crest program
LATEA Theater at the Clemente, NYC
May 9 & 12, 2019
Presented by:
ChristinaNoel & The Creature
About ChristinaNoel & The Creature
ChristinaNoel & The Creature is a Brooklyn-based dance theater company producing immersive performance pieces. Comprised of dancers, musicians, and visual artists, the hybrid performance medium utilizes the dancers’ voices, bodies, and individual perspectives of the world. The resulting work envelops viewers in multi-textured environments derived from human connections and encounters. The Creature’s mission is to push the boundaries of dance performance and create a space for dialogue and educational outreach.
Driven by Artistic Director & Choreographer, ChristinaNoel Reaves in collaboration with Visual Director & Composer Aeric Meredith-Goujon, The Creature artists are dedicated to the joys of fearless creation and expression; honing their skills and unique style through consistent group training and experimentation in order to expand their collective understanding of dance performance and expression.
thursday, May 9
Shallow Water
Company: Depth Dance
Choreographer: Ellen Sickenberger in collaboration with the dance artists
Performers: Emory Campbell, Margaret Jones, Sarah Kleinke, Graziella Murdocca, Erke Roosen, Thryn Saxon, Ellen Sickenberger
Music: Nicolas Jaar, O'Flynn
Poem 1: Recited and written by Emory Campbell
Poem 2: Recited by Emory Campbell, written by Ellen Sickenberger
Poem 3: Recited and written by Thryn Saxon
Poem 4: Recited and written by Ellen Sickenberger
I met the soul walking along the path
Company: james morrow/THE MOVEMENT
Choreographer: James Morrow
Performer: James Morrow
Music: Michael Wall cover and arrangement of Nick Lowe’s “The Beast in Me”
Costume: Mico Fuentes
Revel In 2
Choreographer: Lilianna Kane
Performers: Tim Bendernagel and Maddie Leonard-Rose
Music: Edith Piaf, “La Foule”
reeling->healing (excerpt)
Company: BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance
Choreographer: Teresa Fellion
Dancers: Erin Landers and Xenia Mansour
Music: Kevin Keller
Costume Design: Nina Katan
- Intermission -
Interlude: Birdhaus
Performer: Dave Hannon
ONE (EXCERPT)
Company: ECHOensemble
Choreographer: Jonah Udall, in collaboration with the performers
Performers: Noah Becker, Sean Brekke, Liana Kleinman, Erin Landers, Mary McGrath, Allison Sexton, Jonah Udall
Alt-Sex 異．性
Choreographer: 江峰 Jiang Feng
Performers: 江峰 Jiang Feng and Hunter Sturgis
THANK YOU FOR PUTTING MY HEAD IN YOUR PLANT AND WATERING MY THROAT
Company: Elk + Feather
Choreographer: Natalie Deryn Johnson with Rhys Tivey
Performers: Natalie Deryn Johnson and Rhys Tivey
Music: composition and recording by Rhys Tivey, words and voice by Rhys Tivey and Natalie Deryn
An Intimate Moment
Company: The Basics
Choreographer: Emily Pacilio
Performers: Emily Pacilio and Gavin Price
Music: Gavin Price, Heart, Prince
Sunday, May 12
Happenstance
Company: BREAKTIME
Choreographers: Jonathan Matthews and Holly Sass
Performers: Holly Sass and Jonathan Matthews
Text: Jonah Greenstein
Chemistry With Space
Company: MEC
Choreographer: Mary Esther Carter
Performer: Mary Esther Carter
Sound design: Scott Mangan
Song “Joanna” by Mary Esther Carter
Text: Radiolab interview of Oliver Sacks
_______*handshake*
Company: Piug Dance Theatre
Choreographers: Caitlin Morgan and Benjamin Roach
Performers: Caitlin Morgan and Benjamin Roach
Refusing to be Disposed (excerpt)
Company: Smashworks Dance
Choreographer: Ashley McQueen in collaboration with Louisa Pancoast
Dancers: Ashley McQueen and Louisa Pancoast
Music: PLOY, Dusts, Andy Stott, Ozel Ab, Captive Portal, and “Sufferin’ Til Suffrage” from Schoolhouse Rock!
