Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar (creator + director of The Snow Falls in the Winter) founded Big Dance Theater in 1991. The company and its directors have been honored with a New York Dance and Theater ‘Bessie’ Award, an OBIE, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Jacob’s Pillow Creativity Award for Choreography, and two fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts. They have created 15 pieces for the company, touring nationally and internationally to such venues as The Walker Art Center, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, The American Dance Festival, The Spoleto Festival USA, On the Boards, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Yerba Buena Arts Center, and UCLA, Live!, as well as international festivals and venues in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Tbilisi, Brazil and Germany. In New York City, their work has been presented at many venues, but most often at Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Classic Stage Company, and the Guggenheim Works & Process Series.
Archive for July, 2009
Spotlight on: Annie-B Parson & Paul Lazar
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009Spotlight on: OtherShore
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
OtherShore is a unique company led collaboratively by dancers that brings together choreographers, designers, composers, musicians, and veteran dancers to create original work.
OtherShore debuted in 2008 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, and is co-directed by Sonja Kostich, a former member of American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Zurich Ballet and the White Oak Dance Project, and Brandi Norton, a former dancer with the Trisha Brown Company for nine years. Collectively, the dancers of OtherShore have credits with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Patrick Corbin Dances, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, White Oak Dance Project, Limon Dance Company, San Francisco Ballet, Hamburg Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. The mission of OtherShore is to create work that reflects the versatility of its collaborators, to focus on growth and creativity as artists, and to share with the public this desire to produce valuable and entertaining work.
Who’s Becoming the Talk of the Town?
Monday, July 27th, 2009Buzz about the Festival is beginning slowly but surely and Meow Meow is quickly becoming the talk of the town. Just last week local media expressed interest in seeing Meow Meow at the Festival and St. Petersburg Times, who featured the Festival in this weekend’s Sunday paper, devoted some quality ”air” time to Meow Meow. SX News, Australia’s famed LBGT publication, featured maestro Lance Horn who had this to say about Meow Meow: “The reason I drop everything to go around the world with her is the utter joy,” he tells SX. “Even in the midst of all the insanity and irreverence, there’s an intrinsic happiness that’s underneath all of it. Even if it’s manic on the surface, it’s just her love of what she’s doing that’s infectious. And she’s so proficient at working out exactly what the audience needs – and how to communicate by any means possible to get the point across. She also has a knack for picking the right/wrong person out of an audience – she’ll always pick the person with the medical problem. Or the critic!”
I suspect that she will sell out pretty fast and I suggest you get your tickets now.
Lynn Hobeck Bates, Public Relations Manager at the Ringling Museum
Create Your Own Experience
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Create your own experience at the Ringling International Arts Festival with your unique Festival Pass and save up to 25% on performance tickets.
- Every Festival Pass includes prime seating for your choice of 4, 6, or 8 Festival Performances.
- Four days (October 8-11) of admission to all the galleries, exhibitions, and gardens of the Ringling Estate.
- VIP Ticket Service that includes free ticket exchanges and lost ticket replacement.
Also, Ringling Members enjoy an additional savings on Festival Passes.
To design and purchase your Festival Pass today, call 1.800.660.4278.
Spotlight on: Elevator Repair Service
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Elevator Repair Service (ERS) was founded by director John Collins and a group of actors in 1991. Since that time, ERS has built a body of work that has earned it a loyal following and made it one of New York’s most highly-acclaimed experimental theater companies of the past 20 years. The group’s theater pieces are built around a broad range of subject matter and literary forms. They combine elements of slapstick comedy, hi-tech and lo-tech design, both literary and found text, found objects and discarded furniture, and the group’s own highly developed style of choreography. ERS creates its performances through extended periods of collaboration. Sources for the ensemble’s work include novels, non-fiction writings, films, plays, television programs, and various other media.
In New York, ERS has performed at Performance Space 122, The Performing Garage, HERE, The Ontological at St. Mark’s Church, The Flea, The Kitchen, Soho Rep and New York Theatre Workshop. Abroad, ERS performances have been presented in Holland, Belgium, Slovenia, Austria, Norway, Germany, France, Portugal and Switzerland; and, in The United States, the ensemble has been presented in Philadelphia, Columbus, Seattle, Minneapolis, Houston, Burlington, Washington D.C. and Portland (OR).
Are you in the know?
Monday, July 20th, 2009Have you signed up to receive updates via email from the Ringling International Arts Festival? Be the first to know about specials, ticket packages, and all the latests news related to the Festival. Stay in the loop!
Spotlight on an Artist: Anne-Marie McDermott
Friday, July 17th, 2009Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Chamber Music
Anne-Marie McDermott is a consummate artist who balances a versatile career as a soloist and collaborator. She performs over 100 concerts a year in a combination of solo recitals, concerti and chamber music. Her repertoire choices are eclectic, spanning from Bach and Haydn to Prokofiev and Scriabin to Kernis, Hartke, Tower and Wuorinen.
McDermott debuted with the New York Philharmonic in 1997 under Christian Thielemann and has since appeared with the orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Pittsburgh, and Seattle. In the 2008-2009 season, McDermott will perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Alabama Symphony, San Diego Symphony, the Oregon Mozart Players, and tour with the New Century Chamber Orchestra.
A winner of the Young Concert Artists Auditions, McDermott was also the recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Development Award, the Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, the Joseph Kalichstein Piano Prize, the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Bruce Hungerford Memorial Prize, and the Mortimer Levitt Career Development Award for Women Artists. McDermott has recorded the complete Prokofiev Piano Sonatas, Bach English Suites and Partitas (named Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s Choice), and Gershwin Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra with the Dallas Symphony and Justin Brown.
For more information visit Opus 3 Artists.
Hospitality Buzz
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009This week has focused largely working with the local tourism industry to build a buzz. After all, what is good for the Ringling is good for local tourism and vice versa. In fact, the Festival could not exist without the SCVB, the BCVB and the local hotels, restaurants and other community support. Yesterday, we met with local hotel sales staff. From boutique hotels to the luxurious Longboat Key Club and Resort, and the Marriott, Sleep Inn, and Hyatt Place in-between accomodations, there are special packages to the RIAF. Whether you are looking to travel to Florida in October (it is an exceptionally beautiful time of year), or simply want to leave laundry and cooking behind and getaway in your own backyard, there is something for everyone. Don’t resist the temptation to book your package now – vacations, or staycations, are always a good thing. Just look at our neighbors across the pond – they are packing up now for their legendary month-long holiday during the summer.
Playwrights and Gender
Monday, July 13th, 2009An article, Research points to a bias against female playwrights, in yesterday’s local paper caught my attention. It reminded me of a blog post dated June 19, in which I pointed to another article that highlighted female playwrights, in particular, Ella Hickson. Gender aside, two leading playwrights, one male and one female, one legendary and one emerging, were chosen to showcase their work at the Festival based on artistic merit and literary ingenuity. Legendary playwright Peter Brook will present his U.S. Premiere of Love is my sin and relatively new playwright Ella Hickson will present Eight. Check them out at the festival this year.
Lynn Hobeck Bates, Public Relations Manager at the Ringling Museum
Arts Galore
Thursday, July 9th, 2009In a follow up to yesterday’s blog post, I found two examples of Sarasota/Manatee’s commitment to the arts. Check out the Sarasota Arts Council’s new website and the Sarasota’s first-ever Vinyl Music Festival.
