Past Performances
Performances in 2023
So far in 2023, Open Dance Ensemble has performed at Triskelion's Stage Dive on April 4th, Akomi Dance's New Wave Festival on April 14th, and Spoke the Hub on May 28th. At Stage Dive, we performed a score based on a word from an audience member (Gargoyle). At New Wave, dancers created two pre-set phrases that were woven into a score with repetition and dynamic reconstruction (One Two). At Spoke the Hub, we presented a showcase of five original scores created by company members.
Open Dance Ensemble presented “Current Events” at Arts on Site on July 16 based on topics chosen by the dancers from a list given by the event producer: Age, Sexuality and Religion, and Race. Each dancer chose a topic and created movement to express their choice. In order of appearance:
Madi: “I chose Age. My phrases demonstrate being physically led forward by my pre frontal cortex and how my back is strained due to age.”
Melissa: “I chose Age also. I employ a prolonged and slowed-down movement in both texture and form and also movement which feels quick to express both living and existing.”
Devyn: “ I chose both Sexuality and Religion. I play around with gestures that are symbolic in both the church and the LGBTQ+ community. ”
Daniella: “I chose Race. My phrases pay homage to the movement styles of Puerto Rico and Colombia and create movement that shows how race is a way of moving and telling stories of triumph and celebration.”
Open Dance Ensemble rounded out its Fall season with three performances.
We presented an excerpt from our new piece, Trio B on December 5th at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn, New York. Trio B was inspired by, and is a response to Yvonne Rainer's ground-breaking 1966 Trio A as presented in her 1976 video. The ensemble dancers choose movements from the original, re-arrange and transpose them, and self-conduct a new, improvised performance with them.
After the show at Triskelion we presented an impromptu performance of a text by Open Dance Ensemble member Lily Selthofner based on an adventure in Milan, entitled The Name is Olga. For the text see https://lilyselthofner.com/olga-excerpt-from-lido-by-lily-selthofner/ .
To conclude the year we presented the full version of Trio B to a sold-out audience at Green Space Studio in Queens, New York on December 10th.
Performances in 2022
We began 2022 with a performance of Memory Tones for the Body on March 20th in Movement Research’s Open Movement series at 122 Community Center in Manhattan and followed up with two presentations of Demonstration, first a video of a prior performance shown online on Andrea Clearfield’s Szalon on March 27 and then a live performance at iKada in ft. Lee, New Jersey on April 9th. And the next day, April 10th, we reprised Swipe Right presented at iKada. On April 23rd we presented our first outdoor performance, the Water Project, at Domino Park in Brooklyn, New York commemorating National Water Day organized and live-streamed by National Water Dances. The next day, April 24th, we reprised Memory Tones of the Body at 7 MPR’s Second Midnight Performance at Arts on Site in Manhattan. On May 17th we presented How Does It Feel at Movement Research’s Open Movement at 122 Community Center in Manhattan, reprised on June 5 at the Queens Outdoor dance Festival at SLDT in Queens, New York. On June 27th we presented Strudel at 7 MPR’s Third Midnight Performance at Arts on Site in Manhattan a special event commemorating Pride Day. After a summer break, we presented Demonstration, with an invitation for audience participation, on October 15th at the Arts Gowanus Open Studios at Spoke the Hub in Brooklyn. On November 5th we offered a special performance of Catherine Messina’s “strudel” at Dixon Place, in New York City as part of their Dance Bloc NYC 2022 Festival.
Performances in 2021
In November we performed Process 3 at LEMI Collective in Brooklyn and Swipe Right (a structured improvisation based on the experience of a sense of loss of identity, of being scared in front of the unknown, and the challenge of self-appreciation) at Green Space Studio in Queens. In December we performed Extinction, a work in process about the devasting consequences of climate change on animal species, at Green space in Queens, New York.
Performances in 2020
In 2020 we presented Perceptions (ensemble members created painting and interpreted it in performance) at Stage Dive at Triskelion in January and Winter Follies at Spoke the Hub in February, and Games (an application of conducted improv to pedestrian movements in sports) at The Floor in March. We had four other performances cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic.
Performances in 2019
In 2019, we reprised Replace/Repeat on February 1 and 2 at Spoke the Hub and on February 27 reprised Pina Colada at New Works Theater. On June 1 we presented Pathways (an exploration of form with live bass clarinet music) at Hudson Guild Theater and reprised it in June 7 at Mark Morris Dance Center. We began our Fall 2019 season with Breaking Out (an exploration of love with live flute music) on October 20 at Green Space Studio and reprised it at 122 Community Center on October 22. .We presented The Dancer Body(an exploration of the dancers’ relationship to their bodies) at a benefit for Borne Dance Company on November 16.
Performances in 2018
We began 2018 with Transmission 126 (a dance quintet with live electronics by Dafna Naphtali) at Triskelion on January 26, (reprised at Spoke the Hub on January 29 and 30, 2018); then presented Let Me Tell You (a multi-media performance with video and poetry) at Triskelion on April 29, 2018 (reprised at CHI Movement Arts in Philadelphia on May 12, 2018) . We performed Wind Spirits at Dance Astoria on May 20, June Wind at the International Human rights Arts Festival on June 18, and Repeat/Replace (structured improv with accumulation and self-conduction) at The Dance Company (UK) showcase at Gibney Downtown on June 28 . Our Fall 2018 performances include Meantime (an experiment in sharing) on November 6 at Dixon Place, Unity ( an improvised work that unites dancers through movements flowing together as one) on November 18 at Green Space Studio, and Pina Colada (an interpretation of Pina Bausch’s Cafe Muller) on December 1 at Jennifer Muller Studio.
Performances in 2017
In 2017 Open Dance Ensemble presented our first piece, Re(actions) (a commentary on Trump's 100 days in office with spoken text from the U.S. Constitution), at Art on Site on April 29, 2017. We then showed Variation(s) (based on Bach's Goldberg Variations) on May 6 at Jennifer Muller Studio; Inter(actions) (an improv with Korean flutist Seungmin Cha) on May 14 at Green Space Studio; Interpretation(s) (three dances to early twentieth-century experimental music) on May 23 at Eden's Expressway; FALLscapes (a celebration of the season with Autumn Leaves, nature sounds, and Autumn in New York) at Bridge for Dance on October 28, 2017.