LA MAMAMOVES!

MAY 10 - JUNE 3, 2018

ABOUT THE COVER Our 56th Season celebrates the creative and collective histories of La MaMa with the publication of Ellen Stewart Presents: Fifty Years of La MaMa Experimental Theatre by Cindy Rosenthal, which traces the evolution of La MaMa through its poster art. Throughout the season, we will be investigating this history by creating new designs inspired by La MaMa’s past.

Our cover was inspired by the poster commemorating the seventy-fifth birthday celebration of Samuel Beckett, presenting his new play, Rockaby, with photo of Beckett by Guy Suignard.

La MaMa Moves! cover photo of Ni’ja Whitson by Scott Shaw.

Lucie Grégoire Danse | MAY 10 - 11 | p.7Adham Hafez Company | MAY 12 - 13 | p.9Tony Whitfield and Whitfield CoLabs | MAY 11 - 13 | p.11Shared program with Parijat Desai | Paz Tanjuaquio | Angie Pittman | MAY 17 - 18 | p.13Jonathan Gonzalez | MAY 19 - 20 | p.15Ellen Fisher | MAY 25 - 27 | p.17Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama | MAY 30 - 31 | p.19Ni’Ja Whitson | JUNE 1 - 2 | p.21AUNTS | JUNE 3 | p.23Special Event | Off-Site—Panal Discussion | MAY 19 - 20 | p.24Special Event | Off-Site—Film Screening | MAY 26 - 27 | p.25

AT A GLANCE

3Photo of leaning on by Angle Pittman

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The choreographers participating in La MaMa Moves! 2018 are all strong, powerful individuals, beholden to no one, answering to nobody but themselves, adhering to no one style or genre, holding on to not one physical practice, dance technique, or philosophy.

Each individual artist is listening to her/his/their own voice, taking the road less traveled, actively seeking the detour to hell as well. Each does this with a fierce determination, and a deep kind of listening to the movement directives and intentions of their physical body(ies).

These personal directives coming from within are motivated by the breath, always present and inexorable. The body and breath inform and direct the content of the dance, rather than the dance directing the body. As a result, content from these choreographers has touched on issues of race, gender, exclusion, and seeking inclusion, articulating what living on the margins and peripheries looks and truly feels like, where the diasporas of larger communities lie.

This methodology (way of work) requires a deep listening and attention to the dictates of one’s internal journey, which necessarily creates a window towards an authenticity and truth which can’t be discovered otherwise. This particular process happens with a rigor, a blind but knowing faith, with a deep intelligence and a kind of devotion. Leading possibly to grace.

We invite you to join us, dear audience.

Much love to all,Nicky Paraiso La MaMa Moves! Curator

Photo of Station II Station by Paz Tanjuaquio

6 7Photo by Sylvie-Ann Paré

LUCIE GRÉGOIRE DANSE COMPANY Les Choses dernières (NY Premiere) May 10 – 11, 2018 | Thursday & Friday at 7pm | THE ELLEN STEWART THEATRE BY LUCIE GRÉGOIRE / PAUL AUSTER

In this solo, freely inspired by Paul Auster’s novel, In the Country of Last Things, a woman struggles for survival as she confronts disintegrating worlds. The raw quality of Grégoire’s work carries a fierce emotional impact that leaves a haunting imprint. Based on an uncompromising approach to movement, the dance here is necessary, lucid, and immensely generous. Robert M. Lepage’s music and Alain Lortie’s lighting create a cinematic atmosphere that conveys the dancer’s inner and outer journey.

Since founding Lucie Grégoire Danse in 1986, the Montreal based choreographer and dancer has created over 30 works – solos, ensemble pieces, and site-specific events, presenting them in Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan, and Tunisia.

98 Photo by Ahmed El Sayed

ADHAM HAFEZ COMPANY To Catch A Terrorist (World Premiere)May 12 – 13, 2018 | Saturday at 7pm, Sunday at 4pm | THE ELLEN STEWART THEATRE PRODUCTION OF ADHAM HAFEZ COMPANY AND HARAKA PLATFORM (EGYPT) | PERFORMED IN ENGLISH, ARABIC, FRENCH, LATIN A cryptic work that looks at the formation of disciplined bodies, borders, and the instrumentalist usage of fear as a sovereign act. Through data analysis, exorcist dances, demographic research, court hearing documents, visa applications, and disappearing traditional choreographies, this new work enmeshes science history, performance, and law. A new Choreopera, utilizing different movement writing techniques, a sound archive, and space making strategies to create an ominous score that wonders whose lives (and therefore intangible heritage) matter.

Since its establishment in 2003, the AHC has produced and toured in the Arab world, Europe, and the U.S. They have been awarded first prize for choreography by the Cairo Opera House for their performance High Voltage.

