LA MAMA
MOVES!
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Cover Photo: The Dance Cartel
Photo by Maddy Talias
La MaMa
Moves!
Dance
Festival
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, celebrates its 10th Anniversary Season featuring emerging
and seasoned choreographers reflecting La MaMa’s longstanding mission to performance
that transcends politics and unifies cultures.
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AT A GLANCE
LA MAMA MOVES! 10TH ANNIVERSARY GALA HONORING ELLEN ROBBINS | MAY 21 | p.30
JUNK ENSEMBLE | MAY 22- 24 | p.7
SHARED EVENING - GWEN WELLIVER, BRANDON COLLWES, ERIC GEIGER AND ANYA CLOUD | MAY 22- 24 | p.9,11,13
STANLEY LOVE PERFORMANCE GROUP | MAY 22 - 24 | p.15
JANE COMFORT | MAY 28 - 31 | p.17
JOHN SCOTT | MAY 28 - 31 | p.19
THE DANCE CARTEL | MAY 28 - 30 | p.21
JON KINZEL | MAY 29 - 31 | p.23
YOSHIKO CHUMA | JUNE 4 - 7 | p.25
ALEXANDRA BELLER | JUNE 11 - 21 | p.27
*THIERRY MICOUIN | APRIL 30 & MAY 1 | OFF-SITE | p.29
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The glorious madness of the La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary season! Twelve
dance companies will be presented over the course of five weeks on all La MaMa’s stages: The Ellen Stewart
Theatre, The First Floor Theatre, The Club, and La Galleria, and even off campus at the New School’s John L.
Tishman auditorium. As in past festivals, the extraordinary range of talent remains the same, and the choreographers and dancers range from young and emerging to established veterans. From dynamic indigenous forms to
popular dances re-contextualized, to the physicality of John Scott and the thoughtfulness of Jon Kinzel and Gwen
Welliver, the festival presents a unique mix of choreographers and styles. I am thrilled to be able to put together
these diverse and inter-generational artists whose work and process I deeply respect.
Enjoy!
Love,
Nicky
LA MAMA MOVES! CURATOR
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Junk Ensemble
DUSK AHEAD | MAY 22- 24 | IN THE ELLEN STEWART THEATRE
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 8PM & SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AT 3PM
Exploring blindness and invisibility, Dusk Ahead shows the murky fading light of dusk when it is difficult to
discern what is real and what is imagined. Dusk is the hour between dog and wolf, from domestic to wild. This
high-caliber cast of international and Irish performers will also act as the band, playing live music throughout
the piece.
Co-Artistic Directors Megan Kennedy and Jessica Kennedy established junk ensemble (Ireland) with a
commitment to creating works of brave and imaginative dance theatre. Their multi-award winning productions
are often created in collaboration with artists from other disciplines to produce a rich mix of visual and
performance styles that seeks to challenge the traditional audience/performer relationship.
Presented by La MaMa and Irish Arts Center
CREATION AND CHOREOGRAPHY BY JESSICA KENNEDY, MEGAN KENNEDY
PERFORMED BY JUSTINE COOPER, MIGUEL DO VALE, RAMONA NAGABCZYNSKI,
RYAN O’NEILL, JAIOTZ OSA | MUSICIAN: EGIL ROSTAD
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Photo by Fionn McCann
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Shared Evening
GWEN WELLIVER, BRANDON COLLWES, ERIC GEIGER
May 22- 24 | IN THE FIRST FLOOR THEATRE
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 7:30PM & SUNDAY AT 2PM
Gwen Welliver
WHAT A HORSE! | May 22- 24 | IN THE FIRST FLOOR THEATRE | PART OF SHARED EVENING
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 7:30PM & SUNDAY AT 2PM
Welliver continues to embrace both formalism and fantasy in her new work What a Horse! Inspired by visual
artist Paul Klee’s image of the same name (Was Fur ein Pferd!, 1929), Welliver and her collaborators lift Klee’s
image from the page into the dimensions of dance, with all the real and imaginary states this implies.
