Wild Dancing West 2008
Third Annual Festival of Local and Regional Contemporary Dance
Fridays & Saturdays May 30 - June 14
Three weekends of contemporary dance featuring work by six companies from New Mexico and California.
Performances take place in Albuquerque at N4th Theater (4904 4th NW, near the corner of 4th and Griegos) and CAKE (4011 Silver SE, between Montclaire and Morningside).
Schedule for Wild Dancing West 2008:
WEEK 1:
Ecotone; photo by Pat Berrett
Friday May 30 & Saturday May 31, N4th Theater, 6:30 pm
Ecotone Physical Theatre (Albuquerque)
Ecotone Physical Theatre presents Voodoo Cabaret, an evening of improvised performance of dance, theatre, video and music. Voodoo Cabaret is a fully improvised dance theatre work about borders and borderlands, using contemporary dance technique and theatrical elements blended with a live electronic and acoustic soundscape. Each performance is entirely unique, fully improvised from start to finish. It is a fusion of spontaneous expressions using gestures, sounds, comical props and words, unwieldy technology and audience participation. It veers from the abstract to the comic to the mysterious and back with wild unpredictability as every moment on stage is created anew. Voodoo Cabaret features Donna Jewell, Kevin Paul, Lisa Nevada, Jessica Searer as well as two guest performers, dancer/actor Susan Skeele and musician Bill Clark. Lighting design is by Luke Olson.
Readymade Dance Theater Company; photo by Zsolt Palcza
Friday May 30 & Saturday May 31, CAKE (4011 Silver SE, one block south of Central between Montclaire & Morningside), 8:00 pm. Seating is limited.
Readymade Dance Theater Company (Albuquerque)
PURE, a new work by Readymade Dance Theater Company (RDTC) Director Zsolt Palcza, is an examination of our most basic human aspirations, dreams, and desires. Three female performers confess their personal intentions within the safety of a 16 x 20-foot white box. Delicate, dream-like imagery is projected on the walls while the women dance, hang like fruit and fall to the ground. A haunting medley of brass, string, and vocals by Balkan composer Goran Bregovic accompanies this contemporary dance theater piece. PURE premieres as part of the Wild Dancing West Festival at CAKE (RDTC’s home studio) and will travel to New York City’s Performance Space 122 in July 2008. Performers include Jenny Hipscher, Sarah Wright and Dana Ten Broeck. Long-time collaborator Gordon Kennedy creates atmospheric effects with non-traditional theater lights.
WEEK 2:
Xdrop; photo by Randy Janson
Friday June 6 & Saturday June 7, N4th Theater, 6:30 pm
Xdrop (San Francisco)
Liliana Cattaneo and Sarah Keeney of Xdrop articulate their perception of existence and being human through a carefully choreographed dance performance entitled, So Human An Animal, which debuted in San Francisco on February 8, 2008 at Shotwell Studios in the Mission district. The themes that run throughout the performance include self-awareness, expectations, love, war, and perseverance. Like poetry, So Human An Animal has various interpretations, but to the naked eye demonstrates creative imagery with eye catching movements and the use of everyday props such as a trash can, balloons, and rope. So Human An Animal captures the beautiful, the grotesque, and proves that love and understanding is essential to human relationships. A music soundtrack featuring artists such as the Wild Colonials, Explosions in the Sky and Tool. Ultimately, Xdrop illustrates through dance the evolution of the self, culminating with an enlightenment that grabs hold of the viewer to allow retrospection and the ability to grapple with a new understanding of being.
website: www.xdrop.org
Jacqueline Garcia’s LOTUS; photo by Travis
Friday June 6 & Saturday June 7, N4th Theater, 8:00 pm
Jacqueline M. Garcia (Albuquerque)
The lotus flower or padma is a symbol for enlightenment and transformation in many eastern cultures. Choreographer Jacqueline Garcia’s newest work, OM TARE, examines the journey we all take to awaken, transform, and emerge. We follow the dancers across this symbolic ocean of existence, as each moment becomes a wave of creation, transformation, and destruction. At its core, the work reveals both the inner beauty and darkness of our personal experiences, awakenings, and relationships within this world of constant flux. Musical accompaniment for OM TARE embodies an Eastern aesthetic in its many forms. Samples include symphonic compositions, chanting, electronic sound fusions, and traditional instruments such as Japanese flutes, Tibetan cymbals, and ceremonial horns. The work premiers at Wild Dancing West and is performed by Jacqueline A. De Lora, Zoe Hunter, Michelle Posey, Haydee Renteria and Margaret West. Jacqueline Garcia will also premiere a new piece at Contemporary Dance Theater’s 35th Anniversary Choreographer’s Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio, in June 2008.
WEEK 3:
Put Attention Dance Collective; photo by Kyrsen Sanderson
Friday June 13 & Saturday June 14, N4th Theater, 6:30 pm
PutAttention Dance Collective (Albuquerque)
PutAttention Dance Collective is celebrating their fourth year in Albuquerque as a contemporary dance company. PutAttention will be premiering an evening length work titled, Affect, at Wild Dancing West. Affect combines the worlds of video art and live dance performance in an exploration of four young women finding each other in a collective space. The collaborating members of this new work include Kelly Fergusson, Allison Hankins, Lisa Nevada, Kyrsten Sanderson, and Jessica Searer.
Deirdre Morris; photo by Kate Russell
Friday June 13 & Saturday June 14, N4th Theater, 8:00 pm
Deirdre Morris (Santa Fe)
Ashes: The Alchemy of Hope is a multi-media performance involving improvised and metamorphic movement, film, shadow puppetry and live music. It is a collection of artists and styles drawn together by director/choreographer Deirdre Morris in collaboration with members of High Mayhem, Wise Fool New Mexico, Synchronicity Pictures, Puppet Meat Market and the audience. This is a piece about reconnection, recognition and reflection. In an attempt to address these pervasive issues Deirdre has chosen to explore the discordant world of one woman and her journey to hope. The work is about Hope, a laundress who dreams that the ignorance, apathy and negative deeds found in the world can be appeased if we can just learn how to connect with one another and the world ever present around us. Through the meditative act of “washing” she discovers a profound ability to connect to the “others” of her world who have been made separate by her fear. Through her willingness to step into the dark Hope discovers her namesake.
Tickets for full evening of performances (no partial evening discounts) $12 general admission; $8 students/seniors. For ticket reservations and festival information call (505) 344-4542.
Wild Dancing West 2008 is Co-Presented by NewArt New Mexico and VSA North Fourth Art Center
Festival support is provided in part by Albuquerque Community Foundation.