EIGHT Great Shows: 360° of Dance

Welcome to the Spring 2008 Season at Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), the premiere dance center in Lower Manhattan.

DNA Presents is part of a full-circle approach to DNA's mission that includes professional-level training, opportunities for creation and the latest in dance theater performance. This season, DNA offers eight dynamic presentations of dance works, including commissions and world premieres comprising an eclectic mix of abstract, modern, site-specific, collaborative and multidisciplinary dance. The season features choreographers who have an ongoing history with DNA and includes a variety of multi-artist shows that highlight relationships between choreographers based on friendships, gender, and process.

Download the Season brochure as a PDF

DNA PRESENTS

• Gene Pool with Monica Bill Barnes, Laurie DeVito, Carol Dilley & Jill Eng, Faye Driscoll, Jana Hicks, Katiti King, Diane McCarthy, Oliver & Teri Steele
  February 21-24
  
• RAW Material with Lane Gifford, Eva Perrotta, FeleciaMariaProject, Stephanie Blackmon Woodbeck & Sasha Welsh
  March 6-8
  
• Drastic Action/Aviva Geismar
  March 13-16
  
• Laura Peterson
  March 27-30
  
• Ob.ject.ob.JECT with Vanessa Justice Dance, Doorknob Company & Nicole Wolcott
  April 17-20
  
• SPLICE: Deborah Lohse // Kate Weare
  May 1-May 4
  
• SPLICE: Jason & Lindsey Dietz Marchant // Curt Haworth & Amanda Loulaki
  May 8-May 11
  
• In the Company of Men with Battleworks Dance, Daniel Clifton, Keith A. Thompson / danceTactics performance group, Ori Flomin & Pasion Flamenca Dance
  May 15-May 18
  

Artists Present @ DNA

• VIA Dance Collaborative
  January 31-February 3
  
• Malini Srinivasan
  Sunday April 6
  
• NOTES IN MOTION/Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre
  June 5 - 8
  
• Molly Rabinowitz/LiquidGrip
  June 27 - 28
  
• Sorvino Dance Project
  July 18 - 19
  
• Melanie Lalande/Mayzsoul Inc.
  August 2
  

And more...

• DNA Performance Project
  March 14th-April 13th
  
• WIP Works in Progress
  February 9th- July 12th
  
• New York Summer Dance Intensive 2008/Performances
  July 26th- 27th
  

All DNA PRESENTS shows are eligible for purchase using the Downtown 3 punchcard. To reserve a Downtown 3 ticket, call 212.625.8369 or email dt3reservations@dnadance.org

DNA PRESENTS

GENE POOL

RAW Material

Diverse in content, style and medium, RAW Materialis a juried performance series that encourages artists to bring new work to a live audience, and to experiment with new ways of crafting their work.

This year's lineup features:

FeleciaMariaProject
stephanie blackmon woodbeck | Labor Force Dances
Eva Perrotta
Lane Gifford / Lane & Company
Sasha Welsh

Thurs March 6 | 8pm
Fri March 7 | 8pm
Sat March 8 | 8pm

Tickets: $18 ($13 members, $15 students)

Drastic Action / Aviva Geismar

"Geismar's dead-on understanding of social realities is like a poke in the ribs...In life and in Geismar's dances, tragedy and comedy can be hard to sort out."
Tom Strini, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Line of Descent

"How close is too close? Are there realities you can't admit? Memories you block out? What kind of discomfort do you crave?" These are the questions the characters in Drastic Action's new dance theater piece ask. Commissioned by DNA, and choreographed by artistic director Aviva Geismar, the piece uses a charged physicality to create a dream-like universe, resonant with the fear, absurdity and the search for meaning of present times.

