CURRENT COMPANY REPERTOIRE
Click here for full company repertoire
Hair Ties (2017)
Hair Ties is a multidisciplinary, dance-theater piece inspired by America's fear of Black power and beauty. Inspired by the Tignon Laws of the 1800s, this evocative work is a celebration of Black beauty, creativity, and ingenuity in the face of perpetual oppression. Collaboration with Evelyn Green (videographer), Amina Henry (wordsmith) and Hair Ties interviewee's. 3-6 performers, 30min.
May 2018 - The Dance Complex, Cambridge, MA
March 2017 – Triskelion Split Bill Series, Triskelion Arts, Brooklyn, NY
Song and Dance You (2016)
Song and Dance You is a provocative, no holds barred multidisciplinary evening length performance in collaboration with musician Zoë Aqua, Playwright Amina Henry, and MOPDC's SADY workshop participants. The choreography balances comedy and tragedy, makes parallels with Minstrelsy and our modern society, and
looks to answer the question: what will it take for Black Lives to Matter to all people? Based in Contemporary Dance Theater the movements fluctuate between Contemporary Dance, Traditional Jazz, and House. MOPDC also provides SADY choreography workshops that explores the Black Lives Matter Movement in relationship to the history of racism in the United States, and includes movement phrases and gestures created in these workshops within our choreography. 9 dancers, 1 musician, 60min.
August 2018 - Central Park's SummerStage
September 2017 - American AF Festival @ The New Ohio Theatre w/ Mtume Gant's awarded film "White Face," violinist Zoe Aqua
October 2016
- The New York Dance and Performance Awards/The Bessies @ BAM's Howard Gilman
Opera House, Brooklyn, NY; violinist Zoe Aqua
January 2016 – FLICfest Artist-in-Residence Performance @ The Irondale Center,
Brooklyn, NY; violinist Zoe Aqua
(For) Those We Left Behind (2010)
In (For) Those We Left Behind, company members channel their ancestral stories, embodying their heritage in a visceral Contemporary Dance Theater piece. The story is told through the haunting imagery and voices of family members stuck in their native lands. The choreography delves into the recognition of our vulnerability, a surrender of our desire to control events, and concept of morphing transformation. The passionate interdisciplinary exploration weaves dream like states of spoken word, folkloric dances, and live Klezmer music. Site-specific to each location it is performed. 4-11 dancers, 1-2 musicians, 25min.
October 2017 - American AF Festival @ The New Ohio Theatre, New York, NY; violinist Zoe Aqua, accordionist Hannah Temple
September 2017 - Dance Safari @ North Riverside Park, New York, NY; site-specific version; violinist Zoe AquaAugust 2017 - The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY; violinist Zoe Aqua, accordionist Mattias Kauffmann
July 2014 – ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival @ Central Park, New York, NY; site-specific version for Summit Rock; violinist Sean Devare
September 2010 – White Wave's DUMBO Dance Festival, Brooklyn, NY; site Specific version for Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1; bassist Michael Thurber
Alma Liberada/Liberated Soul (2015)
Alma
Liberada/Liberated Soul is made up of various
Afro-Brazilian inspired company repertory pieces including: Solte
Sua Samba, Natureza Viva! and Aconteceu.
An ode to the vibrant and lively dance and music of Brazil as well as
the community building nuances of dances such as: Samba-Afro, Samba,
Dances of the Orixás, Passinho, and Samba de Roda. Choreography
unites folkloric dance with contemporary dance and live music. This
performance also includes engaging interactive audience
participation. 6-11 dancers, 4 musicians, 30-50min.
