Free Music and Dance Festivals Held at The Flea, Begins 2/28

The Flea Theater is proud to bring back its popular music and dance series in revamped festival formats for spring 2011. Dance Conversations 2011 (February 28 - March 13) is a festival showcasing works-in-progress by 32 emerging and established choreographers. Music with a View 2011 (March 22 - April 3) showcases new and experimental works by over 25 composers from all over the world and at various stages in their careers.

All events are free and open to the public, and are followed by open forums between the artists and audience. A full schedule is available online at www.theflea.org.

"We believe it's important for artists across disciplines to connect in order to ascend to a greater level of creativity," says The Flea's Artistic Director, Jim Simpson. "The Flea is proud to bring theses events back to our theater and stir-up a creative cacophony in lower Manhattan."

Dance Conversations 2011 leads off The Flea's music and dance celebration with eight evenings of concerts and discussions exploring raw, half-baked, and fully developed works. Once again, choreographer Nina Winthrop and Taimi Strehlow curate the festival, and have added a new film series featuring 22 cutting-edge dance films to run in conjunction with the festivities.

"Each year the quality of participating artists gets better and better, and the definition of dance becomes increasingly expansive," says festival curator Winthrop. "The Flea Theater has played a role in all this by providing an ongoing and encouraging platform in which to explore and experiment with the medium."

Artists for Dance Conversations 2011 include PORTABLES (Claire Porter, Susan Thomasson & Sabatino Verlezza), STRONGERCircus (Rebecca Stronger), and Compagnie 7273 (Laurence Yadi & Nicolas Cantillon) highlight the dance festival. Featured films include Nora by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton; Looking Forward - Man and Woman by Roberta Marques; Height of Sky by Morleigh Steinbergm; and Understanding Pina, the Legacy of Pina Bausch by Kathryn Sullivan and Howard Silverwhich. Post-performance discussions will be moderated by Pele Bauch, Gina Gibney, Gus Solomons jr, and Nina Winthrop.

Music with a View 2011 follows suit with eight evenings of compelling concerts from artists experimenting in new forms and ideas. In addition, curator Kathleen Supové has added family-friendly demonstrations, an open mic night, and an "adults only" evening to make this year's festival truly celebratory.

"In the years I've been in New York, the number of ‘hungry to play and be played' artists has risen exponentially," notes Supové. "Through Music With A View, The Flea helps fill this artistic void by creating a lab-like space for artists to both engage and experiment. There's nothing else like it."

Featured artists for Music with a View 2011 include Adam and Atau 4hands iPhone, Dafna Napthali and the LEMUR robots, Lukas Ligeti, and TEd Hearne + Philip White, with guest hosts Robert Beaser, Annie Gosfield, and David T. Little.

Nina Winthrop (Dance Conversations Curator) formed her company, Nina Winthrop and Dancers, in 1991. Her works have been presented in venues throughout New York City and Los Angeles, including Danspace Project, Joyce SoHo, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Mabou Mines' Toronada Theater at PS 122, and The Flea Theater. Her dance films have been screened in the US and abroad. Nina was awarded a Bessie Schönberg Choreographers' Residency at The Yard in 2004, a Dancenow/NYC's Silo Artist Residency in 2005, and participated in the Schönberg Choreographers Lab at DTW in 2005. She is on the Board of Directors of New Dance Alliance and Danspace Project. A graduate of Bennington College, Nina danced with Wendy Perron, Susan Rethorst, Yoshiko Chuma, Sally Silvers and Kei Takei, with whom she toured the USA and Japan, and studied with ERick Hawkins, Merce Cunningham and Deborah Hay.

Taimi Strehlow (Assistant Dance Conversations Curator) is the Program Administrator for the International Peace Institute. Before entering the dance world, she was a television producer with A&E, The History Channel and PBS. Her film, "Big Known Names" received the best documentary prize at the 2007 Red Bank International Film Festival.

Kathleen Supové (Music with a View Curator) has commissioned, premiered and performed countless works by emerging and important composers and, in always being at the forefront of seeking out new voices, she has established herself as an integral part of recent music history. Her concerts are presented under the name of The Exploding Piano, often initially at The Flea Theater. This past season she was a featured artist at such defining events as the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco and the Pianists At The Edge series at University of Pittsburgh. She has commissioned a body of works for piano and electronics, as well as works for Yamaha Disklavier. In 2001, Ms. Supové became a Yamaha Artist. Her most recent CD, INFUSION, appears on the Koch International Classics label. She has appeared with The Lincoln Center Festival, The Philip Glass Ensemble, Bang On a Can Marathon, Music at the Anthology, Composers' Collaborative, Inc., and at many other venues, ranging from concert halls such as Carnegie to theatrical spaces such as The Kitchen to clubs such as The Knitting Factory, The Stone, and The Cutting Room. She also performs in the concert theater piece, Removable Parts, along with composer/vocalist/actor Corey Dargel; it will be touring North America this season and will appear on the Under The Radar Festival.

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Jim Simpson and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading off-off-Broadway companies. Winner of a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement, Obie Awards and an Otto for political theater, The Flea has presented nearly 100 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include the premieres of Anne Nelson's The Guys; six plays by A.R. Gurney (Post Mortem, O Jerusalem, Screenplay, Mrs. Farnsworth, A Light Lunch and Office Hours); Mac Wellman's Cellophane and Two September; Roger Rosenblatt's Ashley Montana Goes Ashore... and The Oldsmobiles; Elizabeth Swados' JABU and Kaspar Hauser; Karen Finley's Return of the Chocolate Smeared Woman; Adam Rapp's Bingo with the Indians; Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations; Dawn by Thomas Bradshaw; The Great Recession, Jonathan Reynolds' Girls in Trouble, Bathsheba Doran's Parents' Evening, and most recently the holiday hit Looking at Christmas by Steven Banks.

For more information on this year's festivities and artists, visit www.theflea.org. The Flea is located at 41 White Street between Church and Broadway, three blocks south of Canal Street in TriBeCa, close to the N/R/Q/W, 6, J/M/Z, A/C/E at Canal, or the 1 train at Franklin.

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