Growing Up Linda, Carriage House, Providence

PRESS RELEASE

The Rhode Island Independent Arts Collective presents:

Dance: Close-Up! at The Carriage House Theater in Providence on February 10 and 11

Come see some of the hottest independent choreographers and performance artists in the region!

Friday, February 10 at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, February 11 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets $10

Exciting, provocative, and tantalizing are the works being presented in Dance: Close-Up! at The Carriage House Theater in Providence, Rhode Island on February 10/11. An eclectic array of modern dance, Butoh, Neo-Burlesque Theater, physical theater and puppetry tantalize your thirst for great theater and dance! Adult audiences will enjoy these original pieces created by local choreographers and performance artists. Lady Miss Iris, Joan Merwyn Physical Theater, Marsian De Lellis, Evolutions Movement Company, Ellen Godena, Rosemary Candelario, Greg Cooper, Revka Hovermale, Robin’s Egg, Janeann Samuel, Alisha Ear, and Andary Dance express their artistic views out loud and proud. The Rhode Island Independent Arts Collective (RIIAC) through the Dance Alliance of Rhode Island offer an open and adjudicated venue for the region’s nationally and internationally recognized independent choreographers and performance artists. Talent and skill, artistry and  brilliance, passion and creativity are elements that make up this year’s Dance: Close-Up!

On February 10th and 11th in Providence’s intimate theater—The Carriage House Theater, you will be impressed by the amount of work and talent that resides here in the area. Dance: Close-Up! allows for a multitude of artists and a multitude of styles showcasing the eclectic dance community in the region.

The Rhode Island Independent Arts Collective (RIIAC) through Dance Alliance of RI is a grass roots autonomous group of local performance artists dedicated to creating new works and developing long-range strategies for sustaining a life in the arts in Rhode Island. RIIAC serves artists in the disciplines of dance, theater, music, text, performance art and film/video. Dance: Close-Up! highlights independent choreographers/artists that have performed and toured both nationally and internationally. Mark your calendar and order your tickets now because this two night event will sell out quickly. You do not want to miss the featured talent in Dance: Close-Up!

Dance:Close-Up! is supported and sponsored by Dance Alliance of Rhode Island and Andary Dance.

This concert has adult content. Some concert highlights:

Out (2005)
Which was created and developed by Rosemary Candelario at the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Institute entitled, Words and Movement. Out utilizes original text to examine childhood memories and future aspirations. Funny and dark are the staccato movements that play back and forth on stage while moving purposefully from left to right. Out was showcased at the Urban Bush Women Summer Institute in July of 2005.

Threshold (or why I don’t know what I don’t know (Premiere)
Threshold (or why I don’t know what I don’t know) created by Ellen Godena and performed by both Ellen Godena and Boston based film artist Alice Cox. This piece explores a moment in the life of a woman as she awakens to the existence of a second self inhabiting a parallel universe. Butoh-inspired movement is used to explore the transition of awareness as it travels as a microscopic echo between the two selves. Ellen Godena’s performance credits and her training by critically acclaimed Butoh artists such as Katsura Kan, Su-En, and Hiroko Tamano, Ellen Godena’s artistic voice has been influenced by her work in Butoh, Feldenkrais and ATM somatic training.

MONEY MATTER$ 
Developed, in part, through a Choreography Space Grant from the Brooklyn Arts Exchange and the New York State Council on the Arts by Joan Merwyn of Joan Merwyn Physical Theater. MONEY MATTER$ examines insatiable greed in a humorous and visceral portrayal of spiritual materialism and asks, “Has money become our god”? A zany character, portrayed by Joan Merwyn, obsessively manipulates 200, one- dollar bills to the music of JS Bach. This entertaining tour de force suggests the moral and cultural consequences of inequitable world finance and exploitation. Joan Merwyn has received the choreography fellowship from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and is a Bessie Award winning (NY Dance and Performance Award) ensemble performer and a critically acclaimed, solo performance artist, director and educator. She has been creating and presenting original performance work for over twenty-five years and is a Rhode Island native who lives and works in RI and New York City. She has taught and performed throughout Europe, Canada and the U.S. with both her solo performances and as a founding member of several experimental, movement theater companies.

Released (2004)
Released features the work of video artist, Alison Powell, and was created by Nathan Andary of Andary Dance. A lone black bird sitting a top an obscure roof fills the backdrop while three dancers trapped in a cage fight for control and balance. Andary found that the human emotion placed on a caged animal shows the divide between animals and humans while highlighting the fact that all beings are bound by some type of cage, either literally or metaphorically. The focus of this piece is liberty and privilege. Is the animal observing the human; or the human observing the animal? Andary’s dancers bring you to the edge of your seat as they explore their plight for release.

SUPPORT