Greetings & thanks to everyone who responded to our first newsletter. Keep those comments, questions and ideas coming…
in the theater
Arriving from The Netherlands this Fall with the audacious [purgatorio] POPOPERA, Emio Greco | PC brings their "aggressively contemporary" choreography, performed to Michael Gordon's explosive score, to College Park (MD), New York City, and North Adams (MA). Think we're enthusiastic? The Seattle Times once said: "Change your plans, get the expensive baby sitter, rent a car, charter a boat– take whatever measures you must to see Emio Greco | PC." With this tour, MAPP is launching an exciting new partnership with Marlon Barrios Solano and dance-tech.net, to host three weeks of featured online content including performance footage, documentary films, and interviews about this virtuosic company. Immerse yourself!
Don't miss thedebut U.S. tour of Gregory Maqoma/Vuyani Dance Theatre, hitting six U.S. cities in October & November- Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle and Lewiston (ME).The South Africa-based company presents Beautiful Me, an exquisite and probing dance work about finding your own voice. Four musicians (on violin, cello, sitar and percussion) perform onstage with Gregory, "one of the most talented choreographers to emerge from the new generation of South African artists" (ADAD-UK).
Dan Hurlin and his remarkable ensemble of puppeteers are touringDisfarmer, which Variety called "Moving, poignant, and occasionally hilarious…more than a clever biography or a series of dazzling technical feats: It's…life, in miniature." See it in Middletown (CT) and College Park (MD)(more engagements next May!).
After almost a year and a half of touring, Marc Bamuthi Joseph's the break/s: a mixtape for stage is nearing the end of the road with October performances in Atlanta, Pittsburgh & Troy (NY). Final performances come early next year in Chapel Hill (NC) and Madison (WI). See it while you still can!
in the studio
In October, the U.S. and Japanese performers of Yasuko Yokoshi's Tyler Tyler meet for the first time in what is sure to be an inspiring creative residency hosted by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography in Tallahassee. This is the first step towards putting the complex pieces of the work together as we get closer to it's March 2010 premiere.
Dean Moss's new project, Nameless forest, begins rehearsals later this fall. Dean is creatingNameless forest in close collaboration with Korean sculptor Sungmyung Chun, a maker of large-scale, dreamlike environments. Dean says: I pursued this collaboration with Chun because I feel a visceral connection to his imagery, not only in the layered emotional presentation of male ennui and aggression, but also through his aesthetic play of form and content. I feel strongly that we must have in common some fundamental kinds of experiences, and became intrigued by the possibility of meeting him, sharing our perspectives and our backgrounds, and somehow developing out of that confidence a multidisciplinary work that challenges and reflects a quintessential blending of individual practices.
in the community
We are so proud to announce the release of three projects designed to inspire the use of Sekou Sundiata's unique research-to-performance methodology:
The America Project: A Teaching Method for Collaboration, Creativity and Citizenship, a guide to using arts-based public exploration of the meaning of present-day U.S. citizenship;
finding the 51st (dream) state, a 30-minute documentary film (begun by Sekou) about the process of merging civic engagement with creative process, created with producer/ director/ writer Stanley Nelson of Firelight Media (with an essay by Julie Ellison, director emeritus of "Imagining America"); and
the 51st (dream) state, the film of the full performance, recorded at Brooklyn Academy of Music in November 2006.
LIFE IS LIVING lives on! Marc Bamuthi Joseph's trailblazing eco-equity arts project returns to Oakland, CA (Oct. 10) and Houston, TX (Nov. 7). It's a day of poetry, music, dance, art and getting to know the environment in your own backyard.
in the world
Returning from the Zurcher Theater Spektakel in Zurich last month, MAPP's Executive Director Ann Rosenthal shared with us the incredible performances she saw by Boyzie Cekwana (Influx controls: I wanna be wanna be), Faustin Linyekula (More more more… future), Nacera Belaza (Le cri) and Kassys (Good Cop Bad Cop). Look for a U.S. tour by Boyzie in 2011 of Influx controls: I wanna be wanna be, a compelling, deeply personal work examining identity against the backdrop of Apartheid and global colonialism.
Cathy Zimmerman, MAPP's Co-director, heads to Democratic Republic of Congo in October,where she will be hosted by Faustin Linyekula, his colleagues and family. This is one of a series of immersive research trips by members of the Africa Consortium, designed to deepen our understanding of and connection to our cultural partners on the continent as we work towards creating a program of real multidirectional exchange.
in suite 502
Congratulations to the winners! For responding to our audience surveys, Michael Ellis of Seattle won two tickets to see Gregory Maqoma at the Falls Theater in November, while Ellen Offner won a DVD of David Roussève's dance-film Bittersweet. Still up for grabs– the three DVD set of Ralph Lemon's Geography Trilogy. Your chance to complete our survey and enter your name in the drawing ends September 30th.
Choreographer and performer Milka Djordjevich (also MAPP's Administrative Manager), received a greatNY Times review along with her collaborator Chris Peck, for her recent performances at the Chocolate Factory Theater in NYC. Kudos, Milka & Chris!
Finally, an ENORMOUS thank you from the MAPP staff to board member Olivia Georgia and her spouse Steve Oakes for hosting a glorious Summer Sunday in the Berkshires party before the closing performance of Saudade by David Roussève/REALITY at Jacob's Pillow in July. Our thanks as well to everyone who joined us for the day– old friends and new!
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MAPP International Productions | 140 Second Avenue | Suite 502 | New York | NY | 10003
