2012

Friday-Sunday, May 11-13, 8pm
Tickets: $15/10 (student/senior/artist)
Order tickets online at www.danceboxoffice.com

SAUDADE, The love that remains

Nicole Bindler and PIMA Group premiere new, experimental dance work featuring live, original music, visual art and video that explores nostalgia, social anxiety and haunting fairy tales.

PIMA Group premieres a new performance work entitled Broken Wings, a solo dance performance choreographed and performed by Melisa Putz, set to live piano accompaniment composed and performed by Thomas Clark. Broken Wings is inspired by the rich tradition of fables that tell the stories of animals given human-like qualities and seek to pass on the message of a moral. Inspiration is also drawn from nursery rhymes, many of which speak of morbid connections to historical events, such as ring around the rosie and its telling of deaths during The Plague.

Nicole Bindler premieres two dances: I Think Not, choreographed by Judson era luminary Deborah Hay, adapted and performed by Bindler, and Pia Mater, a large group work including a cast of 20 performers, with set design by Ana Hernandez. I Think Not is an intimate solo performed in the round. Click here for video excerpt. Pia Mater, Latin for tender mother, is the anatomical name for the innermost layer of connective tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Pia Mater is inspired by both the anatomical image and the idea of a tender mother. Five musician/composers perform live original music on traditional and newly invented instruments; they perform alongside the dancers and their presence is felt as a part of the choreography. Pia Mater contains moments of sublime beauty and also moments of extreme awkwardness. Click here for 2007 video excerpt.

PIMA Group is a New Stages for Dance recipient. The Performance Garage is a partnering venue in Dance/USA Philadelphia's New Stages for Dance Initiative. Leadership support for the New Stages for Dance Initiative is provided by MetLife Foundation.

Friday, May 18, 8pm

For more info about Infatuation Dance Company's Soliciting Saints, click here.

Sunday, May 20, 5:30pm
Tickets: $13 (purchased online before May 18th); $17 (onsite)

Samsara - The Cycle of Life
An Odissi performance by Shibani Patnaik

Samsāra is the soul’s journey through the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation. Shibani Patnaik explores the concept of Samsāra and themes related to the flow of life. While Shibani is deeply rooted in tradition, she provides a unique perspective in her individualistic style without sacrificing the core essence of classical Odissi dance. Odissi is an Indian classical dance form from the Eastern state of Orissa, dating back to the 2nd century BC. Odissi is well known for its lyricism, grace, asymmetrical body style and strong footwork. For more info, click here.

Friday, May 25, 8pm

This week's featured artist is Habiba Dance Ensemble. The Habiba Dance Ensemble performs folkloric dances of North Africa and Egypt. Whether performing the difficult feat of balancing a water jug on the head in the Tunisian Pot Dance, ...the earthy Saidi Dance of the Egyptian peasant, the solo interpretive classic, Raqs al Sharqi, or the Ghawazi (a dance of the Egyptian Gypsies), The Habiba Dance Ensemble is mesmerizing. Spectacular costumes, made by hand in Egypt and Tunisia, enhance the performance. Audiences of all ages will be stirred by the excitement of the music and find the performances vibrant and colorful.