DTW Nov 2005

DANCE THEATER WORKSHOP ANNOUNCES
NOVEMBER 2005 LINE-UP
DONALD BYRD/SPECTRUM DANCE THEATER (NOV. 2–5, 9–12)
THE BARNARD PROJECT (NOV. 17–19)
MIGUEL GUTIERREZ (NOV. 30–DEC. 3)
FRESH TRACKS (NOV. 25 & 26)

      Although on the cusp of its 40th anniversary, Dance Theater Workshop remains riveted to the future. In keeping with its tradition, DTW’s November line-up is thoroughly of––and ahead of––the moment. There is a debut and premiere by Donald Byrd/Specturm Dance Theater (November 2–5, 9–12); a new collaboration in The Barnard Project (November 17–19); two premieres by Miguel Gutierrez (November 30–December 3); and the semi-annual Fresh Tracks (November 25 & 26).
      DONALD BYRD/SPECTRUM DANCE THEATER, (NOVEMBER 2–5, 9–12) Donald Byrd’s “The Sleeping Beauty Notebook,” a New York premiere, may have been inspired by the classic 19th century ballet, but the result is pure 21st century. Shattering the narrative, giving new dimension to once-familiar characters and restructuring the Tchaikovsky score, Byrd creates an entirely new story marked by wit and the unexpected. In it, the choreographer juxtaposes malevolence and eroticism with beauty and innocence, using a combination of ballet, burlesque, contemporary dance and 19th century pantomime to refashion the tale. The engagement marks the New York debut of Spectrum Dance Theater, which Byrd took over in 2002.
Curtain time for Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance Theater is 7:30pm. Tickets are $25, or $15 with member, student and senior discounts.
      THE BARNARD PROJECT (NOVEMBER 17–19) The Barnard Project, a first-time collaboration between DTW and Barnard College, features dance students in works by three DTW artists who are currently in residence at the college. Ori Flomin’s “Walking City, Standing Square,” a world premiere inspired by Alberto Giacometti’s sculptures, looks at the coincidences and accidents that give shape to relationships in public spaces. In “Nut/cracked Redux,” David Parker reworks sections from last year’s hit, “Nut/cracked,” an irreverent re-imagining of “The Nutcracker,” this time with 20 dancers. And Donna Uchizono reconstructs “Butterflies from my Hand,” an exploration of surrender, vulnerability and power, from a quartet into a work for seven dancers.
      Curtain time for The Barnard Project is 7:30pm. On November 19, there will also be a performance at 2pm. Tickets are $20, or $12 with member, student and senior discounts.
      MIGUEL GUTIERREZ (NOVEMBER 30–DECEMBER 3) There are two sides to every performance: what the performer presents and what the performer feels. This duality has always fascinated Miguel Gutierrez, whose New York premiere of “Retrospective Exhibitionist” delves into his recollections of the emotions stirred while performing. Baring the inner life of a performer on stage, Gutierrez minimizes the artifice inherent in performance. Sheer impulse determined his choice of pop songs, props, recorded video interviews of himself and moments of nudity. In “Difficult Bodies,” also a local premiere, Gutierrez continues his confrontation between performer and viewer, this time using three women as his foil in a celebration of individuality. Gutierrez supplies the original music for the work, manipulating his own voice live onstage.
      Anna Sperber, who was selected by Gutierrez, will perform one hour prior to his shows on December 2 & 3. Sperber’s showings are a part of DTW’s new Studio Series which features free performances by an emerging choreographer chosen by a DTW artist.
      Curtain time for Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People is 7:30pm. On December 2, the company will also perform at 10:30 pm. Tickets are $20, or $12 with member, student and senior discounts. Anna Sperber’s free Studio Series shows begin at 6:30pm.
      FRESH TRACKS (NOVEMBER 25 & 26) The popular, juried series is back with works by six new choreographers. This fall, the roster includes: Rachel Bernsen (“experiment in progress”); Chase Granoff (“Boredom with objects!”); Isabel Lewis/The Labor Union (“The Labor Union’s Dance Work 1”); Jessica Morgan (“You are Gone Goodbye”); Paule Turner/court (“TOUCHED”); and John Wyszniewski (“Ground Control”).
      Curtain time for Fresh Tracks is 7:30pm. Tickets are $20, or $12 with member, student and senior discounts.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