Company website

Thurs March 13 | 8pm
Fri March 14 | 8pm
Sat March 15 | 8pm
Sun March 16 | 3pm

Tickets: $20 ($15 members, $17 students)

Short video preview from Line of Descent

See slideshow with photos by Steven Schreiber from dress rehearsal 3/12/2008. All rights Reserved

Laura Peterson Choreography

"I'd settle for more choreographers as hip as Laura Peterson..."
-Tom Phillips, danceviewtimes

Electrolux

Imagine the kind of luxurious carpet that retains the marks of a vacuum cleaner. Every step destroys its plush perfection. Electrolux is about environment, texture, garbage and carpet. Dance New Amsterdam is pleased to present this rocking premiere performance.

DNA Artist in Residence* Laura Peterson is a NYC-based choreographer the New Yorker called "stylishly sexy" and the Philadelphia Enquirer termed, "chic and amusing."

Thurs March 27 | 8pm
Fri March 28 | 8pm
Sat March 29 | 8pm
Sun March 30 | 3pm

Tickets: $20 ($15 members, $17 students)

Video sample from dress rehearsal 3/26/08

See slideshow with photos by Steven Schreiber from dress rehearsal 3/26/2008. All rights Reserved

(*) DNA's Artist in Residence program provides artists the resources to create new works by offering rehearsal space, development consultations, open rehearsal and preview opportunities, a performance stipend, and production of the credited work as part of DNA Presents in the theater@DNA

OB.ject.ob.JECT

OB.ject.ob.JECT is DNA's ongoing celebration of female choreographers. This season continues the tradition with three exciting companies, Vanessa Justice Dance, Doorknob Company, and Nicole Wolcott.

Noise'sNoise

by Vanessa Justice Dance. Underlying Noise'sNoise is the question, "How might the dance evolve tone, subtext and structure via a movement of attention and choreographic impulse?" Resulting is a dance with accompanying sound installation which creates a mysterious and understated atmosphere of self-examination. As the dancers harness and dispel energy, they hang in limbo between a cool, glassy facade and vulnerable disclosure.

Vaness Justice Dance's website

Video sample

Julia Julia Julia Child

by Doorknob Company, co-directed by Shannon Gillen & Elisabeth Motley, is a premiere dance theater work that explores the intersection of wishful thinking and domestic life.

Doorknob Company's website

Video sample

Dramarama!

by Nicole Wolcott, is a collage of both intimate human emotions and Herculean personas gleaned from daily encounters with American mass media. With movement that is a fusion of art and entertainment, virtuosity and the mundane, Wolcott's new work explores the super-reality of being human while watching TV.

Video sample

Thurs April 17 | 8pm
Fri April 18 | 8pm
Sat April 19 | 8pm
Sun April 20 | 3pm

Tickets: $20 ($15 members, $17 students)

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

SPLICE: Deborah Lohse // Kate Weare

Artists in Residence* Deborah Lohse and Kate Weare present new work in this SPLICE concert.

Monogrammed

Deborah Lohse's ad hoc Ballet continues to explore the evocative place where classical collides with avant-garde, questioning assumptions, redefining line and embracing radical musicality.

Video sample

Excerpts of New Work

Kate Weare Company presents New and Recent Work, showing dances not yet seen in NY alongside in-progress excerpts of a new 30-minute work. In this evening, relationships form the framework for engagement with present day issues of power, sexuality and emotional authenticity. Kate Weare Company is an NYC-based contemporary dance group creating and performing work characterized by fierce physicality, thoughtfulness and emotional presence.

Video sample

Thurs May 1 | 8pm
Fri May 2 | 8pm
Sat May 3 | 8pm
Sun May 4 | 3pm

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

Tickets: $20 ($15 members, $17 students)

(*) DNAs Artist in Residence program provides artists the resources to create new works by offering rehearsal space, development consultations, open rehearsal and preview opportunities, a performance stipend, and production of the credited work as part of DNA Presents in the theater@DNA

SPLICE: J & L Dietz Marchant // Haworth & Loulaki

A SPLICE concert of two couples who collaborate, DNA presents Jason and Lindsey Dietz-Marchant and Curt Haworth and Amanda Loulaki.

half of the room

Choreographers Jason and Lindsey Dietz Marchant inhabit the same space in half of the room. Traversing a physical landscape of low colliding worlds and sweeping circular planes, they jockey for room in an ever-shifting battle between seeking self-pleasure and sensual physical connections.

