REPERTORY (from Ascendance):
Playground I/II | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Playground I/II is choreographed by collaborator Emily Smyth Vartanian, for two dancers suspended from ropes by harnesses and one dancer in a double bungee apparatus. It explores the toys we only wish we had as children. The final image above is from a transitional section created collaboratively by the Company. | ||||||
| ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Shifting Sands was created by Chriselle Tidrick in collaboration with the Company. (The acrobatic section was co-created with Andrea Skurr.) This piece finds the dancers in a threatening, unpredictable environment in which fear and a power struggle dominate. | ||||||
| ||||
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|
||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||
| Originally presented as part of Seeking, Entangled (co-created by Chriselle Tidrick and Emily Smyth Vartanian) makes a re-appearance in Ascendance. | ||||
| ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
|||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Trumps All, created by Chriselle Tidrick in collaboration with the Company, heightens the power struggle emerging in Act I of Ascendance. Stilt dancer, Sharon Livardo du Maine enters and asserts her power over the group with looming height and dangerous kicking legs. | ||||||
| ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
|||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Co-created by Chriselle Tidrick and Madeline Hoak, with contributions from Andrea Skurr, Retreat is choreographed for a dancer in aerial silk (Madeline Hoak) with interruptions by Sharon Livardo du Maine (on stilts) and Andrea Skurr (dancer). The aerialist attempts to escape a world of fear and chaos, yet every effort she makes to ascend results in her tumbling earthward. | ||||||
| ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
|||||
 |
 |
|||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Rise is choreographed by Chriselle Tidrick in collaboration with the Company, for two dancers on stilts and three dancers on the ground. The piece revolves around a woman who has completely collapsed. The stilt dancers enter as figures who wish to help her rediscover her strength. Yet, it is only through the entrance of two other dancers that they can find the strength and stability to lift the weak one to her greatest heights. | ||||||
| ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Equilibrium was created by Chriselle Tidrick in collaboration with performers Madeline Hoak and Sharon Livardo du Maine. A duet for a stilt dancer and a dancer on the ground, the performers discover a connection based in mutual support, balance and freedom. | ||||||
| ||||||
 |
 | |||||
 | ||||||
 |
||||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Created by collaborator, Andrea Skurr, o² is a duet incorporating acrobatic partnering. It explores the concept of conjoined twins and evokes questions of self versus other. | ||||||
| ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
|||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Ascending is solo for static trapeze created and performed by Madeline Hoak. She rises from the floor and gradually rises higher and higher in the apparatus until she has achieved a state of joy and peace. | ||||||
| ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2009 | ||||||
| Soaring is a trio for two dancers in aerial harnesses (rigged to ropes) and a dancer on the ground, choreographed by Chriselle Tidrick in collaboration with Andrea Skurr and Emily Smyth Vartanian. It focuses on the possibility of joyous ascension as the dancers discover the freedom in being suspended above the ground—swinging and flying beyond the usual limitations of gravity | ||||||
|
REPERTORY (from Seeking):
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
photos 4&5: Steven Schrieber | |||||
|
photos 1,2 &3: Julie Lemberger ©2008: | |||||
| Duo De Amor, by Chriselle Tidrick, is a tango performed on static trapeze in relationship to a dancer on the ground. The trapeze is used, but the emphasis in placed on how it can be used to communicate the quality of the dance—its rhythms, shapes, movements, and inherent sensuality. | |||||
Gallo Ciego | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008: | ||||||
| Gallo Ciego, choreographed by Chriselle Tidrick is a tango for two stilt dancers. It, too, seeks to express the rhythms, shapes and movement of Argentine tango. The choreography is more about the movement than about the spectacle of circus, although the use of the apparatus ultimately adds excitement to the already beautiful and passionate tango. (Stilt dancer, Mark Mindek appears here with Chriselle Tidrick and the ensemble.) | ||||||