Gwen Welliver is an award-winning dancer and choreographer known for her longstanding work with a wide
range of master choreographers. Her own work as a dancer, teacher, director, choreographer, and mentor has
generously contributed to the New York City’s remarkable dance community for 25 years.
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CHOREOGRAPHY BY GWEN WELLIVER, STUART SINGER, CLAIRE WESTBY
SOUND COMPOSITION BY JAKE MEGINSKY | PERFORMED BY REID BARTELME, STUART SINGER, CLAIRE WESTBY
Photo by David Gonsier
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Shared Evening
Brandon Collwes
GWEN WELLIVER, BRANDON COLLWES, ERIC GEIGER
SOFT FORMS | MAY 22- 24 | IN THE FIRST FLOOR THEATRE | PART OF SHARED EVENING
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 7:30PM & SUNDAY AT 2PM
Soft Forms is a solo abstract piece. Technical phrase work and raw physical abandon resonates an intimate core.
Shapes carve through space exploring different centers of balance within the body set to an electronic score.
Brandon Collwes became a member of the CDF Repertory Understudy Group in 2003 and joined the Merce
Cunningham Dance Company in January 2006 where he danced up until the close of the Company in 2011.
He has been a member of the Liz Gerring Dance Company since January 2013.
CHOREOGRAPHY BY BRANDON COLLWES | MUSIC BY KATO HIDEKI AND JOHN KING
PERFORMED BY BRANDON COLLWES
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Photo by Emily Stone
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Shared Evening
Eric Geiger AND Anya Cloud
GWEN WELLIVER, BRANDON COLLWES, ERIC GEIGER
FINGERTIPS TOWARD FLOOR, HEAD FOLLOWS OR THE LAZY SEXY PEEPSHOW
MAY 22- 24 | IN THE FIRST FLOOR THEATRE | PART OF SHARED EVENING
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 7:30PM & SUNDAY AT 2PM
The piece takes on epic-ness, specificity, elegance, being lazy-sexy but more lazy than sexy, intelligent
recklessness, and ideas around reversibility and redirection. The dancing is patient, curvilinear, swirling,
specifically initiated, elongated, folding, presentational, headlong, thrusting, unloaded and inflated.
Eric Geiger has performed works by, and collaborated with artists such as, Bill T. Jones, William Forsythe,
Stephen Petronio, Susan Marshall, Maguy Marin, Angelin Preljocaj, Nancy McCaleb, Sarah Shelton Mann,
Deborah Hay, LIVE, Jess Humphrey, and Anya Cloud.
Anya Cloud has worked with and/or performed for Sara Shelton Mann, Jane Comfort, Kim Epifano, Eric Geiger,
Karen Schaffman, Mary Reich, Yolande Snaith, and Leslie Seiters among others.
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Photo by David Gonsier
CHOREOGRAPHY BY ERIC GEIGER AND ANYA CLOUD | MUSIC BY DRUMLINE CADENCE FROM SHOTS! BY LMFAO
PERFORMED BY ANYA CLOUD AND ERIC GEIGER
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Stanley Love
PErFOrMANCE GROUP
PERSEPHONE POMEGRANATE SEEDS, HUNY | MAY 22 – 24 | IN THE CLUB
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AT 10PM & SUNDAY AT 6PM
Persephone Pomegranate seeds, huny will saturate the space with dance and fill it wall to wall with full-throttle
movement, accompanied by an eclectic mix of songs. What these “classics” (ranging from Meredith Monk
through Journey to Barry White and beyond) have in common is an uplifting mood, corresponding to the
deepest inspiration of this piece - an idea of destruction and rebirth, imagined as a constant, recurring flow.