BAugust 2015 – Boogie on the Boulevard/Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
June 2015 – Lincoln Center's Meet the Artist Saturday's @ The David Rubenstein Atrium, New York, NY
Aconteceu/It Happened (2012)
Based
on the Candelária Massacre of 1993 in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, where 8
street children were massacred by police, the work provocatively
fuses Contemporary Dance and pedestrian movements with Afro-Brazilian
dances including Dances of the Orixás, Capoeira, and Samba. In
questioning the role of fate in how the world unfolds around us, as
well as paralleling Greek Fates and the Goddess Yemanja of the
Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé, the structure of the piece
follows the format of a Greek Tragedy. Choreography includes both
live spoken word and singing. Originally set for 23 dancers, can be
performed with at least 11 people, 25min.
March 2017 - The Human Rights Arts Festival @ Dixon Place, New York, NY
May 2015 – A Thread That Ties Us All @ University Settlement (co-produced production), New York, NY
April 2012 – Closed Body/Safe Heart @ The Center for Dance, Movement and Somatic Learning, Stony Brook, NY/Faculty Choreographer – Performance Dance Ensemble
Her Veiled Reflections (2013)
This
collaborative choreography explores the secrets women keep and carry.
It investigates how secrets shape the ways women move through their
lives, view themselves and each other. Experience a dynamic dialogue
between movement, live musicians, and anonymous contributors who have
dared to share their secrets in writing. Watch women unite and
empower each other across culture, class, religion, and age. Witness
how secrets can be transformed from what keeps us separate into what
keeps us connected. This interactive multimedia piece includes
audience members reading secrets from collected index cards and video
installations.
Secrets shared by over 200 women from around the world via an online
anonymous survey. 9 dancers, 4 live musicians, 75min full production,
10min solos/duets.
July 2015 – The Southern Vermont Dance Festival, Brattleboro, VT (solo)
June 2015 - Casita Maria Artist-in-Residence Performance, Bronx, NY; site-specific version (full production)October 2014 – For Ferguson @ The Muse, Brooklyn, NY; donations went to the Michael Brown fund (solo)
February 2014 – International Woman Artists' Salon @ Dixon Place, New York, NY (duet)
May 2013 – The Performance Project @ University Settlement Artist-in-Residence Performance, New York, NY (full production)
La Ironia del Duende (2006)
La Ironia del Duende is
a modern dance/Flamenco influenced composition based on the struggles
of the traditional Flamenco and Gypsy concept of the Duende, the dark
depths one must traverse in order to create profound works of art,
and is set in
Guernica, a small town in Southern Spain, during the Spanish Civil
War (1936-1939). 9 dancers, 10min.
September 2016 - Making Moves Dance Festival, Jamaica Performing Arts Center, Queens, NY
July 2007 – SummerStage @ St. Mary’s Park, Bronx, NYJune 2006 – RAW Material @ Dance New Amsterdam, New York, NY
Paint the town red Hook (2014)
Paint
the town red Hook is
a site-specific work that looks at the various communities that have
called Red Hook home. The piece was originally created to be seen
from 360°, based on the site chosen and used the trees of the site
as additional characters rather than obstacles. The choreography is
based on true stories from people who have lived in Red Hook,
including the Italian longshoremen, African-American and Latino
populations that live in “The Back,” as well as the newly forming
gentrified areas. This Contemporary dance piece also includes various
folk and popular dances from the aforementioned communities, and can be adapted to a traditional stage. 6
dancers, 15min.
July 2015 – The Southern Vermont Dance Festival, Brattleboro, VT
December 2014 – The Gathering VIII: A Night of African Music and Dance, New York, NYOctober 2014 – Dance on the Greenway, Brooklyn, NY; commission
Movimento do Povo (1999)
Movimento
do Povo (Movement of the People) depicts the
effects Portuguese conquistadors, Catholicism, slavery, the 20yr
Military Regime and racism have had, and still have, on Brazil. It
fuses Contemporary Dance Theater, Afro-Brazilian dance, Capoeira and
Dances of the Orixás in order to perform various historical
occurrences with integrity. The entire piece takes the audience on a
visceral journey through time and space, propelling them into the
mind-set and atmosphere of pinnacle issues Brazil has faced.