10 11Photo Tony Whitfield

TONY WHITFIELD & WHITFIELD COLABS THIS DANCERIE - New Love: 1910: World Out of Kilter (World Premiere) May 11 - 13, 2018 | Shows/ Live performance: Friday at 8pm, Saturday st 8pm & Sunday st 2pm | THE DOWNSTAIRSA PERFORMANCE/INSTALLATION BY TONY WHITFIELD AND WHITFIELD COLABS (USA/FRANCE)

A multi-media meditation on queer desire, danger, sexual misconduct, and self acceptance, inspired by rising flood waters and an unlikely seduction.

This Dancerie - Paris, 1938 (New York Premiere) May 11 - 13, 2018 | Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 7pm & Sunday at 1pm Video installation | Free admission | THE LOBBY IN THE DOWNSTAIRS

A video installation that proposes versions of what many believe was a same-sex relationship that resulted in an assassination triggering Kristallnacht, an explosion of Nazi persecution of Jews. These works by Tony Whitfield and Whitfield CoLabs are the first two projects of This Dancerie, a multi-media, multi-event, multi-site cycle of works exploring a century of queer public life in Paris and its connections today.

1312 Photo by Josh Adler

SHARED EVENINGMay 17 - 18, 2018 | Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 7pm | THE DOWNSTAIRSSHARED PROGRAM WITH PARIJAT DESAI & PAZ TANJUAQUIO & ANGIE PITTMAN

PARIJAT DESAI O.O.F. (studies in the opposite of fear) | By Parijat Desai Dance artist and educator Parijat Desai creates hybrids of contemporary, Indian classical and folk dance, theater, and other movement forms.

PAZ TANJUAQUIOStation II Station | By Paz Tanjuaquio/Topaz Arts Dance Productions Paz Tanjuaquio is a choreographer, performer, and visual artist, based in NYC since 1990. New work performed with text by George Emilio Sanchez, visuals & sound by Todd B. Richmond.

ANGIE PITTMAN leaning on | By Angie Pittman Angie Pittman is a New York-based, Bessie award-winning dance artist, dance maker, and dance educator.

14 15Photo by Kamila SlawinskiPhoto by Lanee Bird

JONATHAN GONZÁLEZ ObeahMay 19 - 20, 2018 | Saturday at 7pm, Sunday at 2pm | | THE DOWNSTAIRS BY JONATHAN GONZÁLEZ

In González’s Obeah, a duet between Rena Anakwe and Katrina Reid composes a sisterhood of sound and body invoking the mythologies of ‘Obeah Woman’ as underwater sorceress; including the untraceable work, A Black Ritual (Obeah) by Agnes De Mille (1940). Poetically submerging the theater in the hold of the oceanic, Piscean articulations of water as psychic and superstitious, question inherited grief for an ecstatic collective mourning. Jonathan González is a multidisciplinary artist initiating questions of/from the body. His works have been shown at Danspace Project, NYLA, Center for Performance Research, and El Museo Del Barrio.

17Photo by Bruce Gundersen

ELLEN FISHER Time Don’t Stop For Nobody May 25 - 27, 2018 | Friday & Saturday at 7pm, Sunday at 2pm | THE DOWNSTAIRS BY ELLEN FISHER

A movement-based performance inspired by perceptions of age. An ensemble of four performers, directed by Ellen Fisher, ranging in age from 11 to 95, collaborated during the creative process, exploring what it means to grow up. Fisher’s observational work experience and honest answers from a requested questionnaire help guide the structure of this intimate performance.

Ellen Fisher is a movement based performance artist whose work combines gestural actions with visual components such as film, shadow play, objects and puppets. She has received funding for her solo work from the NEA, NYFA, The Jerome Foundation, and others. Ellen Fisher began performing with Meredith Monk/The House in the ‘70’s and continues today.

18 19Photo by Todd Carroll

ANABELLA LENZU/ DANCEDRAMA No More Beautiful Dances (World Premiere)May 30 - 31, 2018 | Wednesday & Thursday at 7pm | THE DOWNSTAIRS BY ANABELLA LENZU/DANCEDRAMA (Argentina/Italy/USA)

This piece wrestles with the ideas of exploration, introspection and reframing a woman after becoming a mother, and being an immigrant. Lenzu’s dance theater piece uses drawing, spoken word, and video projections to tell a personal vision of femininity and what it means to be a woman today.

Originally from Argentina, Anabella Lenzu is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher with over 25 years of experience working in Argentina, Chile, Italy, and the USA. As Artistic Director of Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama, Lenzu draws on her diverse background to create thought-provoking and socially-conscious dance-theatre in the interest of improving our human condition.