DONALD BYRD, artistic director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater since December 2002, formerly headed Donald Byrd/The Group during the company’s 27 years. Byrd studied at Tufts and Yale Universities, The Cambridge School of Ballet, the London School of Contemporary Dance, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and with Mia Slavenska. He also danced with Twyla Tharp, Karole Armitage and Gus Solomons, Jr., among others. Since 1976, Byrd has created over 80 works for his own companies, as well as for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Philadanco, Cleo Parker Robinson, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Concordanse (Paris), MaggioDanza diFirenze and Oregon Ballet Theater, among others. His works include “The Harlem Nutcracker,” “Prodigal,” “The Minstrel Show” (1992 “Bessie” winner), “Drastic Cuts,” “Bristle,” “Life Situations: Daydreams on Giselle,” “The Beast,” “JazzTrain” and “In A Different Light: Duke Ellington.” Byrd has also choreographed for numerous stage productions at INTIMAN, Seattle Children’s Theater, Center Stage in Baltimore, the New York Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, San Francisco Opera and New York City Opera. He has served on the faculty of the California Institute for the Arts, taught at other universities in the U.S. and was a fellow at The Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard. He was also appointed to the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs (Seattle Arts Commission) in July 2003. Upcoming projects include dances for The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and DCDC and the choreography for the new Broadway musical “The Color Purple.”
SPECTRUM DANCE THEATER (SDT), based in Seattle, WA, was founded in 1982, and is currently comprised of eight dancers and five apprentices. The School at SDT provides dance education to students of all ages and abilities, and the Community Outreach program offers workshops, lecture/demonstrations and performances in both SDT’s studios and on-site in schools and community spaces throughout Seattle.
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ORI FLOMIN, a native of Israel, has been dancing in New York City since 1989. A member of the Stephen Petronio Dance Company from 1991 to 1999, Flomin has also danced in works by Neil Greenberg, Molissa Fenley, Kevin Wynn and Michael Clark, among others. His own choreography has been seen in New York at Dance Theater Workshop, P.S. 122, Galapagos performance space and in Salzburg, Austria at the Symphonic Dance Concert series. Flomin was Artist-in-Residence at Dance Space Center in 2003 and at Movement Research in 2004. He teaches dance as a guest artist in Europe at ImpulsTanz (Vienna), PARTS (Brussels) DansesHus (Copenhagen) and Sasha Waltz Company (Berlin), as well as at Dance Space.
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DAVID PARKER, artistic director of The Bang Group, which he founded in 1995, studied modern dance at Bard College and performed with several tap, folk and contemporary dance companies in New York before beginning to create his own work. One of his first pieces, “Bang and Suck,” was a 1994 finalist in the Fourth International Competition for Choreographers of Contemporary Dance in Groningen, Netherlands and received a special citation from the 2001 Kurt Joos Prize jury in Essen, Germany. Parker has also choreographed for the Verona Ballet in Italy and the Repertory Dance Theater of Utah. He teaches dance composition and improvisation at The Alvin Ailey School and is a guest professor throughout the United States and Europe. In 2002, Parker was recognized as a notable emerging artist by the jury of the Nijinsky Awards in Monte Carlo, Monaco, and his collaborative work with Dutch designers Melanie Rozema and Jeroen Teunissen received a 2002 “Bessie” Award for Design.

DONNA UCHIZONO is the artistic director of New York-based Donna Uchizono Company, which she founded in 1990. The recipient of a 2002 New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”), a Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2005 Alpert Award in Dance, among other honors, Uchizono and her company have performed throughout the United States, Europe and South America. She is a member of the Artist Advisory Board at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, where she was a founding member and chair from 1990 to 1995. Since 1980, she has regularly taught workshops and classes in the U.S., Europe and South America. She has been a guest choreographer at many universities and she teaches extensively at Movement Research and Dance New Amsterdam. Uchizono’s first solo exhibition of visual and installation work was presented by the Linda Kirkland Gallery in New York City in July 1999.
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MIGUEL GUTIERREZ, born in Queens, New York to Colombian parents, grew up in New Jersey where he began taking dance classes. After studying at Brown and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he danced with Joe Goode Performance Group from 1993 to 1996 and with John Jasperse Company from 1997 to 2001. In 2002, Gutierrez received a New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) for his work with the Jasperse Company. He has also worked with Mark Morris, Jennifer Monson, Sarah Michelson, Jennifer Lacey and Yvonne Meir, as well as with Deborah Hay in an upcoming project. The recipient of a 2004 Choreography Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, he also served as a Movement Research Artist-In-Residence from 2001 to 2003, as well as choreographer-in-residence at Ensemble Studio Theater’s Lexington Center for the Arts (2001, 2002, 2004), Hollins University and Dance Space Center. Gutierrez has curated shows at venues such as Danspace Project, Movement Research and The Kitchen, and was an Adjunct Professor in the Hunter College Dance Department and a visiting teacher in schools throughout the United States and internationally. He is also on faculty at the American Dance Festival and teaches regularly in New York.
MIGUEL GUTIERREZ AND THE POWERFUL PEOPLE was formed in 2001 by Gutierrez. As artistic director of the company––which has been seen at Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and in Washington, D.C., New Hampshire, Virginia and Russia––Gutierrez created “enter the seen” (2002), “I succumb” (2003) and “dAMNATION rOAD” (2004), which received a “Bessie” Award for visual designer Christoph Draeger.

LOCATION & TICKET INFORMATION

All Dance Theater Workshop tickets, including 4 for 40% Club discounts, may be purchased at the box office, by calling 212-924-0077 or online at www.dtw.org. Dance Theater Workshop is located at 219 West 19th Street, between 7th and 8th Aves.

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