Movimento do Povo
focuses on different social issues in Brazil and how people remain
strong through their faith. 5-9 dancers, 30min full production,
individual sections 5-10min.
July 2015 – The Southern Vermont Dance Festival, Brattleboro, VT; site-specific version @ Pliny Park (sections 1-3)
July 2015 – chashama Resident Artist, New York, NY; site-specific version @ Anita's Way (sections 1-3)April 2014 – Critically Kinaesthetic: Performing Bodies of Political Engagement at The Heliconian Hall, Toronto, ON (sections 1-3)
April 2014 – Ya'el Tap's Choreographers Collective at Fireproof, Brooklyn, NY (section 1)
July 2007 – SummerStage @ St. Mary’s Park, Bronx, NY (section 1)
Las Madres (2005)
Las
Madres is a Modern Dance/Tango influenced composition based on the
history of Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of women who helped
take down the Military Regime in Argentina. Dancers perform with
foam wood posters of enlarged photos of their own loved ones who have
passed. 7 dancers, 14min extended version, 7min section 1.
May
2014 – Sans Limites Spring Performance @ The Drilling Company, New
York, NY; Guest Artist
May 2010 – Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance/BAAD!'s “Boogie Down Dance Festival” Bronx, NY
April 2010 – Amnesty International's Human Rights Art Festival, Silver Spring, MD; joined by Stony Brook University students
September 2007 – White Wave's DUMBO Dance Festival (John Ryan Theater and the Empire-Fulton State Park) Brooklyn, NY
April 2005 – NYU Dance Education Master’s Concert @ The Fredrick Lowe Theatre, New York, NY/student work
Understand Your Ground (2012)
Understand
Your Ground,
a dance trilogy inspired by the Trayvon Martin trials, provokes the
senses and invokes thought about our current society’s stand on
racial stereotypes and prejudices. Dancer’s weave in and out of
emotions stemming from the case, including movement representations
of the viral reactions people have included on the internet, and
looks to find humanity in our humanity. Choreography
blends Modern and Hip Hop dance vernaculars
Taste the Rainbow
follows the
first moments of finding out about the horrendous act, along with the
details pertaining to the night of Trayvon's murder. 5 dancers, 6min.
The second
section, knock, knock. who's scared?
speaks
to the way in which the proceedings of the Trayvon Martin trial were
handled and the integral discourse that was left in the gutter –
that this was indeed a case fueled by race. Originally created as a
site-specific work inspired by G. Fredrick Morante's sculpture
Relative.
2
dancers, 6min. Cyclical Coda
is a discourse of our nation's unrest and combines the many feelings
helplessness, anger, and sadness left in the wake of injustice. 11
dancers, 5min. Full production 7-11 dancers, 17min.
April 2014 – Tanz Consciousness at The Center for Dance, Movement and Somatic Learning, Stony Brook, NY/Faculty Choreographer, full performance
February 2014 – National Black Theatre's #HoodiesUp Art Exhibit, New York, NY/videoFebruary 2014 – Black History Month Closing Ceremony at City College, New York, NY/knock, knock? who's scared
October 2013 – The Outlet Dance Project at The Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ/knock, knock? who's scared – site-specific version
January 2013 – From Obama to Occupy: Works of Outrage from 2008-2012 @ BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn, NY/Taste the Rainbow
July 2012 – ChEck Us OuT Dance Festival @ Central Park, New York, NY/Taste the Rainbow – site-specific version
30 going on HAG (2011)
A
contemporary dance quartet about society's antiquated gravitational
pull on women, and what is deemed acceptable for women in their
thirties: marriage, stable career, and kids. It looks at the wake of
these preconceived notions as to what constitutes as respectable.
This dark choreography addresses what it's like to take on the
pressures of society, nature, and one's personal fears, as a woman in
her 30's. An ode to the single, temporary job having, childless
woman’s midlife crisis.
