/u/0/DWOqdfs5hos

BIOGRAPHIES
Lionel Popkin (choreographer/performer) has had his choreography presented nationally and internationally at numerous venues including Danspace Project and Dance Theater Workshop in New York City, The Getty Museum, REDCAT, and Highways in Los Angeles, the Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Series, On the Boards in Seattle, the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, Sushi Performance in San Diego, and The Place Theater in London. He has received grants from the City of Los Angeles' Department of Cultural Affairs, the Danspace Project's Commissioning Initiative through the Jerome Foundation, the Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the New York State Music Fund, and the Durfee Foundation. From 1999-2000 Lionel was a Choreographer-In-Residence at the Susan Hess Studio in Philadelphia, PA and was commissioned by San Diego's Lower Left Performance Collective's Satellite Project in 2005. As a dancer, Lionel has performed throughout the US and Europe in the companies of Trisha Brown, Terry Creach, and Stephanie Skura. He has served on the faculty of Bates College, London's Laban Centre, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University and the University of Maryland and is a certified teacher of Skinner Releasing Technique. Currently Lionel is an Assistant Professor of Choreography and Performance at UCLA.

Robert Een (composer) is an acclaimed composer, singer and cellist. The recipient of a 2004 Obie Award for music composition and a 2000 New York Dance and Performance Award for sustained achievement, Een has performed his music on concert stages and in unusual venues throughout the world, including the Buddhist caves of Ellora, India; the Shinto shrine in Tsurugi, Japan; a theater above the Arctic circle in Norway; the Pushkin Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Fringe Club in Hong Kong; as well as such New York venues as Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum and the Knitting Factory. Known for his use of extended vocal and cello techniques, he has recorded nine albums of genre-bending original music. His scores for film and documentary include; My Horrible Year directed by Eric Stoltz, Mr. Jealousy directed by Noah Baumbach, Trouble on the Corner starring Edie Falco and Tony Goldwyn, and The Rook starring Martin Donovan. Een's music is also featured in Gregory Colbert's photography and film exhibition Ashes and Snow, presented in the unique Nomadic Museum in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Robert Een's music for theater and dance can be heard in the work of Dan Hurlin, Liz Lerman, Stephan Koplowitz, David Dorfman, Yin Mei, Brian Selznick, Jennifer Muller, Yoshiko Chuma, Pearson/Widrig, Heidi Duckler and Ron K. Brown, among others. As a teacher he has been a guest lecturer and an artist-in-residence at colleges, universities and professional schools around the globe. His various creative projects have been funded by the McKnight Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Rockefeller MAP Fund, the MacDowell Colony, Creative Capital, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Asian Cultural Council, the Minnesota State Arts Board, Meet the Composer, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Mary Cary Flagler Charitable Trust. His long association with Meredith Monk culminated in their evening length performance duet entitled Facing North.

ABOUT REDCAT
Opened by CalArts in 2003, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature. REDCAT is the newest partner in an international network of adventurous art and performance centers, which together are playing a vital role in the evolution of contemporary culture. REDCAT is a center for experimentation, discovery and lively civic discourse. For more information, visit www.redcat.org.

Photo Credit: Andre Andreev

To post a comment, you must register and login.