AUG 20 | Closing Performance at the Schimmel Center
Join us for Battery Dance Festival’s closing performance at the Schimmel Center on August 20th at 6pm. Don’t miss enthralling creations by six choreographers hailing from Puerto Rico, Denmark, the Netherlands, Texas, Canada, and New York City.
Reservations for tonight’s performance are required. Make sure to click the register button to save your seat at the Schimmel Center.
Program
BOCA TUYA / OMAR ROMAN DE JESUS
Los Perros del Barrio Colosal
Through the exaggerated mannerisms of daytime television, the six characters of Los Perros del Barrio Colosal take us on a wild romp through the challenges of creative decision-making. Diving dramatically into the adventure of an imagination yet to be physicalized, they ask us to consider the far side of the moments when our ideas threaten, with disjointed urgency, to swallow us whole.
About the Company
Omar Román De Jesús (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is a recipient of the 2020 Jacob’s Pillow: The Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship. He has been commissioned by Instituto de Cultura de Puerto Rico to create work for the International Dance Festival of Puerto Rico where he was awarded the Ambassador of Dance medal. His work was presented at Chop Shop: Bodies of Work and will be presented at PRISMA International Dance Festival in Panama, the Jerusalem International Choreographic Competition and the Palm Desert Choreography Festival.
BATTERY DANCE
Above Deep Waters
In his work Above Deep Waters, Núñez draws inspiration from the life and artistic practice of Hans Hofmann. As a visually impaired choreographer, Núñez has a special interest in expanding Audio Description as an artistic medium, inviting the visually impaired and all audience members to experience color and composition in a multi-dimensional way. “Above Deep Waters” uses titles of Hofmann’s paintings to create poetic games of voice and text.
About the Company
Battery Dance was founded in 1976 in New York City’s Financial District by choreographer Jonathan Hollander, a Fulbright Lecturer and former professional dancer. The Company has since earned critical accolades for its exquisite choreography and virtuosic dancers, while becoming a leader in social activism at home and abroad. Battery Dance developed ‘Dancing to Connect’ in 2006, an arts education program that puts the tools of choreography into the hands of young people with or without prior dance training. Since then, 300,000 students in NYC public high schools and students in 60 countries around the world have benefited from this training.
JULIENNE DOKO
Lost Memories (Mémoires Perdues) | U.S. Premiere
Mémoires Perdues questions the notions of collective memory and progress: Do we really learn from the lessons of the past? The piece is an emotional response to this seemingly endless repetition of pain. It is a cry for the urgency of memory for our future. The choreographic vocabulary of the piece is African-contemporary drawing from Afro-Brazilian symbolism.
About the Company
Julienne Doko is a dance performer, teacher and choreographer with roots in the Central African Republic, currently based in Denmark. As a choreographer, Julienne creates her dance vocabulary by drawing from a wide array of dance styles such as contemporary (African-contemporary movement) and traditional (West African dances, Afro-Brazilian). Her movement and dramaturgical line take inspiration from her homelands and the journeys she has taken in between and are a testament to the vitality and expression of contemporary Afropean (Afro-European) scene in the Nordic countries. Julienne has performed internationally with a number of companies, in festivals, TV shows and in musicals.
TEATIME COMPANY
Stick-Stok | U.S. Premiere
In Stick-Stok, TeaTime Company focuses on the blending of Circus and Dance. Utilizing juggling, contemporary dance and Chinese pole skills, the artists explore the possibilities of three custom made poles. Leaning into the simplicity of the object, they discover the combination of their disciplines in a completely new way.
This performance is supported by DutchCultureUSA at the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York.
About the Company
TeaTime Company creates performances where the borders of circus and dance disappear to create a new and hybrid movement language. A language that shows concrete, human reactions to abstract situations. Complex ideas are met with accessibility and charm, along with subtle humour and strong imagery. The artists of TeaTime Company are specialized in three different disciplines: Chinese pole, dance, and juggling. What excites them is the search for the similarities and differences between their disciplines, personalities and interests as makers. With their first performance ‘Stick-Stok’, TeaTime Company played more than 300 times in over 10 different countries.
DALLAS BLACK DANCE THEATRE
Face What’s Facing You!
Choreographed by company dancer Claude Alexander III, Face What’s Facing You! is an honest, soul-stirring work addressing the facing of life’s challenges.
About the Company
Founded in 1976 by Ann Williams and under the direction of the Artistic Director, Melissa M. Young, the mission of Dallas Black Dance Theatre is to create and produce contemporary modern dance at its highest level of artistic excellence through performances and educational programs that bridge cultures and reach diverse communities. With an ever-expanding national and global audience, the company employs a diverse, multi-ethnic troupe of dancers performing for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
COMPAGNIE VIRGINIE BRUNELLE
Les Corps Avalés | U.S. Premiere
Against a backdrop of resilience and hope, Les Corps Avalés explores power relations, inequalities and social upheaval. Mastering the delicate balance between expressiveness and the vigorous physicality of her choreographic language, Brunelle directs seven dancers in a portrayal of a vulnerable humanity in search of gentleness and community.
This performance is supported by the Canadian Consulate in New York and the Québec Government Office in New York.
About the Company
It is first through the spectrum of music that Virginie Brunelle discovered her artistic fiber. After dedicating her childhood to the violin, she transfers this musical knowledge and her mastery of rhythm to a dance training (UQAM, 2007) creation profile. As soon as she graduated, she quickly borrowed gestures from classical dance that she liked to dirty and divert. Since the founding of her eponymous company in 2009, Virginie has created ten choreographic works that have been presented in more than fifty cities in twelve different countries, and she continues to be its general and artistic director. Deploying a choreographic approach that is both sensible and intuitive, her works form a repertoire characterized by the raw emotion of the performers and by the humanity of the subjects tackled.