Seattle Contact Improvisation Dance
Seattle contact improvisation
dance and related classes, workshops, and activities in Seattle, WA.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Festival Calendar Overview:
PERFORMANCES
June 13-14 // Seattle Center // (206) 684-7200
Installation piece Shiver opens at 12noon Sat. June 13th and closes Sat. June
14th at 6pm.
International and local dance and musical artists perform from 12 noon until
5pm Sat. and Sun. June 13th & 14th: dance artists including Astad Deboo (India), The Phffft! Company (Seattle) along with others and musical artists Moraine, Reptet
and Deep Sleep Narcotics Co.
For more info. on festival performance, go to www.phffft.org/sidf.html.
June 19 & 21 // Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center // (206) 684-4757
4 companies/groups and one dance video Friday June 19 at 8pm and Sunday June 21
at 7:30pm:
Astad Deboo (India) and company, Tasneem Rangwala, Divya Rangarajan and Archana
Kumar
Mirva Makinen (Finland) with Trinidad Martinez (Spain/Seattle) and Cyrus
Khambatta (U.S.)
Cyrus Khambatta and The Phffft! Dance Theatre Company (Seattle)
Claire Filmon, Stephane Els/ Company Asphodèle Danses Envol (France)
Dance fim by Paige Phillips and Przemek Pardyak (U.S./Poland)
WORKSHOPS with international artists:
June 15-20 // Grassroots Studio & Camp Long // (206) 935-0459 //
5200 35th Ave. SW (W. Seattle)
Mirva Makinen (Finland) teaches Details in Dance on June 20 from 11-4pm
Claire Filmon (France) will teach "CI and Underscore" and "CI
and speaking," inspired by her work/performing with Simone Forti Monday
June 15, 16 & 17 from 1-4 and 6-9pm.
For more information on both workshops or to sign up, go to www.phffft.org/sidf-workshops.html.
Meet the Artists
Astad Deboo pioneered Modern Dance in India merging Graham and Limon technique
studied at the London School of Contemporary Dance with Kathkali and Kathak
traditional Indian dance. Based in Mumbai, the city of Slumdog Millionaire
fame, Astad is truly a one-of-a-kind artist not to be missed. He arrives in Seattle two weeks early for a unique collaborative project to be performed with local
dancers versed in Indian/Modern crossover at Seattle Center on June 13 & 14
at 12 noon (see below). Then his group will perform a split-bill, along with
the companies listed below, at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center on June
19 & 21.
Mirva Mäkinen is a Finnish dance artist from Helsinki working with the Zodiak Center for New Dance, Karttunen Kollectiv and Circo Aereo. Having received her MA
and studied Modern Dance at the Theater Academy of Finland her work fuses
contemporary technique and improvisational dance modalities into a passionate
performance amalgam. Mirva will be joined by Spanish artist, Trinidad Martinez,
most recently seen in Pat Graney's House of Mind, and Phffft! Company Artistic
Director, Cyrus Khambatta for a three-country collaboration. The artists will
create the piece in different countries and spend one week assembling them in Seattle before the festival. Another exciting adventure in art not to be missed.
Performances are June 19 & 21 at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.
Cyrus Khambatta, Artistic Director of The Phffft! Dance Theatre Company, is
compelled to create partnering movement that contains precise synchonicity
inside intensely organized chaos. "I like to see how many split-second
moments the audience can catch with the eye." says Mr. Khambatta. Fed also
by the intrinsic qualities of each of his powerful cast of dancers, the company
will present the premiere of Interview with The American Dream. Based on a
sound-track created by calling one person in each state in the U.S., the piece explores how Americans notion of the "American dream" has/has not
changed with recent events. You don't want to miss this company's split-second
timing and intricate partnering finesse. Performances are June 19 & 21 at
Langston Hughes.
Claire Filmon and Stéphane Els (France) are Company Asphodèle Danses Envol.
"Asphodèle" is a small blue or white flower, the subject of a Matisse
painting, that only grows on mountain tops. The Greek origins of the word mean
"the flower of the forgotten." And like this flower, Claire, who
performs frequently with Simone Forti, presents a performance style both
delicate and nuanced. 8 mn 08 precisely," the piece she and Staphane will
perform is a sensitive and precious little piece art you will want to take home
in your pocket.
Dance Artist, Paige Phillips and Polish film Director, Przemek Pardyak teamed
up to create a dance film, As Was Said, based on Russian writer Mikhail
Bulgakov's novel, Master and Margarita. The sensuous and mysterious film hosts
a battery of quirky characters, intriguing plots and subplots with the feel of
a secret society of misfits, akin to the underground world of Alice in
Wonderland. The film was shot entirely in Seattle and includes Phffft! dancer of three years running, Chris McCallister among its
cast. The festival presentation will be the world premiere of the film.
In addition to performances at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center, Beyond
the Threshold Site Specific will present over 50 artists and groups performing
music and dance at Seattle Center's Center House on June 13 & 14 from
12-5pm. The events circle around an installation by Cyrus Khambatta entitled
"Shiver" in which 5,000 tiny pieces of tissue suspended above the
audience, "shiver" at the frequency of the Earth's orbit of the Sun.
Dance artists, including Astad Deboo performing in person (his company performs
June 19/21), Cyrus Khambatta/The Phffft! Dance Theatre Company along with
numerous others, and musical artists, Moraine, Deep Sleep Narcotics and the
Nextdoor Neighbors. Check the website as artists are still being added.