Fort Point Theatre Channel and Contrapose Dance Presented
CHANNEL/DANCE
AN EVENING OF MOVEMENT, ART, AND THEATER
February 13-14, 2015
Atlantic Wharf
290 Congress Street, Boston, MA
Curated by Courtney Peix and Marc S. Miller
Click here to view photos by Daniel J. van Ackere
Channel/Dance, on Friday the Thirteenth of February and Valentine’s Day, offered endless possibilities for good luck and good feelings when ten of Boston’s adventurous choreographers collaborated with painters, photographers, playwrights, and other artists to create short movement works with imaginative and far-reaching visual and audio impact. Add the ingredients of a half-dozen of the briefest of movement-themed plays, and the result was an invigorating performance experience that surprised with its twists and turns.
Contrapose Dance and Fort Point Theatre Channel assembled eight teams, each joining choreographers with artists from non-dance disciplines, to collaborate in inventing performance works of under six minutes each. Juxtaposed with these movement pieces, the evening featured six new plays, each less than two minutes long. Selected from 80 submissions received from playwrights around the world, each had a connection to dance.
This collaboration with Contrapose Dance was the thirteenth in Fort Point Theatre Channel’s always surprising and exciting Exclamation Point! series of short new works.
The Lineup
Wrapped Atomic Number Two Attached
Created by Nicole Pierce (choreography) and Richard Dorff (design)
Performed by Nicole Pierce, with live improvisation music by Mitchel King Ahern
Lift Up Your Crazy Legs
A play by B.W. Shearer
Directed by Amelia Lumpkin
Performed by Marc Pierre (Esk) and Johannes Jerez Van Osten (Roll)
Habitus (Excerpt)
Created by Mariah Steele (choreography)
and Anne Loyer (design)
Performed by MaryRose Blandino, Grant Jacoby, Jennifer Roberts, Gabriela Silva, and Jessica Smith
Interpretation
A play written and performed by Mary Driscoll (Sasha Ellis) and Forrest Walter (Rocky Stallion)
Directed by Jaime Carrillo
Drawn
Created by Maggie Foster (choreography), Silvia Graziano (text), Caitlyn Schrader (choreography), and Douglas Urbank (film)
Performed by Maggie Foster
Expressionism
A play by Katelyn Beaudoin
Directed by Cait Robinson
Performed by Rachel Sacks (Nancy) and Bari Robinson (Simon)
Sunday
Created by Kelley Donovan (choreography) and Mark Warhol (composer)
Performed by Angie Hartley, Jessica Howard, Erin McNulty, Jaclyn Serino, Courtney Wagner, and Katherine Von Wald (dancers) and Kevin Price (clarinet)
Dancing the Constellations
A play by Greg Vovos
Directed by Amelia Lumpkin
Performed by JP Delgado Galdámez (Narrator 1), Gloria Clark (woman), Johannes Jerez Van Osten, (man) and Marc Pierre (Narrator 2)
Dulcamara
Created by Courtney Peix (choreography) and Daniel J. van Ackere (design)
Performed by Nina Brindamour and Maggie Foster
Pinpoint Wisdom
A play by Joan Leotta
Directed by Cait Robinson
Performed by Bari Robinson (Man), Lorne Batman (Woman), and Rachel Sacks (Jogger)
Coming and Going
Created by Audra Carabetta (choreography) and Olivia Brownlee (composer)
Performed by MaryRose Blandino, Emily Jerant-Hendrickson, Audrey MacLean, Jennifer Magnuson, Katie McGrail (dancers) and Olivia Brownlee (voice and drum)
Cherry Pierogis
A play by Kelli Burton
Directed by Amelia Lumpkin
Performed by Gloria Clark (Anna May) and Marc Pierre (Phil)
Foreword/Afterword: A Piece in Two Parts
Created and performed by Rachel Boggia, Annie Kloppenberg, and Meredith Lyons
Installation by Peter Agoos
Robotic Interruptions
Created by the Wondertwins (choreography) and Nick Thorkelson (animation)
Performed by the Wondertwins
Contrapose Dance was founded in 2008 by artistic director Courtney Peix out of a desire to present new, exciting, and entertaining works that engage and thrill audiences. This Cambridge-based repertory company presents modern, contemporary, and balletic works and aims to bring a continued fresh energy to the theater scene by commissioning innovative works, collaborating with unique artists, and producing high-quality dance art. It is through these commissions that Contrapose Dance actively expands its completely original repertory, working with emerging and established choreographers including David Parker (NY), Sydney Skybetter (NY), Marcus Schulkind (MA), Gianni Di Marco (MA), and Heidi Rood (Canada).
To date, Contrapose has participated in fifty+ performances and has twenty-five original works in its unique repertory. The company has received funding from the Somerville Arts Council and the National Science Foundation and was awarded the Boston Center for the Arts Dance Residency. Ultimately, Contrapose Dance hopes to bring a new generation of dance lovers along with us to a place where tradition and originality meet.