Stanley Love Performance Group has been active on the NYC dance scene for almost 25 years, Love has made
his mark as a driving force behind large-scale dances involving large casts and extremely dense, energetic
movement, drawing from various social and modern dance idioms and coordinated in perfect unison to a truly
orchestral effect.
CONCEPTION AND CHOREOGRAPHY BY STANLEY LOVE
PERFORMED BY STANLEY LOVE PERFORMANCE GROUP
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Photo by Kamila Slawinski
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JANE COMFORT
ALTIPLANO | MAY 28– 31 | IN THE ELLEN STEWART THEATRE
THURSDAY – SATURDAY AT 8PM & SUNDAY AT 4PM
Representing a radical shift from Jane Comfort’s history of text-driven works, Altiplano is an abstract dance that
originates in movement structures that range from spare images of the desert to highly physical and complex
configurations, like a flash flood or violent winds. It references the evolution of animals and social
communication with its gradually increasing physicality and hive-like density.
Comfort, Levasseur, and Wolcott, Bessie Award winners, were equal partners in creating the work, sharing and
shifting design responsibilities as one. Jane Comfort is a choreographer, writer, and director who has broken
boundaries in dance performance since the late 70’s. She is a Guggenheim Fellow whose work has been
performed throughout the US, in Europe, and in Latin America. “Jane Comfort is one of the most fertile minds
in the theater of mixed forms.” - The New York Times
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JANE COMFORT AND COMPANY | LIGHTING DESIGN BY JOE LEVASSEUR
SOUND AND MUSIC COMPOSITION BY BRANDON WOLCOTT
Photo by Sareen Hairabedian
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JOHN SCOTT
HYPERACTIVE | MAY 28 – 31 | IN THE FIRST FLOOR THEATRE
THURSDAY – SATURDAY AT 7:30PM & SUNDAY AT 2PM
Hyperactive, high energy human dance installation commissioned by Galway Arts Festival and performed at
Dublin Dance Festival, is for cast of four male dancers, including Marcus Bellamy, Ryan O’Neill and Kevin
Coquelard, whose backgrounds range from Broadway to theatre to street dance. Stretching horseplay and dance
to the limit, come and see them perform this human dance installation with plenty of humor and lots of
personality!
John Scott - Irish Modern Dance Theatre, based in Dublin, Ireland, is a physically/culturally diverse ensemble
ranging from virtuosic Cunningham dancers to African torture survivors. Scott , a choreographer and singer, has
studied and performed with Meredith Monk, Sara Rudner, Yoshiko Chuma, and Anna Sokolow. He also studied
with Susan Buirge. Hyperactive’s performance is supported by Culture Ireland.
Presented by La MaMa in association with Irish Arts Center
BY JOHN SCOTT / IRISH MODERN DANCE THEATRE
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JOHN SCOTT | MUSIC BY JAMES EVEREST
CAST OF FOUR MALE DANCERS, INCLUDING MARCUS BELLAMY, RYAN O’NEILL AND KEVIN COQUELARD
Photo courtesy of John Scott Dance
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THE DANCE CARTEL
WET CLUTCH | MAY 28– 30 | IN LA GALLERIA | 47 GREAT JONES STREET
THURSDAY – SATURDAY 8.30PM INSTALLATION & LIVE PERFORMANCE AT 9PM
Wet Clutch explores portable material that can be adapted to diverse spaces. Iconic female imagery from the last
four decades of Hollywood pop and cult films will complement and offset live choreography and celebratory
actions, forming an explosive public dance experience.
The Dance Cartel creates experiences that break the societal expectation of a “dance performance” in order to
bring movement to a broad and diverse audience. The company has performed at Ace Hotel New York, The
Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Art & Design, The Manderley Bar, Le Poisson
Rouge, Ars Nova, littlefield, Glasslands, Art in Odd Places, Espaco Xisto, Summer on the Hudson,
Red Hook Festival.
