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| 92Y Harkness Dance Festival with [ZOGMA] (2.20-24.08) |
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| Tickets/Registration: 212.415.5500 |
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| Media Contact: Sarah Morton, 212.415.5435, email |
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| THE 92nd STREET Y HARKNESS DANCE FESTIVAL WITH ZØGMA |
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WEEK 2: THE U.S. Debut of a New Work Entitled
RAPAILLÉ |
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Choreography: Dominic Desrochers and Mario Boucher
Music: Julien Roy, Marie-Pierre Lecault, Dominic Desrochers, Jean-François Bélanger
Costume Design: Madeleine Saint-Jacques
Lighting: Gélo
Wednesday, February 20; Thursday, February 21, and Saturday, February 23, 8pm
Sunday, February 24, 2pm
"Uplifting, absolutely compelling...Beautifully poetic choreography"—Le Nouvelliste
"A true artistic epic...a work of folklore in which the contemporary is rooted in tradition itself"—La Revue
PERFORMANCE LOCATION: Ailey® Citigroup Theater at the Joan Weill Center for Dance
(405 West 55th Street at 9th Avenue)
The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival and Center receives major funding from the Harkness Foundation for Dance; Jody and John Arnhold; the Mertz Gilmore Foundation; the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development; the New York City Council; the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation; public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and Capezio/Ballet Makers Dance Foundation, Inc., among others.
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New York , NY, January, 16, 2008—The second week of the 14th annual 92ND STREET Y HARKNESS DANCE FESTIVAL features [ZØGMA], a percussive dance troupe from Québec making its U.S. debut. Founded in 1999 by Dominic Desrochers, Mario Boucher and Frédérique-Annie Robitaille to preserve and build on the centuries-old French-Canadian tradition of step dancing, [ZØGMA] describes itself as an "urban folklore collective," combining music and song with both folk and urban contemporary dancing. Although largely unknown in the U.S., Canadian audiences and critics have enthusiastically embraced the troupe. [ZØGMA] presents its newest work, Rapaillé, a term Boucher translates as "gathered or put back together." The piece is based on the work of iconic Québecois poet Gaston Miron (1928-1996), particularly his "L'homme rapaillé" ("The Re-assembled Man").
Miron's slangy Canadian French is very rhythmic. Its beat alternately provides a base and a counterpoint to the five percussive dancers and two musicians on stage. Co-founder Dominic Desrochers performs a rap based on Miron's poetry and sing two Miron poems, set to music he wrote with electronic composer Julien Roy and fiddler Marie-Pierre Lecault.
As for Rapaillé's choreography, Desrochers and Boucher transform traditional Québec gigues, which are descended from French court dances—in turn, derived from English and Irish jigs—into hip, urban dances about finding love and exploring one's personal and ethnic identity —themes Miron often explores.
Percussive dance in French Canada has long been the province of folklore and family tradition rather than the dance world. Boucher and Desrochers want not simply to preserve the dances they learned growing up, but also to keep them alive. The co-artistic directors accomplish this with injections of percussive folk styles from around the world, like gumboot (South African dance with rubber boots and body slaps), tap, hambone (rhythmic body percussion developed by American slaves) and Irish step dancing, as well as from contemporary dance and arts.
"The word 'zøgma' is Greek and means to repeat an idea using different words," explains Desrochers, "That's what we're doing—taking traditional dancing and using it differently." |
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| COMING UP IN THE 92nd STREET Y HARKNESS DANCE FESTIVAL: |
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WEEK 3
Nathantrice/Rituals Dance Theater: The Space Between Us |
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Wednesday, February 27; Thursday, February 28; Saturday, March 1, 8pm |
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Sunday, March 2, 2 pm |
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WEEK 4
Brian Brooks Moving Company: Spectrum |
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Wednesday, March 12; Thursday, March 13; Saturday, March 15, 8pm |
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Sunday, March 16, 2 pm |
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| ABOUT THE 92nd STREET Y HARKNESS DANCE CENTER |
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Renata Celichowska, Director
In 1935, what is now the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center provided a home to the fledgling modern dance movement and its leader, Martha Graham. Among the great artists who have created, performed and taught at the Y are Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille, Erick Hawkins, Robert Joffrey, Pearl Lang, and Donald McKayle, building the foundation for contemporary dance as we know it. In recent years, they have been joined by today's dance stars, like David Parsons, Zvi Gotheiner, Keely Garfield, Neil Greenberg, Bill T. Young, Maia Claire Garrison, David Dorfman and Sean Curran. With the generous support of the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Center continues to nurture the teaching, creation and performance of modern dance, serving adults, children and dance professionals through classes, professional development programs like the 92nd Street Y Dance Education Laboratory and performance programs like the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, the Y's annual showcase for contemporary dance. The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center is part of the Y's arts-education division, the 92nd Street Y School of the Arts. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org/dance. |
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| ABOUT THE 92nd STREET Y SCHOOL OF THE ARTS |
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| The 92nd Street Y's arts-education division, the 92nd Street Y School of the Arts, comprises the Harkness Dance Center (estab. 1935), the School of Music (estab. 1917) and the Art Center (estab. 1930). Together they offer instruction to adults, teenagers and children of all ages and interests, as well as master classes and, in the case of dance, performance opportunities and professional performances. The School of the Arts's Educational Outreach initiative provides in-school dance, music and art education to 7,000 economically disadvantaged New York City elementary-school children. The Y's Scholarship Program enables all New Yorkers to enjoy the School of the Arts's programs regardless of income level. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org/arts. |
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| ABOUT THE 92nd STREET Y |
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Founded in 1874 by a group of visionary Jewish leaders, the 92nd Street Y has grown into a wide-ranging cultural, educational and community center serving people of all ages, races, faiths and backgrounds. The 92nd Street Y's mission is to enrich the lives of the over 300,000 people who visit in person each year as well as those who visit virtually, through the Y's satellite, television, radio and Internet broadcasts. The organization offers comprehensive performing arts, film and spoken word events; courses in the humanities, the arts, personal development and Jewish culture; activities and workshops for children, teenagers and parents; and health and fitness programs for people of every age. Committed to making its programs available to everyone, the 92nd Street Y awards nearly $1 million in scholarships annually and reaches out to 7,000 public school children through subsidized arts education programs. For more information, please visit www.92Y.org.
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© 2008 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association
All Rights Reserved. |
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