THE MUD ORATORIO (2002 — choreography, "Stirrings")
March 14, 2003
Frostburg State University
For further information, contact Office of News and Media Services, Frostburg State University, 301-687-4161, or news@frostburg.edu. Or, visit the University's website for this event at www.frostburg.edu/clife/lanec/cultevents/Stirrings.html.
"STIRRINGS" CONNECTS ENVIRONMENT AND ART
FROSTBURG — The Frostburg State University Cultural Events Series will present the world premiere of "Stirrings" with Pittsburgh's celebrated Dance Alloy on Friday and Saturday, April 4 and 5, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 6, at 3 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center's Drama Theatre. Arts Getaway Packages and Dinner Show Packages are available with all performances of "Stirrings," which is sponsored by the Downtown Cumberland Holiday Inn.
Commissioned by FSU's Cultural Events Series, "Stirrings" is an innovative dance work that unites the performers of Dance Alloy with artists and specialists from the diverse fields of music, visual arts, creative writing and environmental science in an exploration of natural wonders located nearby. Although "Stirrings" setting is local, its implications are global, serving as an "ecosystem" of the arts and environment.
This collaborative project draws its inspiration from "Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs and Human Imagination," a critically acclaimed collection of essays by FSU English professor Dr. Barbara Hurd. In her book, Hurd delves into two of her favorite haunts, Finzel Swamp and Cranesville Bog, to evoke poetic musings in her quest for what universal truths may be lurking in the muck and mire.
The recipient of a Fellowship in Creative Writing from the National Endowment of the Arts, Hurd was recently awarded a Wilson H. Elkins Professorship from the University System of Maryland. "Stirring the Mud" was chosen as one of the Best Books of 2001 by the L.A. Times. Mark Taylor, artistic director of Dance Alloy, choreographed the hour-long work to an original score of electronic music by New York composer and librettist Alice Shields. Both artists incorporate substantial segments of text from Hurd's book.
FSU scenic designers Richard Kagey and Conrad Maust of FSU's Department of Theatre, with lighting designer Barbara Thompson, have created a set that celebrates the ambiguity of where the dry land ends and the bog begins, and that same in-between area that is paralleled elsewhere in life.
As part of the multi-arts collaboration, the Cultural Events Series will offer an assortment of activities designed to support the groundbreaking production of this exciting commissioned work.
"Stirrings" is supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, developed by the Vira I Heinz Endowment; the William Penn Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
This production is presented in partnership with the FSU Division of Performing Arts and FSU Department of Visual Arts.
The 2002-2003 CES Series is supported in part by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts.
November 8, 2002
Frostburg State University
For further information, contact Office of News and Media Services, Frostburg State University, 301-687-4161, or news@frostburg.edu.
FSU CULTURAL EVENTS SERIES INCLUDES "STIRRINGS," A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY WORK CONNECTING THE ARTS, THE ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN LIFE.
FROSTBURG — Celebrate the world premiere of "Stirrings," a multi-disciplinary work connecting the arts, the environment and human life," offered Friday through Sunday, April 4 through 6, in the PAC Drama Theatre. This unique work is based upon the acclaimed book of essays, "Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs and Human Imagination," by local writer and FSU professor Barbara Hurd, in collaboration with choreographer Mark Taylor of Dance Alloy, composer Alice Shields and set designers Richard Kagey and Conrad Maust of FSU's Department of Theatre. Sponsored by the Holiday Inn of Cumberland, this event is presented in partnership with the FSU Division of Performing Arts and FSU Department of Visual Arts. This New Directions project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by the Vira I. Heinz Endowment; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency and the Pew Charitable Trusts, and is administered by the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation.
SHENANDOAH (2002 — choreography, "In This Valley")
March 14, 2002
James Madison University
For information: Andi Arndt, 540-568-7836
DANCERS TO TELL STORY OF NEW VALLEY IMMIGRANTS MARCH 21-23
HARRISONBURG — A new dance piece that explores the experiences of recent immigrants into the Shenandoah Valley through original dance and music interwoven with the immigrants' stories will be performed by the Contemporary Dance Ensemble March 21-23.
"In This Valley" will be presented in James Madison University's Latimer-Shaeffer Theatre in Duke Hall Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. The dance concert will also feature original works by JMU faculty and student choreographers.
The collaboration among dancers, choreographers, community members and a guest composer to create "In This Valley" was made possible through a grant, the National College Choreography Initiative, from DANCE-USA and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The grant provided funds to bring Philadelphia-based choreographer Mark Taylor and New York-based composer Alice Shields to Harrisonburg, where they worked with faculty and students in the JMU School of Theatre and Dance, specifically the Contemporary Dance Ensemble led by Artistic Director Cynthia Thompson.
To begin the process last fall, Taylor, Shields, Thompson and students conducted taped interviews with 15 adults and children about the experience of being an immigrant or refugee. Shields used the tapes as an element in her original sound score for her piece, "Shenandoah."
During "In This Valley," the voices of the interviewees are interspersed with sections of rhythmic percussion from India and the Middle East. Seven different languages are heard, and sometimes the language is used musically rather than for its literal content.