CHOREOGRAPHY BY ANI TAJ | PERFORMED BY EMILY BASS, NICHI DOUGLAS,
AUDREY HAILES, SUNNY HITT, JUSTIN PEREZ, ANI TAJ
*special Dance Party Event on May 28
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Photo by Maddy Talias
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JON KINZEL
PROVISION PROVISION | MAY 29 – 31 | IN THE CLUB
FRIDAY – SATURDAY AT 10PM & SUNDAY AT 6PM
Provision Provision is a duet that maintains a continuous engagement with improvisation, urban life, haptic
interaction, and dance. The piece, part of a larger body of performance and visual art work, touches on a range
of subjects including the weight of the historical transition from analog to digital as a metaphor for the transition
from corporeal to the immaterial in human experience.
Jon Kinzel has presented his work in a variety of national and international venues since 1988. Recent works
include his critically praised solo, Responsible Ballet (2009), which premiered at the La MaMa Moves! Dance
Festival, his multigenerational ensemble piece, Responsible Ballet and What We Need Is a Bench to Put Books On
(2010), at The Kitchen, and, Someone Once Called Me A Sound Man (2013) at The Chocolate Factory – Best of 2013
in Artforum.
CHOREOGRAPHY BY JON KINZEL | MUSIC BY JON KINZEL, JIM DAWSON
PERFORMERD BY JON KINZEL, EDISA WEEKS
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Photo by Julieta Cervantes
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Yoshiko Chuma
π= 3.14.. NOTHINg, or EVERYTHINg With dry tech endless peripheral border Fukushima - Kabul - Amman - Ramallah - Berlin
JUNE 4 – 7 | IN THE ELLEN STEWART THEATRE
THURSDAY – SATURDAY AT 8PM & SUNDAY AT 4PM
π =3.14... NOTHINg , or EVERYTHINg is based on a true story which moves along without any direct incident.
And, as it goes along, very little happens - all at once. Five cities in the world will connect, somehow: Fukushima,
Kabul, Amman, Ramallah and Berlin. Choreography/music/design created in collaboration with Miriam Parker,
Saori Tsukada, Nobuko Higushi, Ryuji Yamaguchi, Christopher McIntyre, Kit Fitzgerald, Nick Vaughan, Jake
Margolin, Megumi Eda, Dane Terry, Jason Kao Hwang, Lillie DeArmon, Takashi Arai, Gabriel Berry, and Lance
Gries.
The School Of Hard Knocks, founded in 1984, is a collaborative effort of multidisciplinary artists working under
the Artistic Direction of Yoshiko Chuma. Over the course of the company’s history, more than 2,000 people
have performed under her direction in situations ranging from theatrical dance concerts to street performances,
parades, and large-scale spectacles in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, especially the Middle East.
BY YOSHIKO CHUMA & THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
CONCEPTION AND DESIGN BY YOSHIKO CHUMA
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Photo by Hugh Burckhardt
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ALEXANDRA BELLER/DANCES
milkdreams | JUNE 11 – 21 | IN THE ELLEN STEWART THEATRE
THURSDAY – SATURDAY AT 8PM & SUNDAY AT 4PM
milkdreams strips the performers of their veneers of ego, agenda, and shame, laying bare their need, their
contentment, and the authenticity of their present moment. Both the process of creating the work, and the work
itself, attempt to sift from the body the habits, inhibitions, and presentations of the trained dancer, and to recover
a physicality motivated entirely by sensation, desire, joy, curiosity, and, ultimately, love.
Created in 2001, Alexandra Beller/Dances has been extremely active in the New York scene as well as throughout
the United States, and has toured to Cyprus, Hong Kong, Oslo, Amsterdam, Poland, Russia, and Korea. The
work has been commissioned by and performed at Dance Theater Workshop, PS 122, Joyce SoHo, Danspace
Project at St. Mark’s, University Settlement, Aaron Davis Hall, as well as Jacob’s Pillow, SUNY Purchase, and
in Michigan, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Beller was a longtime member of the Bill T Jones/Arnie
Zane Dance Company, performing around the globe to critical acclaim. Her own works have been created and
performed for companies and Universities throughout the US.
