The SunBreak » Leah

Week One of Northwest New Works is Hairy and Hungry

Leah — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 18:02:43 +0000

The New York Times has called On the Boards one of the best venues in the country for contemporary dance, and the first dance-heavy week of the Northwest New Works Festival left me cheering OtB on. Last weekend began the theater’s 28th year of showcasing the freshest artists in the area, and this weekend the second set of artists bring their 20-minute pieces to the festival (June 17-19, tickets $14).

Portland Duo tEEth is a “Music-Generating Movement Monster”

Leah — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 23:24:48 +0000

With regards to the name tEEth, “I’ve experienced a lot of trauma with my mouth,” Angelle explained, pointing out her fake teeth in front. “Multiple surgeries, I’ve had root canals, I’ve had bridges, bone graphs—you name it. So it’s just a very vulnerable space for me." In improvising she tends to work a lot with facial expressions or using the mouth not only to make sound but as an impetus for movement. I’m reminded of the rhythmic, saliva-desperate section in Home Made when in tight coordination the dancers smack their own out-stretched tongues dry.

BOOST Dance Festival Finale Tonight and Tomorrow

Leah — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:13:41 +0000

It's the second weekend of The BOOST Dance Festival at Erickson Theater tonight and tomorrow, tickets $15. The Festival features eight Seattle choreographers: Daniel Wilkins/DASS dance, Christin Lusk, Alana O. Rogers, Jennifer Elder, Aliza Rudavsky/The Kinematic Dance Project, Kate Wallich, Maya Soto/Soto Style, and Marlo Martin/bad marmar dance.

Performing Arts Preview for This Weekend and Next

Leah — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:04:00 +0000

Next weekend, the latest of the Live at the Film Forum series, dancer Ezra Dickinson and sound artist Paurl Walsh bring us Actually Really, for a three-night run March 17-19 at the NW Film Forum, tickets $15. Dickinson will be scoring the piece while wires score his body, generating the audio from the movements of his body. I saw Amy O'Neal's too at this event last year, and the space is kind of like a box with its side sliced off, audience privy to the action and projection on the back wall via steep stadium seating. Win tickets to Actually Really here! TSB is giving away a pair every night, courtesy of NWFF.

In the Master Class With Crystal Pite’s Company

Leah — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:27:00 +0000

Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM’s “Dark Matters.” Photo by Dean Bucher. A couple weeks ago, Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM, the Vancouver, BC-based company of choreographer Crystal Pite, presented the 2009 work Dark Matters to sold-out audiences at On the Boards (where Sarah Michelson’s Devotion opens this Friday, March 10). As if the performance was not enough to put me in good spirits the rest of the season (despite all the unknowns of graduating college!), I headed to Velocity the next day to take their master class with company members Peter Chu and Jirí Pokorný. The class was $15, or $10 with [...]

Your Weekend Performing Arts Preview

Leah — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:03:00 +0000

There Is An Elephant In This Dance-Highlights from from Cari Ann Shim Sham* on Vimeo. Lionel Popkin comes to Velocity Dance Center as part of their Guest Artist Series tonight and tomorrow with There Is An Elephant In This Dance, tickets $15, in a special performance with Seattle favorites Peggy Piacenza and Mark Haim. His choreography is deceivingly playful mixing human and creature movements as his dancers slip in and out of pieces of a furry elephant suit. He’s holding drop-in master classes ($15 each) this weekend, also at Velocity. If you’re under the impression that master classes are only [...]

Choreographer Amy O’Neal Gives Us the Lowdown on “The Lowdown,” Tonight at the Moore

Leah — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Photo by Gabriel Bienzycki “There’s been some confusion—or curiosity—around this new name,” Amy O’Neal told me two weeks ago, sipping on a Jameson neat at The Sitting Room shortly before night three of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! next door at On the Boards. “There are tons of different projects that go under this name,” she said, referring to the company “AmyO/tinyrage” she developed in 2007. “I’m interested in leaving the company model behind. Sometimes I’m doing solo work, sometimes I’m doing a group piece, sometimes it’s a video project, sometimes I’m curating a show,” such as The Lowdown, her first foray [...]