no common threads…
A shared performance at the Merce Cunningham Studio
March 26 – 28, 2004
Press information: Gilles Obermayer (917) 282-7420
Laura Flowers (917) 710-6646
Reservation information: (212) 995-8711
February 29, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
no common threads…, a collaborative multimedia performance, will be presented March 26 through 28, (Fri 3/26 at 9pm, Sat 3/27 and Sun 3/28 at 8pm) at the Merce Cunningham Studio, 55 Bethune Street (at Washington St). Tickets are $15 or $12 for seniors and students. Tickets may be reserved by calling (212) 995-8711.
no common threads… is Gilles Obermayer’s and Laura Flowers’ shared evening performance featuring new work by 2 composers, 3 choreographers, seven dancers and three musicians. This is their second consecutive season at the Merce Cunningham Studio.
Gilles Obermayer, a French musician and composer, has written original music for the project. The first piece he will present, Hudson River, is written for violin, cello, xylophone and drum set. The score has been choreographed to by Jeff Moen (of the Cunningham Foundation) and will be danced by Deanna Bergdorf and Lana Sealy.
Luis, another piece by Obermayer, is a solo for Berimbao (Brazilian music bow) and spoken text. Luis is based on the true facts of the killing of street boys in Latin America and the trade of their body parts.
Epitaph is a multi-media piece for tape, text (G.W.Bush, P. Sinfield), remote controlled tanks, a dancer and Mr. Obermayer on taiko drums. The contextual theme of Epitaph is the Iraq war and Gilles Obermayer uses his artistic freedom to make a political statement.
Laura Flowers has created two new works for this project. The first is a quartet for four dancers (Megan Hillman, Rachel Lozoff, Meredith McCanse and Hope Plumb). It is a look at the close friendship, occasional conflicts and individuality of four young girls as they attempt to be little women.
The second piece, a solo to be danced by Ms. Flowers, is Let It Be. This piece is choreographed to music by Malina Rauschenfels and inspired by text of Gertrude Stein.
For these performances Laura Flowers will also revive Inevitable, a solo created in 1999 by choreographer Gabriel Masson. Described as “hauntingly resonant”, the piece exists in the space between defiance and acceptance of one’s own mortality.
Gilles Obermayer started is career as a Musician and Composer in France in the late seventies. From 1981 to 2000 Mr. Obermayer lived in Scandinavia where he served on the faculty of the Norwegian National College of Dance in Oslo, (1982-95), the Swedish National College of Dance (1995-97) and the Balett Akademien (1995-00) in Stockholm. He has been on the Faculty at Barnard College, Department of Dance as Musician Coordinator, in NYC, since 2000. Mr. Obermayer has written scores for Norwegian and Swedish national television and radio, as well as for many European and American jazz and modern dance companies, including Norway's Zakraz Dance Company, Sweden's Modern Jazz Dance Ensemble, New York's Gabriel Masson Dance, Goucher College, Barnard College and more. As a performer, Obermayer has toured throughout Europe and Africa as a solo artist as well as with the Avant-Garde Ethno-Jazz-Punk ensemble GAH!!! and the Early Music Ensembles: Pro Musica Antigua and Kalenda Maya. He has released six solo CDs.
Laura Flowers is currently focused on developing her own choreography after years of dancing in the works of other choreographers including, Gabriel Masson, Sue Bernhard, Alan Danielson, Jeff Rebudal, Maxine Steinman, Marjie Citron and Sabatino Verlezza. She has taught at various schools in the NYC area, including the José Limón School, Peridance Center, Dowling College and Long Island University in Brooklyn, as well as in Portland, Maine. She has choreographed works for LIU, the Limón School, and other performance venues in both NYC and Maine. She received a BFA in Dance from Adelphi University and an MFA in Dance from New York University. Last year she collaborated with Gilles Obermayer on a solo dance called Low Frequency.