Summer Contemporary Dance Forum 8 - 10 July 2008

8 July
Quorum Ballet (Portugal)
"4 pieces by Daniel Cardoso"

9 July
Liss Fain Dance (USA)
"Looking, looking"
"River at the end of the land"
"Line between between night and day"

10 July
LeeSaar The Company (USA/Israel)
"Geisha"

Time: 21:30,
Venue: Municipal Outdoor Stage at the Central Park in LUblin
Entrance: FREE

Quorum Ballet (Portugal)

“4 Pieces by Daniel Cardoso”

Getting Up (2006)
Choreography: Daniel Cardoso
Music: Jorge Silva
CostumesDaniel Cardoso
Dancers: Daniel Cardoso, Filipe Narciso, Inês Godinho, Henriett Ventura and Theresa Da Silva C.
Time: 22 min

Kismet (2005)
Choreography: Daniel Cardoso
Music: Linkin Park by the String Quartet and Peter Gabriel
Costumes: Manuela Tinoco
Dancers: Theresa Da Silva C. and Daniel Cardoso
Time: 13 min

From the Deep (2001)
Choreography: Daniel Cardoso
Music: John Corigliano
Costumes: Manuela Tinoco
Dancers: Henriett Ventura
Time: 8 min

No começo... (2005)
Choreography: Daniel Cardoso
Music: Kódo
Costumes: Manuela Tinoco
Dancers: Daniel Cardoso, Elson Ferreira, Filipe Narciso, Henriett Ventura, Inês Godinho and Theresa Da Silva C.
Time: 14 min

Liss Fain Dance (USA)

"Line Between Night and Day"
Music: Olivier Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time (14 min.)
Lighting and Visual Design; Matthew Antaky
Costume Design; James Meyer
Dancers: Jennifer Beamer Fernandez, Jeremiah Crank, Heather Daane, Kai Davis,
Lindsey Fitzmorris, Dexandro Montalvo, Daphne Zneimer

The Line Between Night and Day is set to two movements of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. The music, written while Messiaen was in a prisoner of war camp during World War II, vacillates wildly between strident sections and serene, Debussy-like music. The emotionality and unexpected dynamic shifts in the music conjure images of paradise lost—alternating between the turmoil and anguish of profound loss and gentle, wistful memories of the past. The dance grew out of Biblical images of Adam and Eve being expelled from Eden and from the horrific changes that overtook Europe with World War II. The idea of Paradise Lost and of people being caught in a world over which they have only partial control drove my choice of music and the choreography.

"River at the End of the Land"
Music: Hamza El Din Escalay (14 min.)
Lighting and Visual Design: Matthew Antaky
Costume Design: James Meyer
Dancers: Jennifer Beamer Fernandez, Jeremiah Crank, Heather Daane, Kai Davis, Lindsey Fitzmorris, Dexandro Montalvo, Daphne Zneimer

River at the End of the Land, to Hamza El Din's Escalay, was inspired by the Wallace Stevens' poem, Of Mere Being. This was the last poem he wrote. Through metaphor, he talks about experiencing the world with openness; without preconceived paradigms or intellectual and analytical overlay. It is a dance about continuity and depth—how ideas and emotions change, flower and persist—that overflows with a sense of forward movement and joy. River at the End of the Land focuses on a solo figure that is never a part of the group; who creates an environment of calm yet vibrant energy that imbues the group of dancers with a sense of purpose, much as the metaphor of a "gold-feathered bird" in Wallace Steven's poem symbolizes the essence of existence. The music, with its' ongoing, Eastern-feeling rhythms, embodies the nomadic world of the sun-drenched desert.

"Looking Looking" WORLD PREMIERE
Music: Bartok’s Concerto for Viola. (19 min)
Lighting and Visual Design: Matthew Antaky
Costume Design: Eimaj Designs, Jamielyn Duggan
Dancers: Jennifer Beamer Fernandez , Jeremiah Crank, Heather Daane, Kai Davis, Lindsey Fitzmorris, Dexandro Montalvo, Daphne Zneimer

"Looking, looking" set to Bartok's Concerto for Viola, is inspired by two, very different experiences: the company's September 2007 tour of Eastern Europe and the deep emotionality and melancholy-infused wit I experienced in the work I saw and the people I met there. Reminders of the past are ever-present—the sophisticated artistic and intellectual achievements manifested in the architecture and the love of the arts contrasted by the horrific devastations of WWII and the bleakness of Communism. And my personal, majestically peaceful experience of walking, in Cambodia, at the Bayon of Angkor Thom, among the enormous, stone heads of the Buddha carved into each side of every tower of the ancient temple. The piece is about the endurance of beauty despite the passage of time and the vicissitudes of history.

LeeSaar The Company (USA/Izrael)

GEISHA (2008)
Choreography: Lee Sher & Saar Harari
Creating perfromers: Jye-Hwei Lin, Saar Harari and Lee Sher
Music: Collage: Chole, Vitamin String Quartet, Wabi Sabi, Peter Scherer.
Israeli songs:
Sharon Lifshitz- “Its difficult with out you” word and music, Sharon Lifshits
Rita- “Living from day to day” words, Hanoch Levin. music, Rami Kleinstein
Light Design: Joe Levasseur
Costumes Designer: Rakefet Levi.
Geisha was made possible by the support of: The Harkness Dance Festival, The Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in NY, The Six Points Fellowship, The Foundation for Jewish Culture, VSM Productions, Dalia’s Studio, Israel.