Posts Tagged ‘Dance’

Twisting Tradition: Colin Dunne Out of Time

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Preview Colin Dunne’s Out of Time performance on the Ringling International Art Festival’s YouTube channel

In an intimate and playful presentation, Colin Dunne’s Out of Time brings movement, sound and image together to create a provocative dialogue between past and present that shatters his preceding reputation for being a traditional Irish-step dancer.

Shocking to many dance aficionados, the Irish dance icon and former Riverdance star gravitated away from traditional Irish stepping in favor of forward-stepping contemporary dance. After earning his M.A. in Contemporary Dance Performance from the University of Limerick in 2002, Dunne began exploring the fluidity of modern dance.

 “I had the chance to step out of the traditional Irish dance box and immerse myself in a new practice,” Dunne said during a 2009 interview with Dance Magazine. “Now the two for me are one.”

An Irish step dancer turned contemporary performer? “It’s about making it work,” said Dunne.

And it does.

Dunne began paving a new path for himself as a solo artist with short performances presented at The Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado, the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, Canada, and The Queen Elisabeth Hall in London, in addition to partnering with several choreographers across the world.

His first major modern performance at The Barbican in Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre’s production of The Bull earned him a nomination for a UK Circle National Dance Award for Best Male: Modern Dance. To date he holds techniques nine World, eleven Great Britain, nine All-Ireland and eight All-England titles under his belt.

In keeping with his exploration of the space between traditional and modern, Dunne’s first full-length solo show Out of Time investigates multimedia with the use of sound technology, film, text, and of course, various facets of dance including tap rhythms that only Dunne is capable of.   

Dunne is poised to share Out of Time with audiences at the Ringling International Arts Festival this October at The Mertz Theatre. Patrons can be part of the provocative dialogue between past and present, witness the mature movements of a performer who has dedicated his life to exploring the relationship of sound and movement and  experience the performance that earned a nomination for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.

Colin Dunne will perform Out of Time at The Metz Theatre Oct. 13 at 8pm, Oct. 14 at 2pm, Oct. 15 at 5pm and Oct. 16 at 5 pm. Learn more and purchase tickets

Grabbing The Moon With Both Hands

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Andrew DawsonImagine that you had the challenge of captivating an audience of astronauts by telling them the story of Apollo 11… with only your hands. You could not speak. There was no backdrop, no theater lights. There was only music, narration, a table and you. Could you do it? Andrew Dawson has done it, and the astronauts gave him a standing ovation.

It may be one of the more challenging pieces of the Ringling International Arts Festival, but Space Panorama could possibly be one of the sleeper hits. In a world with complex special effects (think “Apollo 13″) and Broadway expectations (think “Phantom of the Opera”), how is it that a man with his hands has been so successful at telling the story of Apollo 11 that he was chosen to be part of the Festival to begin with? It is because he understands that through simple and imaginative story telling, an actor can take an audience to the moon.

“Space Panorama shows what Americans can do. It shows what theater can do without a lot of technological wizardry.” – Los Angeles Times

Dawson has extensive performance experience in the world of “physical theatre”. He has studied dance, theatre and mime in London and New York and has performed extensively on film and onstage. He has also helped choreograph and direct other pieces, so he is certainly up to the challenge. In 1989, he proposed the creation of a performance piece with just a table and himself to the Northern Festival of Mime and Dance in the UK. With the constraints of such a small space, he chose to tell the story of Apollo 11, one of the greatest and grandest events in human history. The piece has been so successful that he was asked to perform in front of 200 veteran astronauts in Houston, TX. He admits to being a little nervous, but Buzz Aldrin, John Young and all of the other astronauts loved it!

Tickets are still available by calling the box office at (941) 360-7399 or visiting the Festival site.

YouTube Promo for Opening Night by Les SlovaKs Dance Collective

Monday, September 13th, 2010

Opening Night by Les SlovaKs Dance Collective

Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Les Slovaks Dance Collective

Les SlovaKs Dance Collective

So what would it be like if you could play games and run around acting foolishly like you did when your were five? Would you even know how to behave? Would the social norms of adulthood ultimately restrict you from really having a good time? Les SlovaKs Dance Collective in many ways has managed to take dancing virtuosity and mix it with boyish spunk and child-like imagination. This is not to say that their dance style is not full of serious themes and undertones. They are keenly aware of the social, political and gender implications of their art form, but they still communicate in a way that is reminiscent of childhood.

