Dance/Theatre Features 5 New Works at Diversionary, 1/27-29

Five local choreographers will each create a new dance work for Diversionary Theatre's special event, Dance/Theatre 2011, with four performances, January 27-29, 2011. The project was conceived by Peter G. Kalivas of The PGK Project in conjunction with Diversionary's Executive & Artistic Director Dan Kirsch. This is the third edition of the project. Dance/Theatre merges theatre and dance audiences while presenting universal stories through dance inspired by productions previously staged by Diversionary. "Diversionary has a long history of creating new work, and this project is a great way to connect to the dance community," said Kirsch. "We're always excited about the imagination the choreographers bring to interpreting a stage work."

The choreographers were given the opportunity to select from 25 years of Diversionary productions and create a new dance work. The choreographers and their inspirations are: Peter G. Kalivas/The PGK Project (Sextet), Anjanette Maraya-Ramey/Independent Choreographer (No Exit), Michael Mizerany/Malashock Dance (Beautiful Thing), Lavina Rich/Independent Choreographer (The Twilight of the Golds), and jhon r. stronks/Independent Choreographer (Another American: Asking and Telling). Dance/Theatre is underwritten by California Institute for Contemporary Arts.

Kalivas is artistic director of the Dance/Theatre project. A critically-acclaimed dancer, choreographer and teacher for more than twenty years, Kalivas' performances and choreography have been presented worldwide. A Fulbright Scholar, Dance Specialist and Cultural Envoy for the U.S. Department of Education and Culture in Washington D.C., he gives master classes, provides residencies at major Colleges, Universities, and Festivals and creates work for professional companies in addition to his own, The PGK Project (A Contemporary Dance Company). www.thepgkproject.com

Kalivas was inspired by Quartet, one of six new chamber opera pieces in Sextet by local composer Nicholas Reveles. Sextet premiered at Diversionary this past October. Like the rest of the piece, the singing in Quartet inspires the action - much like intention and storytelling inspires movement. In this soulful scene we witness one relationship begin while another ends, and the hope of what could be mixes and mingles with the bitter sadness of something that was and no longer will be.

Anjanette Maraya-Ramey chose Jean Paul Sartre's play, No Exit, which contains philosophical themes of existentialism. The play depicts the arrival to hell for three characters. It is in a stark, windowless room that each character realizes that they were put in hell to torment each other. The group dynamics becomes very twisted as each person covets for acceptance. Feelings of lust are intricately exchanged and torture becomes intolerable as they realize there is no escape from hell, as "Hell is other people!" Maraya-Ramey says the question for her was "How do my actions or the actions of others determine or shape who I am? The movement and partnering work is reactive to the intricacies of how we view ourselves and how the people that we encounter throughout our lives can influence our true existence."

Local to San Diego, Maraya-Ramey holds a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from CalArts. Her choreography has been presented at CalArts Sharon Disney Lund Dance Theater, and locally at 4x4xFloor, The Movement, Jean Isaacs' Studio Series, Emerge Dance Festival, Grossmont College and Temecula's Dance Moves. Anjanette was the Dance Program Director and Resident Musical Theater Choreographer at West Hills High School. She has taught for Malashock Dance School's Emotion in Motion program and for CalArts Community Arts Program at Plaza De La Raza in Los Angeles. She has also taught at various private studios throughout San Diego County and taught master classes at Grossmont College.

Michael Mizerany's Let Me Into Your Skin, inspired by the play Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey, is being created as a companion piece to last year's Far From Eden. Where Far From Eden examined the volatile and sexually violent relationship of Leopold and Loeb, Let Me Into Your Skin explores the wonder and excitement of a burgeoning romance between two young men. Let Me Into Your Skin revels in the anticipation of that first kiss, the tenderness of a slow caress, and the aching desire for carnal pleasure. The dance will feature performances by Malashock Dance company member Nicholas Strasburg, and local dancer John Fulgham.

Mizerany is the Associate Artistic Director for the San Diego-based Malashock Dance and teaches advanced modern dance at The Malashock Dance School. He studied dance at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and then joined The Modern America Dance Company (MAD/CO) in 1986. He has choreographed extensively, and his works are in the repertory of such companies as MAD/CO, San Diego Civic Dance Company, Michigan Dance Collective and Malashock Dance. Most recently, his male duet, Far From Eden, premiered at Diversionary Theater's Dance/Theatre event and his group work, Bad Company, premiered at Malashock/RAW to much critical acclaim.

Lavina Rich has chosen The Twilight of the Golds to adapt into movement. "After reading the play, I had so many emotions about the two main characters - a brother and sister - I needed to explore their relationship," said Rich. "We all need to make hard and tough decisions in our life, and these decisions always have consequences. Throughout the play, (Richard) Wagner and opera music play such a big part, but I was hesitant to use any of the pieces. Yet, after starting to develop movement, re-reading the play, I was able to find a perfect piece of Wagner that holds true to the play, but allows me to play a little bit."

Rich began dancing in 1995 at Grossmont College, where she obtained her Associate's Degree in Dance. From there, she went on to UCSD to continue her dance experience while earning her Bachelor's in History. Rich has trained under such talent as Jean Isaacs, Terry Wilson, Peter Kalivas, Monica Bill Barnes, Terri Shipman, and Pat Rincon. Currently, she is a company member with bksoul and working on developing her movement voice through her own choreography.

Choreographer jhon r. stronks: "I am often accused of presenting my audiences with seemingly disobedient work that behaves according to its own sanity. At present my work lands somewhere between a cry for personal consciousness and a plea for social justice. My passion for giving address to the gaps between what is believed and what is actual, lead me to the play Another American: Asking and Telling by Marc Wolf. Both the play and the process of writing the play allowed for the largest possible cross section of experiences with Don't Ask Don't Tell. In the end, no matter the situation, the realization was and remains the same; service men and women that are willing to do for their country what their country isn't willing to do for them. So, I asked myself, what would it feel like to wake up one day to the realization that I had dedicated my life to a cause that would take full advantage of everything I had to offer with no intentions of gratitude or acknowledgment?"

"The solo I have created is a prologue in three parts - Red.White.Blue., a dance in honor of the deep heartache in betrayal and the suffering that accompanies the awakening. Marc Wolf says of his interviewees "They are all people that affected me very powerfully and really challenged my own prejudices, and their patriotism was refreshing. The gay people that I interviewed really believe in the American ideal of what our country could be. But that reality can't happen for them, and they feel frustrated by that distance between the reality and the ideal." In the process of making this solo I realize that the strength of faith is not in its depth its darkness or devotion but its willingness to rise to the top and be brightly heard and questioned."
www.thereinthesunlight.com

Started in 1986, the mission of Diversionary Theatre is to produce plays with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes that portray characters in their complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily.

Dance/Theatre (Inspired by Theatre/Created through Dance) will be performed January 27-29 at Diversionary Theatre, located at 4545 Park Boulevard in San Diego. Performance times are: Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday at 8:00pm and Saturday at 3:00pm and 8:00pm. Tickets are $24 for all performances. For information, call the Diversionary box office at 619.220.0097 or log on to www.diversionary.org.

 

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