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Dance Theater Workshop
presents
Telling Twisted Tales
as a part of the
Family Matters Series
APRIL 4 at 2pm
TICKETS ARE FREE FOR KIDS!
New York, NY, February 20, 2008 – Dance Theater Workshop presents another thrilling showcase of dance, theater, hip hop, and folklore as a part of the Family Matters Series. Host with the Most Shasta Cola, aka Glen Rumsey, returns to Family Matters - in couture of course - to deliver a page turner of a show filled with fantastical and faintly true fables. From Steve Elm's interactive Native American epic to Deborah Black's rendering of choreographer Deborah Hay's picturesque The Runner (2007), and Zach Morris' playful duet set to bluegrass riffs, you will be caught in the undertow of these imaginative concoctions and swept away by Matthew Brookshire's meditative melodies and the good vibrations of hip hop emcee, poet and beatboxer Baba Israel. Not to mention, kids get in for free!
Family Matters: Telling Twisted Tales will take place at Dance Theater Workshop in the Bessie Schönberg Theater, April 4 (Saturday at 2pm). Tickets are FREE for Kids and $20 for Adults and are available for purchase online at dancetheaterworkshop.org, over the phone at 212.924.0077, or in person at the box office. All children under the age of 13 must be supervised by an adult. Dance Theater Workshop is located at 219 W. 19th St., between 7th and 8th Avenues.
About Family Matters
Curated by Keely Garfield and Peggy Peloquin, Dance Theater Workshop's Family Matters Series is created for families looking to introduce their children to fun, intelligent, and provocative live performance. These relaxed, one-of-a-kind showcases embrace dance, music, and theater. They also provide an opportunity to turn off your gadgets and experience live performance art made for all ages and presented in kid-friendly, bite-size-pieces.
About the Artists
A Native of Greensboro, Glen Rumsey graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1992. He was a principal member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1993-1999. He has also performed with Pam Tanowitz, Stanley Love, Mark Morris, Sarah Michelson, and Todd Williams. As a choreographer, Mr. Rumsey has shown work at Dixon Place, Danspace Project's St. Mark's Church, P.S. 122, The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, as well as various public spaces around the city. After he premiered the Glen Rumsey Dance Project in "…ignored in my heaven" at Location One, Jennifer Dunning from The New York Times wrote, "It is a world complete unto itself, with its own crazy logic and dazzlingly imaginative designs…". And Gia Kourlas from Time Out New York called it "a fantastical suite of dances in which Rumsey's vivid imagination is brought to life with the help of 15 wonderful performers…" In late summer of 2006, Mr. Rumsey was the recipient of the Dance Theater Workshop Residency Program. He has been creating, directing and choreographing a project, which will be presented at Danspace Project in late June of 2007. He also has an award-winning alter ego named Shasta Cola, who does her share of performing around the world, daring to go where no man has gone before!
Deborah Black received a BFA with honors in dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a second major in Art History in 2002. She maintains a daily practice of two solos commissioned from Deborah Hay: The Runner (2007) and I'll Crane for You (2008). She was in residence with London-based, Canadian-born dance artist, Genevieve Beth Grady at the installation gallery, ArToll in Germany (July 2008) to create a duet that was later performed at The Place in London. Her choreography has been produced in Berlin at the Lucky Trimmer Tanz Performance Series and many venues in New York including Chashama Oasis Festival and DanceNow at Dance Theater Workshop. Deborah also dances with Anneke Hansen, Karl Cronin, Susan Rethorst, and Sasha Welsh. She studies the Alexander Technique regularly with June Ekman. Deborah has taught master classes in the dance departments of James Madison University and the University of South Florida. In addition, Deborah has designed costumes for dance companies and reproduced period and contemporary garments for the theater. She currently dresses actors in Broadway musicals and works with dance-making students at Sarah Lawrence College as a costume design and construction consultant.
Matthew Brookshire is a Brooklyn-based songwriter and performer. He contributed four original songs to the Todd Solondz's film Palindromes, which screened at the Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York film festivals. His collaboration with choreographer Keely Garfield, "Eva Potranspiration/Could 9", was presented at Dance Theater Workshop and at DUO Theatre, and in March 2009 will have a run at Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church.
Steve Elm (Oneida), editor of AMERINDA's Talking Stick Native Arts Quarterly, has worked in the arts on both sides of the Atlantic. Trained at London's Rose Bruford College, Steve has appeared as an actor in film, television and on the stage. He has worked as a playwright and director with London's Common Body Theatre, University of Manchester (England), the American Indian Community House Youth Theatre Project, and was a founding member of Chuka Lokoli Native Theatre Ensemble in New York City. He currently works as an actor with the Only Make Believe company in New York City and is also an actor/teacher with CUNY's Creative Arts Team. He does professional development nationwide as a Master Artist for the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. Steve was recently published in Amerinda/Nation Book's anthology "Genocide of the Mind". In this interview Steve Elm addresses the uphill battle he has faced in the theater world as he's worked to break stereotypes and to address urban Native issues.
Baba Israel is a hip hop emcee, poet, and beatboxer who has toured across the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, and the South Pacific performing with artists like Outkast, The Roots, Rahzel, Ron Carter, Afrika Bambaataa, Vernon Reid, and Bill Cosby. Baba has been featured on MTV, BET, and VH1, and in the films Breath Control, The Freshest Kids, Freestyle, and Hip Hop for Hope. In 2008, he was selected as part of Lincoln Center's Rhythm Road, touring Asia and the South Pacific with the Dana Leong Project. Together with Yako 440, Baba was named in URB Magazine's prestigious NEXT 1000. Their latest album, "Beatbox Dub Poetics," is available at CD Baby. In addition to his music, Baba is an accomplished theater artist. His solo piece "Boom Bap Meditations" premiered on October 3rd, 2008 at the Hip Hop Theater Festival. He has performed in Hip Hop Commedia's What you say white boy? and in Full Circle's Soular Powered at the New Victory Theater on Broadway. He has collaborated as a musician with for theater projects with Rha Goddess and Renita Martin. Baba is also active in his community, conducting workshops and assemblies at schools through Open Thought Arts and bringing theater to underrepresented communities through Playback NYC Theater Company, which he co-founded. He has joined forces with Yako 440 and Core Rhythm to form Subphonik Music a label, production company, and sound system.
Baba holds an MFA in interdisciplinary arts, uniting his passions for hip hop and theater.
Zach Morris is a choreographer, director, author, visual artist, and filmmaker. His work has been seen internationally, at several theaters around the US and at numerous venues in New York City including: Danspace Project, the South Street Seaport as part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Sitelines Series, Dance Theater Workshop, La Mama ETC, University Settlement/ The New York Fringe Festival, Dixon Place, the Williamsburg Art Nexus, and The Merce Cunningham Studio. He is the recipient of a New York Dance and Performance (BESSIE) Award for Creation/Choreography, the Henry Boettcher Award for Excellence in Directing, the NYC Fringe Fest Award for Excellence in Choreography, and has been granted residencies or commissions from Danspace Project, The Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation, Dance Theater Workshop, Topaz Arts, La Mama, LMCC, the Swarthmore Project, Epiphany Theatre Company, and others. Zach is Co-Director of Third Rail Projects and organizer and moderator of the NYC Dance Film Lab.
Digital pictures are available on request.
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Jillian Sweeney | Manager of Public Relations | Dance Theater Workshop 219 West 19th Street | New York, NY 10011 p: 212.691.6500 x222|f: 212.633.1974|jillian@dtw.org
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