Molly Lieber And Eleanor Smith Present New Work At New York Live Arts

New York Live Arts (Live Arts) to present the world premiere of Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith's Body Comes Apart, March 6-9, 2019, having commissioned the work as part of the Live Feed Residency Program. The duo, Bessie Award nominees in choreography and Lieber recipient in outstanding performance, continue their experimental 10-year creative practice using abstraction as a means of confronting trauma. Based on a dynamic improvisational score, Body Comes Apart embraces the potentialities of bodies to challenge perceptions of female identity.

The collage of dance, monologue, and storytelling, seeks to understand the multiplicities of joy, pain, and suffering. Body Comes Apart has the potential to emote the private feeling of a rehearsal and at the same time evolve into something greater. This duality grows from an unwavering openness to communicate with the audience. The performances at New York Live Arts theater feature an immersive knitted set design by Liliana Dirks-Goodman, sound design by James Lo, lighting design by Thomas Dunn, and a Stay Late Conversation moderated by Anna Adams Stark on March 7. March 6 Opening night benefit performance features $75 tickets that include a champagne toast to support the artists.

Performances of Body Comes Apart take place at New York Live Arts (219 West 19th St New York, NY 10011) March 6, 7, 8 and 9 at 7:30pm. Tickets start at $15/$20/$75 and can be purchased here. The running time is approximately 70 minutes.

The Live Feed creative residency program is a laboratory for the development of new commissioned work directed toward the Live Arts theater. The Live Feed program is supported in part by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and Partners for New Performance.

Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith researched, developed and honed Body Comes Apart with financial, administrative and residency support from the Dance in Process program at Gibney Dance with funds provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Body Comes Apart was choreographed/written/composed/created/co-commissioned and/or first performed at The Yard, an artist residency and performance center dedicated to contemporary dance and related arts, as part of the 2018 Off-Shore Creation Residency. Support for Body Comes Apart was provided by a residency at Mount Tremper Arts.

Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith have been making experimental dances in New York since 2006. Focused on the bodily desire to heal oneself in connection with others, their work is an equal collaboration between the two choreographers, always performed by Molly and Eleanor. Recent works include: Basketball (PS122 and Baryshnikov Arts Center for COIL 2017), Rude World (PS122 and The Chocolate Factory Theater for COIL 2015), Tulip (Roulette, 2013; Judson Now at Danspace Project, 2012), and Beautiful Bone (The Chocolate Factory Theater, 2012). Residencies and awards: 2018 Dance In Process Artists at Gibney Dance Center, 2018 Bessie Schonberg Resident Artists at The Yard, Featured in "The Best Dance of 2017" in The New York Times, Featured in 2017 "Speaking in Dance" series for The New York Times, 2016 LMCC Process Space Residency, 2015 Rosas Summer Studios Recipient, PS122's 2014/2015 RAMP Artist, 2014 Baryshnikov Arts Center Artist Residency Program, 2013 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award Nomination for Emerging Choreographer, and the 2013 NYFA Fellow Finalist Award. Molly and Eleanor were Guest Artists at Sarah Lawrence College in 2018, Guest Artists at Connecticut College in 2015 and taught workshops together in New York through Movement Research and CLASSCLASSCLASS.

Molly Lieber recently performed in works by luciana achugar, Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey, Keely Garfield, Neil Greenberg, and Donna Uchizono. She received a 2016 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award for her body of work as a performer and was featured in Dance Magazine's March 2016 issue on New York's freelance dancers. She teaches at Movement Research and Gibney Dance Center.

Eleanor Smith currently dances in works by Ivy Baldwin Dance, Molly Poerstel, and Katie Workum. She has performed in works by Vanessa Anspaugh, Anna Azrieli, Kim Brandt, Levi Gonzalez, Juliana F. May, and robbinschilds. She was a 2010 Fresh Tracks artist at Dance Theater Workshop and a 2012 Studio Series artist at New York Live Arts. Eleanor has enjoyed curatorial experience through serving on the 2011 Fresh Tracks Selection Committee and as a member of the team for the Movement Research Festival Spring 2016.

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