The Compromise

a performance by Curt Haworth and Amanda Loulaki asks, "How is meaning created during performance? How does formalism provide a platform to develop content and how does content dictate formal choices?"

Thurs May 8 | 8pm
Fri May 9 | 8pm
Sat May 10 | 8pm
Sun May 11 | 3pm

Tickets: $20 ($15 members, $17 students)

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

In the Company of Men

Conceived in 1994 by Charles Wright as a response to the decimation visited upon the New York dance community by HIV and AIDS, In the Company of Men (ICOM) is DNA's annual revelation of the indomitable spirit of New York's male dancers.This season's ICOM features five diverse works:

In/Side

by Battleworks Dance Company, choreography by Robert Battle. This abstract, haunting solo explores longing and rejection. Grotesque gestures merge with lyrical movement as the soloist wages an internal battle to a score by Nina Simone.

harmless buzzing

by Daniel Clifton explores the formula: over thinking - over doing - always moving = harmless buzzing

JumpCut

by Keith A. Thompson / danceTactics performance group. A male quartet that explores virtuosic physicality on the fence between competition and camaraderie. It has a casualness integrated with strength and power and complex initiations of movement. It is highly structured yet fresh, surprisingly tenders…a preparation, a rehearsal for the unknown.

On My Own

by Ori Flomin. A piece inspired by a look back to the choreographer's early dance influences and inspirations and how he views them now as a mature dancer/choreographer. It's driven from the contrast between abstract and literal dance, with a sparkly wink at old dance cliches.

La ultima Gota de Agua

(The Last Drop of Water) by Pasion Flamenca Dance Company. An homage to the men of flamenco who died of AIDS; the agony, the happiness, the sadness of living in this world.

"a group of brainy, funny modern-dance choreographers"
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times

VIA Dance Collaborative fourth NYC season will feature the premieres of three new modern dance pieces by core company members, performed by 14 dancers: Janice Lancaster's Weren't you always distracted by expectation, as if every event announced a belovedexplores humanism and folly in love; Katie Swords' When it gets dark enough, you can see the stars delves into the pain felt when love is taken away; and Dawn Poirier's Sometimes In, Sometimes Out explores the paradox of being part of a group, but not always fitting into it.

Thursday January 31st | 8PM Benefit night performance.
Tickets: $48 for back section; $98 for front section (Thursday only)

Friday February 1 | 8PM
Saturday February 2 | 8PM
Sunday February 3 | 8PM
Tickets: $15 (Friday-Sunday)

VIA DANCE BENEFIT (Thursday)
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VIA DANCE (Friday-Sun)
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Ticket Central phone number: 212-279-4200

Capital Life Triptych

Music by Topher Keyes and Mark Gergis
Set Design by Malinda Trimble
Costumes by Leigh Anne Martin
Lighting by Jennifer Ponder

Hailing from San Francisco , Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixir presents Capital Life Triptych, a powerful and insightful series that uses choreography grounded in the weight and speed of the human body to investigate facets of contemporary urban culture in both the Arab and Western world.

Her dances have a charged, earthy quality which have earned her a place on the SF Bay Guardians' "Top 10 Choreographers to Watch in 2006" and many additional critical accolades. Voice of Dance.com praised the company for being "an altogether satisfying experience, a true testament that choreography can communicate through performance, craft, and design."

Inspired by Tawil's work with Beirut-based Maqamat Theatre Dance, Capital Life explores what it means to be a contemporary artist, the multiplicity of "home" (ancestral/ emotional/ daily), and how globalization and marketing of culture affect perceptions of identity and "home". The score for Capital Life was composed by the experimental musician Mark Gergis, known for his ethnographic research and composition in music and film.