Entangled | ||||
 |
 |
 |
||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | ||||
| Entangled, Chriselle’s duet for fabric sling (also called hammock), was co-created with Emily Smyth Vartanian. This piece explores the relationship between two figures—one of whom inhabits an earthly realm, and one of whom discovers she is suspended above it and is unable to descend. The two figures seek to form a connection and find mutual territory, but a permanent connection is ultimately impossible. | ||||
And Yet So Far Away | ||||||
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008: | ||||||
| And Yet So Far Away was choreographed in collaboration with Luis Gabriel Zaragoza to Nuevo Tango music. This more traditional dance piece deals with the disintegrating relationship between a man and a woman. Utilizing inverted shapes and dynamic partnering, it expresses the frustration of failed attempts at connection and the loneliness of being in physical proximity yet emotionally distant from the object of one’s affection | ||||||
Transformation | |||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | |||||
| Transformation, by Tomomi Imai, is choreographed for a solo dancer to a piano score by Bob Sardo. It runs 7 minutes and is an exploration of the space between Life and Spirit, with a theme of Life that awakens under moonlight. | |||||
Dark Tide | |||||
 |
|
||||
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | |||||
| Dark Tide, by Tomomi Imai, is a duet for a male and a female dancer to original music by Bob Sardo. The two dancers struggle with failed communication and an inability to connect. The male figure reaches out to the woman, but he does not know what she wants. Meanwhile, the female dancer knows she wants to create a relationship with the man, but she cannot allow herself to give in to her feelings. (Luis Gabriel Zaragoza is pictured here with Tomomi Imai.) | |||||
Friends in High Places, the stilt dancing duo of Coralie Romanyshyn and Mark Mindek, is constantly exploring the role that stilts can play in dance performance. The company offers a waltz to Seeking. | |
 |
 |
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | |
|
The Waltz explores the dance form from the perspective of romance. The music we have chosen has roots in the early 20th century. Movements are taken from the waltz vocabulary from the 1890s and early 1900s. The result is the capture of the romantic and wistful quality of music of that time. (Sharon Livardo du Maine is pictured here with Mark Mindek.) | |
Samota | ||
 |
 |
 |
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | ||
| Samota was created by Martin Løfsnes/ 360° Dance. The piece explores the isolation of a solo dancer as he gradually turns increasingly inward. | ||
Hover | ||
 |
 |
 |
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | ||
| Hover is an aerial solo created by Emily Smyth Vartanian in which the performer is suspended from a rope by a harness. The theme of the piece lies directly in line with the performer’s relationship to the apparatus. It is very easy to simply hang straight down from the ceiling, in compliance with gravity. But, things get interesting when the dancer pushes away from this central point. | ||
Getting High | ||
|
 | |
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | ||
| Getting High is a solo by Emily Smyth Vartanian performed on a double-bungee apparatus, in which the dancer is attached on both hips. It is an aggressive dance, working with the stretch-and-rebound nature of the bungees. The dancer is suspended quite literally in the middle of nowhere, reaching out in an attempt to connect to anything, be it the floor, walls, ceiling, or audience, but is halted and thrust in the opposite direction with force equal to her initial effort. | ||
| Libertango | ||
|
|
|
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | ||
|
Pictured here in their Libertango, Anabella Lenzu (of Anabella Lenzu/Dance Drama) and her partner, Todd Carroll, choreographed and perform in the tango milonga sections of Seeking. They also served as advisors to the artistic director in the process of interweaving the evening’s choreography in the tango milonga scene.
| ||
Enamorado | ||
|
|
 |
|
|
photos: Julie Lemberger ©2008 | ||
|
Additional tango choreography was contributed by Pawel Cheda who created Enamorado, a tango performed with Emily Smyth Vartanian to Henry Mancini's Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet. | ||
| Please contact Above and Beyond Dance if you are interested in bringing Ascendance or Seeking to your theater. DVDs are available on request. |