October 2013 – NYC10! at Dixon Place, New York, NY
February 2011 – White Wave's Cool NY Dance Festival, Brooklyn, NY
Natureza Viva!/Dances of the Orixás (2011)
MOPDC's
folkloric Dances of the Orixás of the Afro-Brazilian religion
Candomblé – Oxum (Goddess of the rivers), Iansã (Goddess of
wind), Ogum (God of iron), and Oxossi (God of the hunt).
Choreographed and improvisational movements depict the essence of
each deity. 3-4 dancers, can be performed for 5-10min.
October 2013 – Latino Heritage Culture Show at City College, New York, NY
August 2013 – African Unity and Resource Day, New York, NYMay 2013 – Celebrate Diversity Festival, New York, NY
June – October 2012 – Sol y Sombra's Out of Africa Festival @ Suffolk Community College, Brentwood Library, Smithtown Arts Council, and The Rainbow Theater at Heckscher Park, Long Island, NY
July – October 2011 – Sol y Sombra's Hispanic Dance Festival II @ Suffolk Community College, Smithtown Arts Council, and The Rainbow Theater at Heckscher Park, Long Island, NY
Farm, House-Rules (2012)
Farm,
House-Rules,
is a farce on the state of our government and presidential elections.
Like the interactions of alpha-male animals put in close quarters,
each party puffs out their chests to look the most suitable for the
position of President, while strategically implementing jabs at each
other. Adorned in a donkey and elephant masks the duet jovially
explores the state of our nation while addressing a few of the issues
that revolve around current elections. This interactive piece
breaks the fourth wall and instigates audience responses as well as
encourages the audience to dance in order to get the final votes for
President. 2 dancers, 10min.
July 2012 – WHEC Community Block Party, Hamilton Heights, NY
June 2012 – FIGMENT Arts Festival NYC @ Governor's Island, NYPersonal Private Apartheid (2011)
A
sextet based on one's inner struggle; how at times people separate
themselves from society without realizing it, resulting in a
subconscious fight for self understanding causing some to live
segregated lives, however obvious or ambiguous it may be.
Choreography fuses West African dance and contemporary dance. This
piece also looks at the shadow and outline of movements at a metaphor
for our unconscious minds. Each dancer uses headlights attached to
their costumes to create shadow effects within the bookends of the
piece. 6 dancers, 10min.
March 2012 – Dance Conversations at The FLEA Theater, conversation moderated by Gina Gibney, New York, NY
April 2011 – The Center for Dance, Movement and Somatic Learning's Spring Performance, Stony Brook, NY
Breathless (2008)
Breathless is a Modern dance piece inspired by the Jena Six case in Louisiana and various noose
related incidents in the United States throughout the 21st century. Performed as a solo,
duet or sextet, short version 7min, extended version 13min.
April 2010 - Amnesty International's Human Rights Art Festival, Silver Spring, MD/duet
April 2010 – Moving Beauty Dance Series w/ QAS @ Webster Hall, New York, Performance streamed live on www.nycliverock.com./duetDecember 2008 – NuDance Festival @ The Riverside Theatre, New York, NY/sextet
August 2008 – The TANK: Two Nights of Political Dance, New York, NY/duet
August 2008 – Evoke's Celebrate Dance Festival, San Diego, CA/duet
April 2008 – The Festival at Dance Theater Workshop: Raw Festival Studio Series, New York, NY/solo
January 2008 – White Wave’s Cool New York Dance Festival, Brooklyn, NY/duet
Photography by: Alyssa Rapp, Darial Sneed, Steven Schreiber, courtesy of Dance Theatre Etcetera - Tod Seelie photographer, Stephen de las Heras, Masato Kuroda, Chianan Yen, Matthiew J. Wright, Yi-Chun Wu, Clyde Berger, J.P.G., Richard Conde
For more information and booking: contact(at)movementofthepeopledance.com
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