Choreographer Taylor returned to JMU in January with Shields' completed score and spent 10 days creating the piece with the Contemporary Dance Ensemble, developing within the piece a universal theme of home and belonging.
Thompson received an invitation for the Contemporary Dance Ensemble to perform "In This Valley" at the National College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Tickets for the JMU concert are $10 for general admission and $6 for children, senior citizens or those with JMU ID. Tickets are available through the Masterpiece Season Box Office at (540)568-7000.
DUST (2001 — choreography, "Dust")
National Endowment for the Arts
2003 Grant Awards
Creativity/Organizational Capacity/Literature
Fellowships/Leadership Initiatives
Pittsburgh Dance Alloy
Pittsburgh, PA
CATEGORY: Creativity
FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Dance
$10,000
To support the creation and presentation of new works. The project will include choreography by Bebe Miller, Galina Borissova, and Mark Taylor; a production by Sarah Skaggs; and the commissioning of a new score by composer Alice Shields.
Swarthmore College
from http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/dance/cperformance_2001-2002.html
Dust
Composer : Alice Shields
Mark Taylor '75 with the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy and Anita Ratnam with Arangham Dance Theatre, of Chennai, India
March 2, 8 p.m.
Pearson Hall Theatre, Lang Performing Arts Center
Free and open to the public. For more information, call (610) 328-8200.
The concert, offering repertory works from each company, will include Dust, the product of a multiyear exchange between the two choreographers and their companies. The dance for four dancers, two from each company, draws its physical vocabulary from both cultures. Dust was inspired by the writings and story of Alexandra David-Neel, an early 20th-century explorer and scholar who was the first European woman to enter the forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet. Residency activities will include a week of classes, lecture-demonstrations and various informal gatherings. Sponsored by the William J. Cooper Foundation.
from http://www.swarthmore.edu/Home/News/Pubs/WeeklyNews/02/02-2-28.wn.html
Symposium "Dance in South Asia: New Approaches, Politics, and Aesthetics"
Dance of South Asia will be explored and performed at a two-day symposium at Swarthmore College on Saturday and Sunday, March 2-3. The weekend of performances, speakers and workshops will be dedicated to the proliferation of scholarship about, and understanding of, South Asian dance forms. The "Dance in South Asia: New Approaches, Politics, and Aesthetics" Symposium will be held in the Cinema, Lang Performing Arts Center, on Saturday from 9:15 a.m. until 6:15 p.m. The Arangham Dance Theater of Chennai, India, and Dance Alloy of Pittsburgh will perform in a collaborative program titled "Dust" at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Kumudini Lakhia, the director of Kadamb, a groundbreaking Kathak institution in Ahmedabad, India, will teach a Kathak workshop from 12-3 p.m. on Sunday March 3. All events are sponsored by the William J. Cooper Foundation and are free and open to the public. Please call 610-328-8200 or visit http://lpac.swarthmore.edu for more information.
Dance Performance: "Dust." Saturday, 8 p.m., Pearson-Hall Theatre (LPAC)
Arangham Dance Theater of Chennai, India, and Dance Alloy of Pittsburgh will perform "Dust," an intercultural collaboration between renowned choreographers Mark Taylor and Anita Ratnam, at 8 p.m. on Saturday (March 2) in Pearson-Hall Theatre (LPAC). The performance composed by Alice Shields will highlight the ongoing experimentation with movement vocabularies and choreographic forms that mark the new frontiers of dance in South Asia. It was inspired by the writings and story of Alexandra David-Neel, the first European woman to enter the forbidden city of Lhasa.
The Other Festival - 2002
Chinmaya Heritage Centre
# 2, 13th Avenue
Harrington Road, Chennai 600034
Music. Dance. Drama. Art. You.
December 3, 2002, 7:15 pm
Arangham Dance Theatre (Chennai, India) & Dance Alloy (Pittsburgh, USA)
Dust — Contemporary Dance (Group) (30min)
Dust, a multi-cultural collaboration between Anita Ratnam, Arangham Dance Theatre, (Chennai, India) and Mark Taylor, Dance Alloy,(Pittsburgh, USA) was choreographed in April 2001 on 2 dancers from each company, with original music by composer Alice Shields (USA). The work displays kinetic, aesthetic and cultural interfaces with a seamless blending of the Japanese Butoh dance, Bharatanatyam and Modern styles. Dust is doing a three-city tour of India, covering Hyderabad, Chennai and New Delhi.
Contact: info@arangham.com
VEGETABLE KARMA
Electric Rainbow Coalition: A 24-Hour Festival of Electro-Acoustic Music
Dartmouth College
Tape Pieces - Day 2 (August 23rd, 2003 — noon to midnight)
The Warner Bentley Theater
03:58 — Alice Shields — Vegetable Karma
APOCALYPSE
An excerpt from the opera Apocalypse was heard on the ABC/Radio National (Australia's) program "Encounter," on September 6, 2002. The program, entitled "Germ Warfare," discussed the threats of biological terrorism in the world, and an excerpt from Apocalypse was played. The online summary of the program included a detailed listing of the CD as one of the musical items from the program.
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