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First Annual INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival, July 8-9

by Michelle Tabnick
June 30, 2017
Western Queens Waterfront: Hunter's Point South Park, Gantry Plaza State Park, Queensbridge Park and Socrates Sculpture Park
Long Island City, NY 11101
First Annual INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival kicks off
on July 8 & 9 at the Western Queens Waterfront

24 NYC-based dance companies perform original works
inspired by natural and urban landscapes

KINEMATIK Dance Theater presents Long Island City's first two-day, outdoor site dance festival, taking place at four LIC waterfront parks and featuring a diverse program of unique, site-specific dance works by 24 distinguished and emerging New York City-based choreographers.

With the support of New York City Parks & Recreation, New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and Socrates Sculpture Park, INSITU activates and transforms the Western Queens waterfront into one big, multi-faceted stage over the weekend of July 8 & 9, from 12 to 7 PM daily.

INSITU is free and open to the public, offering an exciting way to experience dance in unusual public spaces. Performances will take place at various locations within Hunter's Point South Park, Gantry Plaza State Park, Queensbridge Park and Socrates Sculpture Park. Inspired by natural and urban landscapes, the diverse line-up of 24 contemporary and urban dance companies will maneuver through playgrounds, partner with benches, appear in hidden corners and dance on piers, staircases and shorelines. Other locales within the parks  include a ferry landing, railways, picnic tables, walkways, promenades, an old school bus, a sand field and more. Audiences will be led through continuous dance performances several times throughout the day, setting up a chain of dynamic and immersive performances throughout the four parks. For the truly inspired, audience members can experience 7 hours of uninterrupted dance performances by all companies in one day.

There are three performance rounds per park, with the first dances kicking off at 12 PM at Hunter's Point South Park, Gantry Plaza State Park and Socrates Sculpture Park, followed by Queensbridge Park at 2 PM. Audiences will be able to walk, bike, kayak, ride the bus, and take advantage of a special LYFT discount to travel from venue to venue. A festival map, with performance schedule and locations, will be available at each park as well as online at insitudancefestival.com.

Performances range from solos, duos and quartets to group works with casts as large as 35 dancers. Area residents who participated in a three-month community dance workshop, co-hosted by Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement at Queensbridge Houses, will also perform in the festival.
 
The first of its kind in Queens, INSITU's goal is to create community through the arts by activating public spaces through dance. The Festival strives to strengthen, bridge and celebrate the diverse communities living along the LIC waterfront by using dance as a tool for deeper community engagement. INSITU aspires to make dance accessible, connect with new audiences and raise awareness of the power of movement. INSITU creates a supportive platform for artists to develop new work and increases the visibility of the arts in Queens.
 
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

BS Movement * Carte Blanche Performance/Shandoah Goldman * Christopher Unpezverde Núñez * Dancitecture/Kimberly Tate and Akim Funk Buddha* Grounded View* Hivewild  * Jody Oberfelder Projects * Kate MooreandBrendan Duggan * Kinematik Dance Theater * KrisSeto+ShoeySun [ VESSELS ] * Loni Landon Dance Project * Lucy Kerr * Melissa Riker/Kinesis Project dance theatre * Movement of the People Dance Company * Only Child Aerial Theatre * Parcon NYC * PROJECT 44 * tedted Performance Group * TheBlue Bus Project/Annalisa Iadicicco and Tyler Gilstrap * The Equus Projects/OnSite NYC * Valerie Green/Dance Entropy * Violetsound * Wilder Project * Zullo/RawMovement 
 
 
SITES + PERFORMANCE TIMES

Hunter's Point Parks, Artist, Performance Times
Sandfield, Hivewild, 12:00 PM; 2:35 PM: 4:15 PM
LIC Landing, Danceitecture/Kimberly Tate + Akim Funk Buddha, 12:10 PM; 2:35 PM; 4:25 PM
Athletic Field, The Equus Project/OnSite NYC, 12:30 PM; 3:05 PM, 4:45 PM
Playground, BS Movement, 12:45 PM; 3:20 PM; 5:00 PM
Railways & Chairs, Movement of the People Dance Company, 1:05 PM; 3:40 PM; 5:20 PM
Viewpoint Single Beach, Christopher Unpezverde Núñez, 1:15 PM; 3:50 PM; 5:30 PM

Gantry Plaza State Park, Artist, Performance Times
Piers, Zullo/RawMovement, 12:00 PM; 1:30 PM; 4:05 PM
Gantry Plaza, Carte Blanche Performance/Shandoah Goldman, 12:15 PM ; 1:45 PM; 4:20 PM
Peninsula, Loni Landon Dance Project, 12:30 PM; 2:00 PM; 4:35 PM
Lounge Chairs + Picnic Area, Kate Douglas and Brendan Duggan, 12:45 PM; 2:15 PM; 4:50 PM
Adirondack Chairs, Jody Oberfelder Projects, 12:55 PM; 2:25 PM; 5:00 PM
Curved Benches, Grounded View, 1:05 PM; 2:35 PM; 5:10 PM
North Basin, Melissa Riker/Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, 1:25 PM; 2:55 PM; 5:30 PM

Queensbridge Park, Artist, Performance Times
Red House, Project 44, 2:00 PM; 3:40 PM; 6:00 PM
Promenade, KrisSeto and ShoeySun [VESSELS ], 2:10 PM; 3:50 PM; 6:10 PM
Benches + Picnic Area, Kinematik Dance Theater, 2:25 PM; 4:05 PM; 6:25 PM
Tree Intersection, Community Dance Group, 2:40 PM; 4:20 PM; 6:40 PM
Playground, Parcon NYC, 2:50 PM; 4:30 PM; 6:50 PM
Staircase, Lucy Kerr, 3:05 PM; 4:50 PM; 7:05 PM

