VIA Dance Collaborative presents 3 premieres during 7th NYC dance season.
December 15 - 17 at The LABA Theater
Buy tickets HERE.
VIA DANCE COLLABORATIVE presents its seventh New York season, featuring new works by Dawn Poirier, Katie Swords and Adrienne Westwood, on Thursday, December 15 at 8pm; Friday, December 16 at 8pm; and Saturday, December 17 at 8 pm & 3 pm. Performances will be held at The LABA Theater at the 14th Street Y, located at 344 East 14th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues). Tickets are $15, available at www.smarttix.com or 212-868-4444.
The program for the evening features the premiere of 3 new works:
• Adrienne Westwood’s " · · · " is a duet featuring two dancers with 16 hand-crank music boxes sewn into their clothing. An exploration of time, memory, and childhood objects, it is danced by Pamela Pietro and Katie Swords. Its development was supported by residencies at The Firkin Crane in Cork, Ireland and Silo at Kirkland Farm.
• Dawn Poirier’s "Plus X." Set to the music of Tom Waits, this kaleidoscopic duet loosely threads together time and various love stories, highlighting the threshold exchanges in and out of the infamous subject of love. The work is danced by Beth Edwards and Lindsay Lee.
• Katie Swords’ "Pick me." looks at five women and their attempt to reach potentially unattainable ideals. The work examines the obsessive nature of wanting to be (or at least seem) perfect and the desperate things we often do to feel a part of something “bigger” than ourselves. Developed through a residency at the Silo at Kirkland Farm, the work is danced by Beth Edwards, Kathryn Logan, Dawn Poirier, Hsiao-jou Tang, and Sarah Zitnay.
The evening features lighting design by long-time VIA collaborator Carrie Wood, costume design by Elizabeth Sargent and original sound by Jim Briggs and Rudy Thomas.
Noted as "rich in elegant, total design and performance" by Eva Yaa Asantewaa (InfiniteBody Blog), VIA DANCE COLLABORATIVE has presented six full New York City seasons, educational residencies, and dozens of shared performances. Co-founded in 2004 by Dawn Poirer, Katie Swords and Adrienne Westwood, the company has created over 20 new dances spearheaded by eight choreographers and numerous collaborators including The Dream Project: Lullaby in Surrealism and The Seasons Project, two full-scale, interactive community projects. The 7th season marks the culmination of “...VIA conversations,” a series of monthly opportunities for the artists to share their work and engage in dialogue throughout their creative processes, made possible by the Fund for Creative Communities and the Manhattan Community Arts Fund (both administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council). For more info visit www.viadance.org.
Dawn Poirier earned an MFA in choreography from the University of Iowa, where she received the Iowa Arts Fellowship, and a BFA in modern dance from North Carolina School of the Arts. In addition to her performance and choreography with VIA, her work has been showcased at the American College Dance Festival (2003) and The University of Iowa (2009), as well as commissioned by Dancers in Company (2002), HSPVA in Houston (2006), and SUNY Fredonia (2005). Dancing in New York has involved working with Geraldine Cardiel, Daniel Charon and Philippa Kaye, as well as co-founding VIA Dance Collaborative. Her teaching credits include a guest professorship at the University of Iowa (2009), and an ongoing relationship with the modern guest artist series at Dance New Amsterdam.
Katie Swords' choreography has been seen throughout NYC, in North Carolina, at various universities, in Puebla and Cholula, Mexico, The WUK in Vienna, and the CCN-Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy, France. Katie currently teaches contemporary dance technique at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has also taught at the American Dance Festival, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Performatica in Cholula, Mexico, the nEW Festival in Philadelphia, Renaissance Arts Academy in Los Angeles, and in Dance New Amsterdam’s Modern Guest Artist Series.
Adrienne Westwood's choreography has been presented widely in New York and at Jacob’s Pillow, CCN-Ballet de Lorraine (Nancy, France), The WUK (Vienna), The Firkin Crane (Cork, Ireland), The Great Friends Dance Festival (Rhode Island), East Street Theater (Massachusetts), McCallum Theater (California), and in topos, topio curated by Donna Faye Burchfield at The Drake (Philadelphia). She has taught at University of the Arts in Philadephia, SUNY Fredonia, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, DIckinson College, Chautauqua Institution, nEW Festival (Philadelphia), and Performática (Puebla, Mexico). She currently teaches in NYC for DNA’s Modern Guest Artist Series, CLASSCLASSCLASS, and Lincoln Center Institute. She served from 2008-2011 on Dance/NYC’s Junior Committee, and currently serves for a second term on the selection committee for “The Bessie” New York Dance and Performance Awards. www.adriennewestwood.com
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These performances are made possible in part with public funds from the Fund for Creative Communities, supported by New York State Council on the Arts and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; and with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.