Bodies of Text: Part 1 - This Saturday (4/16)!

Performance and exhibition series featuring

Eleanor Goudie-Averill and Beau Hancock

of Stone Depot Dance Lab,

Rain Ross Dance Company, ReAct Dance

Jumatatu Poe and Shannon Murphy

of idiosynCrazy Productions,

Alie Vidich, Heather Cole & Erin Shanti Desmond

of Movement Brigade,

& Zornitsa Stoyanova of Here[begin] Dance Co.

And Artists of the Philadelphia Center for the Book

April 16, 2011 at the Community Education Center

May 27, 2011 at Studio 34

September 3, 2012 as a part of Philly Fringe Festival

Bodies of Text is a series of collaborative dance performances and art exhibitions tied to the book and its interdisciplinary interpretations. Premiering as a part of the 2011 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts and its theme of Paris 1911, Bodies of Text is rooted in the idea of Art à la Rue and brings Art to the Street in Philadelphia's Rive Gauche, West Philadelphia.


Philadelphia dance companies interpret seven unique books, selected from many submissions by PCB members. The first installment of these choreographic creations, all world premieres, will be performed on April 16th at the Community Education Center (3500 Lancaster) at 8 pm and will feature works by Idiosyncrazy Productions and Rain Ross Dance. Tickets are available through the CEC (Box Office: 215-387-1911) and through PIFA at http://pifa.org/events/980193157.

Idiosyncrazy director Jumatatu Poe's new piece, A Big Enough Grief, is inspired by Lesley Mitchell's abstraction of AstorPiazzolla's song, Balada para un Loco, in her book of the same title. Mitchell's book has caused Jumatatu to reflect on his experiences with grief and the situations that create it. Composer Piazzolla's lyrics illustrate a man's obsessive love for a woman who is out of his reach. A Big Enough Grief examines the longing for those that are no longer within our reach.

Shannon Murphy, also of Idiosyncrazy Productions, has created Blast Vs Blaze, an investigation of an argument that can never be won or lost. Inspired by Monica Kane's book Strike, and with sound and video work by Steve Surgalski, this dance theater duet explores the definitions that keep us separated, keep us fighting, and that keep us from communication. In the duet, Murphy and Jumatatu Poe combat in unlikely ways. Their movement, often explosive and aggressive forever flues their battle without ever coming to resolution. Blast Vs Blaze is not a comment on who is right or wrong or good or bad. It is more a question of how we fight for ourselves and who we fight against.

Rain Ross Dance, in collaboration with book artist Mimi Shapiro, will premiere another duet, The Flight To Varennes. This choreographic work explores an unforeseen fantasy that could never be a reality, asking the question: does love fall into categories? Ross and dancer Lauren Kelly will perform this exciting and sensuous duet, with an original composition by Dan Roeder.


Performances will be followed by a discussion between choreographers and book artists, examining the transformation from printed page to stage, and accompanied by storefront exhibits of artist books and related material. Featured books will also be on view alongside each performance. Book artists chosen for the May and September installments are: Ananda Connolly, Rebecca Kelly, Anna Mavromatis, Jude Robison, and Bonnie Whitfield.


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Keep up to date with all things Bodies of Text by visiting the Bodies of Text blog: http://bodiesoftext.blogspot.com/