ORIGINAL SCORE BY ROBERT POSS | LIVE MUSIC BY ROBERT POSS AND KATO HIDEKI
PERFORMED BY CARLY BERRETT PLAGIANKOS, LEA FULTON, EDWARD RICE, SIMON THOMAS-TRAIN
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Photo by Anton Martynov
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Thierry Micouin
Double Jack | APRIL 30 & MAY 1 | SPECIAL EVENT
*OFF-SITE AT JOHN L. TISHMAN AUDITORIUM, UNIVERSITY CENTER AT THE NEW SCHOOL | 63 FIFTH AVENUE, NYC
THURSDAY – FRIDAY AT 8:30PM
Double Jack, a third installment of a triptych, puts the codes of masculinity --first pulled apart and then put back
together by a feminine body and masculine body-- into movement. On stage, is an interactive sound installation
composed of five electric guitars that reacts instantaneously to the movements of the dancer. It becomes an army
chief of electric chords and the sound is configured as an echo to the movement of the dance.
Thierry Micouin trained in theater then dance, most notably with the teams of Tanztheater Wuppertal and Peter
Goss. He has performed with Catherine Diverres, Boris Charmatz, Xavier Leroy and Olivier Dubois.
Presented by La MaMa in partnership with The New School
Thanks to the support of Institut Français/Ville de Rennes/Rennes Métropole, Spectacle Vivant en Bretagne,
Spedidam and the Cultural Services of French embassy.
CHOREOGRAPHY BY THIERRY MICOUIN WITH THE SUPPORT OF CAROLE GOMES (FRANCE)
MUSIC AND DIGITAL ART BY PAULINE BOYER
PERFORMED BY CAROLE GOMES AND THIERRY MICOUIN
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Photo courtesy of Thierry Micouin Dance
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La MaMa Moves!
10th Anniversary Gala
Honoring Ellen Robbins
MAY 21, THURSDAY AT 6PM | IN THE ELLEN STEWART THEATRE | SPECIAL EVENT
HONORING | Ellen Robbins | DANCE EDUCATOR AND MENTOR
For her creative achievement in teaching dance and inspiring generations of young dancers.
SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO | THE HARKNESS FOUNDATION FOR DANCE | MERTZ GILMORE FOUNDATION
THE JEROME ROBBINS FOUNDATION
For supporting La MaMa Moves! since its inception.
CHAIRS | AMY SCHWARTZMAN & ADRIANE ERDOS
HONORARY CHAIRS | CLAIRE DANES & JULIA STILES
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CREATE YOUR OWN SEASON SUBSCRIPTION WITH 10 @ $10 TICKETS
10@$10 Tickets are now on sale! You can see any show at La MaMa for only $10 - that’s 5 shows for $50 or ten
shows for only $100! It’s the best deal in town - but you have to act fast because there are only ten $10 tickets per
performance and they sell out quickly!
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LA MAMA
66 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
www.lamama.org
ELLEN STEWART THEATRE
66 East 4th Street, 2nd Floor
Thu-Sat at 8pm and Sun at 4pm
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FIRST FLOOR THEATRE
74a East 4th Street, 1st Floor
Thu-Sat at 7:30pm and Sun at 2pm
THE CLUB
74a East 4th Street,
2nd Floor
Fri-Sat at 10pm and Sun at 6pm
LA GALLERIA
47 Great Jones Street, 1st Floor
Wed-Sun from 1 – 7:30pm
Performance schedules
subject to change.
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival has been made possible with public funds from the New York City Department
of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with special thanks to City Council Speaker, Melissa
Mark-Viverito; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New
York State Legislature; and additional support from The Jerome Robbins Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation,
The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Ford Foundation and The Coca-Cola Company.
Press Representative: Ellen Jacobs Associates
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