The five dancers come from Slovakia. Four of the five, Milan Herich, Peter Jasko, Anton Lachky and Milan Tomasik, started dancing at folk festivals when they were five and spent most of their lives together. Each watched as communism fell and gave way to the modern democratic country of today. They met the fifth dancer, Martin Kilvady who is also from Slovakia, in Belgium where they currently reside. Rooted in their folk dancing experience, their style is playful, energetic and sometimes comical. They call it “new traditional dance”. They have no choreographer. Their creative process is extremely collaborative with the result being highly diverse and at times what seems improvisational. The concern might be that their dance is considered too childish, but in a recent review, the company was referred to as “five supreme geniuses in movement”.

Opening Night features Simon Thierree on violin onstage playing music that is very influenced by Eastern European tradition. It is not traditional folk music, however. Along with the dancers, they attempt to create a new folk style that is rich in physicality, artistic themes and high energy. It will surely be one of the most memorable performances of the Ringling International Arts Festival.

Tickets are still available by calling the box office at (941) 360-7399 or visiting the Festival site.

Rubberbandance Group’s Loan Sharking

Friday, August 6th, 2010
An image from Loan Sharking by Rubberbandance Group

An image from Loan Sharking by Rubberbandance Group

It might not come naturally for most choreographers to combine the graceful beauty of ballet and the raw power of hip hop, but Rubberbandance Group’s (RBDG) Victor Quijada does it effortlessly. This peculiar union of classical and urban was on display recently at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC (read a review). “The piece never pauses to catch its breath, rushing nonstop through flips and rolls, turns and lifts,” says the Times Union of Albany, NY, “as elegant and beautifully composed as classical ballet but with all the ‘wow’ factor of hip hop.”

Quijada grew up in the rap culture of Los Angeles where he studied ballet starting in high school, and he has spent his career blending the two very disparate art forms. RBDG was formed in 2002 in Montreal where Quijada had been working with the Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montreal. After gaining success on international levels, Quijada choreographed Loan Sharking in 2008. The piece combines elements from earlier performances to offer a wide perspective on the different styles and techniques RBDG utilizes. The result is a frenetic and exciting work of art that is a perfect fit for the Ringling International Arts Festival.

Tickets are still available for Loan Sharking by calling the box office at (941) 360-7399 or visiting the Festival site.

Spotlight on: OtherShore

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

OtherShore_2_web

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.

Spotlight on an Artist: Deganit Shemy & Company

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Making headlines in her native Israel, Deganit Shemy has been making  her way quite nicely in NYC’s burgeoning modern dance scene. As I dug around to find out more about this esteemed choreographer, I came across an article that sums up a performance of Arena and sheds more light on Deganit’s impressive talent. Enjoy and purchase tickets to her shows–I’m positive you won’t be let down.

Lynn Hobeck Bates, Public Relations Manager

Accolades for Azure (& Artists)

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Accolades for the artists performing in the Festival accelerate by the day.  Just today an article by Fast Forward Weekly, a leading cultural magazine in Calgary, Canada, features Canadian dance standout Azure Barton.  The feature  highlights Azure’s commissioned piece,  Busk, and mentions her performance at the Ringling Festival. Fast Forward Weekly describes Azure’s style as “… collaborative and project-based because she loves the nurturing intensity that comes with a commission. Her company, Aszure & Artists,  are her collaborators but her inspiration comes from any and all forms of art.”   Check out the article and learn more about Azure Barton. It is an enjoyable read.

Summer is for Art Festivals

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Summer is the season for art festivals around the globe. From America’s most acclaimed Spoletto in Charleston, S.C., which just wrapped up another season yesterday, to Holland and Vienna, artists are filling schedules and selling tickets. Many of the emerging artists bound for Sarasota/Manatee in October are performing around these festivals. For instance, Deganit Shemy & Company received a new residence and commission by Dance @ DMAC (Duo Multicultural Arts Center) and Azure & Artists are in residency at the Bnaff Centre in Canada where they will also perform at the Bnaff Summer Arts Festival.  Elevator Repair Service just wrapped up performances of The Sound and the Fury (April Seventh, 1928) at the Vienna Festival yesterday and are off to the Holland Festival in Amsterdam this coming weekend.  With all the traveling this summer, I hope they have a chance to catch a trip to Siesta Key while in town for the Ringling festival in October. Sounds like they will need it.  What a mutually beneficial relationship for everyone-artists might have the chance to get some R&R on award-winning beaches and Floridians get to see highly sought-after artists without having to leave the state. 

 

Lynn Hobeck Bates, Public Relations Manager at the Ringling Museum

Voting for Eight Cast

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
Photo: Idil Sukan

Photo: Idil Sukan

Playwright and director  Ella Hickson’s performance Eight is now showing in London and they are doing a really “cool and snazzy” online voting page. Basically, when you purchase your ticket online you get to vote for four characters you want to be in the cast. There are no plans to do this at the Ringling International Arts Festival-Eight will be performed by young actors from the UK and students from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, but it is cool food for thought for some other savvy theater company looking to shake things up a bit. What do you think?