Since 1997, choreographer Leyya Tawil and composer Topher Keyes have collaborated on over 43 dances. They founded Dance Elixir in 2003, and have since produced an annual season in San Francisco and toured extensively throughout the country. Their work has been produced by the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Oakland Art Gallery (CA), Arab American National Museum (MI), Yerba Buena Gardens ( San Francisco ) and Dance Mission Theater ( San Francisco ). Their work has been featured on KGO’s Hot Picks (CA), NBC11 (CA), KRON4 (CA), KNOE-TV8 (LA), KALX's "Women in the Arts" (CA), and WDET’s "Morning Edition" (MI). Capital Life Triptych is sponsored by Alwan for the Arts (NYC) and Arts at Middlebury (VT).

Alwan for the Arts is a New York based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts and cultures of the Middle and Near East, North Africa , and their Diasporas.

Fri February 29 | 8pm
Sat March 1 | 8pm

Tickets: $25/$20 students, seniors, DNA members

BOX OFFICE: Ticket Central: 212-279-4200 and www.ticketcentral.com

Buy Tickets

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

Ode to Love's Arrows

Ode to Love's Arrows is a traditional Bharatanatyam dance recital celebrating the whimsical and mischievous nature of Kamadeva, the God of Desire from Indian mythology. Kamadeva, a character similar to Cupid, is a master archer, shooting helpless victims who become lost in love's delightful agony. Bharatanatyam is a South Indian classical dance form combining dynamic dance and subtle storytelling, traditionally performed with live Carnatic music.

Dance & new choreography by Malini Srinivasan

Music performed by Jayamangala: Jaya Balasubramaniam (vocal), Shobha Subramaniam (nattuvangam and vocal support), Sandhya Srinath (violin), Srinath Bala (mrdangam)

For more information visit www.malinisrinivasan.com

Sunday April 6 | 3pm

Tickets at www.ticketcentral.com or call 212-279-4200 ($20/$15)

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

Hearsay

Hearsay takes sound and language into the body and pursues the soul of both the message and the messenger. By playing with images of call and response, follow the leader, self-reflection, social evolution, oral story, and the voice of a crowd, Hearsay playfully maps out a moving language of subtle and not-so-subtle social paradigms.

Thurs June 5 | 8pm
Fri June 6 | 8pm
Sat June 7 | 8pm
Sun June 8 | 3pm

Notes in Motion Benefit Gala ADNANN Ticket Central

Notes in Motion ADNANM

Tickets: $20 Regular, $15 DNA Members, $17 Students

Ticket Central

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

Approaching Vertical

Molly Rabinowitz/LiquidGrip will present Approaching Vertical, an evening of new and recent pieces, including As Good as She Was Beautiful, Match, Comfort and its companion piece, Joy. Rabinowitz’s unique choreography combines lyrical full-out dancing, idiosyncratic movement and video to create humorous and whimsical explorations of human relationships, emotions and behavior.

Dancers include: Sandy Chase, Catey Ott, Molly Phelps, Erin Reck, Molly Rabinowitz, Carmen Nicole Smith, and Heather Walden-Arnold.

With music by Goran Bregovic and Justin Mullens and costumes by Naoko Nagata

Fri June 27 | 8pm
Sat June 28 | 8pm

Tickets $20 regular, $15 students, seniors and startving artists

Ticket Central

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

Transendance

The Massachusetts-based Sorvino Dance Project will present the New York premier of TRANSCENDANCE, an evening-length work created by Ann Sorvino in collaboration with her dancers.

The work deals with the Buddhist concepts of emptiness, attachment, and cause and effect. The performance begins with a dance film created in collaboration with filmmaker Vic Sorvino. The film explores Samadhi, which is the Buddhist ideal of becoming one with your surroundings. Music is composed and arranged by Greg Snedeker and performed live by the musicians of the Pioneer Consort; Michael Nix and Chris Devine.

Friday July 18 | 8:00 PM
Saturday July 19 | 8:00 PM

Tickets $20, $15 students and senior citizens

Ticket Central

Ticket Central phone number: 212-2794200

Video samples