2120 Photo by Scott Shaw

NI’JA WHITSON The Unarrival Experiments #4 June 1 - 2, 2018 | Friday & Saturday at 7pm | THE DOWNSTAIRS BY NI’JA WHITSON

The Unarrival Experiments #4 is a ritual digging into the “vaporous body” via relationships between astronomy, cosmology, time, Blackness, and premature death. In this solo iteration of the evening-length installation performance in process, Whitson engages the work of Heidegger’s On Time and Being with their forthcoming manuscript These Walking Glories.

Ni’Ja Whitson is a gender nonconforming interdisciplinary artist, Bessie award winning performer and writer who has been referred to as “majestic” by the New York Times, and recognized by Brooklyn Magazine as a culture influencer. Whitson’s work has been funded by the Jerome and Mertz Gilmore foundations, with commissions including EMPAC, American Realness Festival, Camargo/Jerome Foundation, Bogliasco Study Center in Italy, Cornell Council for the Arts Biennial.

23Photo by Julieta CervantesPhoto Tyler Ashley wearing Clair Fleury by Jeff Schaer-Moses

AUNTSAUNTS @ La MaMa Moves! J une 3, 2018 | Sunday at 5pm | THE DOWNSTAIRS AN EVENING OF DANCE AND PERFORMANCE ORGANIZED BY AUNTS

An underground platform for dance, AUNTS creates events in unconventional spaces with multiple performers, overlapping performances, open dance parties, multi-disciplinary, body/non-body based, time oriented, finished/experimental/unfinished/process art.

Guided by core principles of collectivity, cooperation, and sharing, AUNTS utilizes choreographic strategies to organize individual performances in a shared space while simultaneously promoting community building and artistic autonomy. In the typical Aunts style event, artists negotiate the simultaneous presentation of their work in relationship to one another. In the resulting installation, audiences are free to move about the space, engage with as many or as few of the performances as they like, and create their own experiences.

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SPECIAL EVENT OFF-SITEMay 19 - 20, 2018 | Saturday & Sunday at 3pm | Movement Research Room G05 at Abrons Arts Center | Free Admission

SECRET JOURNEY: STOP CALLING THEM DANGEROUS iN PARTNERSHIP WITH MOVEMENT RESEARCH

A Panel Symposium with long-table discussions over two days. The Panel Symposium includes conversations between Adham Hafez,Yoshiko Chuma, Danny Young, Yin Mei, and Egyptian, Romanian, Syrian, Turkish, and US dance artists. Hosted by Movement Research, Secret Journey: Stop Calling Them Dangerous includes discussions that examine stories about oppression, marginalization, prejudice, and profiling. La MaMa’s Panel Symposium will enable artists to explore their ideas and translate them into a theatrical language that can communicate to diverse artists and members of the dance community. It is also a place where emerging artists learn from established artists and where artists from around the globe share work and ideas.

SPECIAL EVENT OFF-SITEMay 26 - 27, 2018 | Saturday & Sunday 1pm-3pm | Douglas Dunn Studio, 541 Broadway, Third Floor | Free Admission

FILM SCREENINGS Film screenings include DOCK 11/New York Traces and POOL 17/Films in Competition in partnership w/ DOCK 11 (Berlin, Germany) w/ the participation of Goethe Institute/NY

TWO GIRLS DOWNTOWN IOWA | Elaine Summers |1973 | USA | 00:11:16WIND | Joan Jonas |1968 | USA | 00:05:37SONG DELAY | Joan Jonas | 1973 | USA | 00:18:35FIVE CAR PILE UP | Yoshiko Chuma | 1983 | USA | 00:03:48COMMERCIAL ERRUPTION | Yoshiko Chuma | 1982 | USA | 00:07:55SPLISH SPLASH | Yoshiko Chuma | 1982 | USA | 00:11:24THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT | Yoshiko Chuma | 1979 | USA | 00:18:00

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La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival 2018 reflects La MaMa’s longstanding dedication to performance that transcends politics and unifies cultures.

The 13th Season of the La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival has been made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with special thanks to City Council Speaker, Corey Johnson, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, and The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. Press Representative: Ellen Jacobs Associates

For tickets, visit www.lamama.org or call 212-352-3101.

All dates and times are subject to change.

CREATE YOUR OWN SEASON SUBSCRIPTION WITH 10 @ $10 TICKETSYou can see any show at La MaMa for only $10. That’s five shows for $50 or ten shows for only $100! It’s the best deal in town—but you have to act fast, because there are only ten $10 tickets per performance, and they sell out quickly!

ELLEN STEWART THEATRE66 East 4th Street, 2nd Floor

THE DOWNSTAIRS66 East 4th Street, basement level

Subway: 6 to Bleecker St N to 8th St Broadway F to Second Ave

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