Socrates Sculpture Park, Artist, Performance Times
Stone Platform + Trees, Dance Entropy/Valerie Green, 12:20 PM; 3:40 PM; 5:20 PM
Metal Roofed Structure, Only Child Aerial Theatre, 12:30 PM; 3:50 PM; 5:30 PM
Shoreline + Promenade, tedted Performance Group, 12:40 PM; 4:00 PM; 5:40 PM
Large Meadow, Wilder Project, 12:55 PM; 4:15 PM; 5:55 PM
North Entrance, The Blue Bus Project and Tyler Gilstrap, 1:05 PM; 4:25 PM; 6:05 PM
Hallets Cove/Beach, violetsound, 1:20 PM; 4:40 PM; 6:20 PM

INSITU is made possible in part by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and with funds from the Decentralization Program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Queens Council on the Arts.
 
Key support is provided by TF Cornerstone, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, NYC Ferry, Rockrose, and Plaxall Inc.
 
Additional support is provided by Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, Modern Spaces, COFFEED, and local LIC restaurants, cafés, bars and businesses. 
 
Generous support is provided by the Partnerships for Parks Capacity Fund Grant. 
 
INSITU'S PARTNERS

INSITU is made possible with support of our community partners: Hunter's Point Parks Con- servancy, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, Friends of Queensbridge Park, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Chocolate Factory Theater, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, LIC Partnership, Queens Tourism Council, Spaceworks NYC, and the Queens Economic Development Corporation.
 
ABOUT THE PRESENTER

KINEMATIK Dance Theater, founded by Svea Schneider in 2010, is a NYC- and Lima-based urban-contemporary dance company that creates, performs and produces large scale site-specific performances, evening length dance theater works, dance installations, multi-disciplinary performances, dance films, and facilitates dance education and outreach programs. KINEMATIK's mission is to engage and empower people through dance, to build community, raise awareness about important social issues, and use dance as a tool for social justice through performances, dance education and outreach programs. KINEMATIK has created, performed and produced work nationally and internationally throughout NYC, Peru, India and Europe. Presenters include: Jönköping Läns Museum * Tribeca Film Festival * Hollywood Fringe Festival * Andanzas Int'l Dance Festival * ICPNA Centro Cultural de Lima * New York International Fringe Festival * DUMBO Dance Festival * Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater * Dixon Place * St. Marks Church * Flushing Town Hall * Wave Rising Series * Triskelion Arts * WestFest Dance Festival * Grounds for Sculpture * Jerry Leibovitz Theater for the Performing Arts * Performance Project@University Settlement. For more info, visit www.kinematikdance.com.

Svea Schneider, born and raised in Germany, is a NYC- and Lima-based dance artist, choreographer, dance teacher and activist. She has performed and taught throughout the US, Canada, Peru, India and Dubai. She holds a degree in dance anthropology from NYU and is the founder of KINEMATIK Dance Theater and INSITU Site-Specific Dance Festival. For more info, visit www.sveaschneider.com.

From the Partners:
Through the Queens Arts Fund, QCA is happy to be able to support artists and organizations such as INSITU because not only are they bringing a high level of awareness of dance to the LIC community but they are a building community of dancers in Queens. -Lynn Lobell, Grants and Resource Director, Queens Council on the Arts

INSITU burns with the fire of possibility- igniting familiar landscapes and beloved spaces with the kind of magical, daring artistic engagement we also strive for at Socrates. The art of dance, especially, thrives when it is alive, unbounded, and fully accessible to the public, and I am thrilled to support the way INSITU and its founder have so wholeheartedly dedicated their work to infusing our local community with the energy and vitality of site-specific dance. -Audrey Dimola, Director of Public Programs, Socrates Sculpture Park
 
Put simply, Svea and her team are pure dynamite. So much positive energy. So much creativity. So much talent. This is going to be a fantastic weekend, full of entertaining, enriching and mind-expanding performances for all ages, ethnicities, and tastes. It's also another example of the fact that Queens has become a Mecca of dance and art. - Rob MacKay, Queens Tourism Council Director
 
From the Presenter:
An important goal of INSITU is to bridge the gap between two disparate LIC communities that are physically and often psychologically separated by the Queensboro Bridge, new developments like Hunter's Point and Court Square on the south side of the bridge, and Queensbridge Houses, the largest public housing community in North America, on the north side of the bridge. Through INSITU we strive to inspire dialogue, engage both communities to dance together, explore their neighborhood through an artistic lens, and find a creative common language. -Svea Schneider
 
INSITU cultivates a supportive platform for artists to develop new work. Artists' voices are important in shaping society and public spaces are places for creative and free expression.- Svea Schneider
 
From the Artists:
We are excited to be part of INSITU as it creates artistic impression throughout Queens. Memory is layered. Site-specific work stretches our human collective notion of what is expected and possible within public space. Although an audience might only view our work once or twice, the memory of the work will forever be in the spiral of who they are and how they are as they move through these spaces in the future. - Andrew Suseno/Parcon NYC 

We believe that seeing dance out in the world, in the places we go every day, gives dance more power to remind us of our humanity and reconnect us with ourselves.- Holly Wilder/Wilder Projects
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