- intermission -
Interlude: Birdhaus
Performer: Dave Hannon
Excerpt from “Go As Far A You Can”
Company: The Ephyras
Choreographer: ChristinaNoel Reaves
Performers: Imani, Mika, Samantha, Xanthe, Luli, and Lulu, with Cameron Mizell (guitar)
Music: “Go As Far As You Can” by The Creature; “Rattlesnake” and “Whiskey for Flowers” by Cameron Mizell; “You Say” by Lauren Daigle, Paul Mabury, and Jason Ingram
he screamed so loud and spit all over
Choreographer: Collin Ranf
Performer: Collin Ranf
Music: A Small Good Thing, “Saloon Dreams”; Lee Noble, “Paradise Life”
Text: Collin Ranf
Listening Eyes
Choreographer: Melissa Valente
Dancers: Mia Wenger, Jillian Rosner, Dani Cole, Sarah Jannsen, and Mary Kate Walsh
Music: Meghan Rose Murphy, “Listening Eyes Sound Mix”
Thank you for putting my head in your plant and watering my throat
Company: Elk + Feather
Choreographer: Natalie Deryn Johnson with Rhys Tivey
Performers: Natalie Deryn Johnson and Rhys Tivey
Music: composition and recording by Rhys Tivey, words and voice by Rhys Tivey and Natalie Deryn
Company Bios
Thursday, May 9
Founded by Teresa Fellion in 2011, BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance is a contemporary dance company of women that capture and communicate universal human encounters through dynamic, purposeful movement. They make work that integrates and empowers audiences, navigating them through public and theater spaces in interactive performances that open different perspectives. More at bodystoriesfellion.org.
Depth Dance is a project-based contemporary dance company rooted in NYC with choreography by Ellen Sickenberger. The company has presented work in venues including Salvatore Capezio Theater, Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center, Hudson Guild Theater, Dixon Place, Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, Ballet Austin and more. The company's first dance film venture in collaboration with cinematographer Brian J. Hollars, "Fates", has been screened at four different festivals nationally and was awarded Audience Favorite at the Austin Dance Film Festival. The company has also been commissioned for two different split bill shows in the past two years. Ellen's work has been described as "hauntingly beautiful" and "captivatingly chilling" [BWW Reviews] and Depth continues to present work and repertoire nationwide. www.ellensickenberger.com/depthdance
Dave Hannon is a New York based installation artist, performer and teacher. He is interested in work that blends the digital to physical, through projection based 3-D animations and video. He has exhibited in Western Massachusetts; Kansas City, MI; Portland, Oregon; New York City and Boston; his work can be seen here at davidmccordhannon.com.
ECHOensemble creates evolving architecture of movement and sound. Together, dancers and musicians become resonant bodies, instruments of space, dissolving their mediums into one. Directed by Jonah Udall, the Brooklyn-based collective conjoins around a practice called SHIFT, using repetition to question the raw potential of human beings in space together. Combining their eclectic backgrounds, SHIFT draws on Steve Reich’s "process music," Mary Overlie's Viewpoints method, and years of organic, physical research. www.echoensemble.com
Elk + Feather is a performance duo that explores spoken word poetry, movement, and music. They have performed at Real Tinsel gallery in Milwaukee, signs and symbols gallery of nyc, and Sleep No More’s Manderley Bar.
Emily Pacilio and Gavin Price are Bronx-based artists using their respective choreographic and musical talents to create fantasy dream sequences. Their collaborations have been presented at Dixon Place, the New Ohio Theatre, the PIT, Actors Fund Arts Center, and on film through CabinFever Presents.
The Ephyras The Creature's children's company, The Ephyras, features dancers ranging in age from 7 to 13. The Ephyras train in the ways of the Creature: they learn precise technique, including physical and technical modern dance moves, as well as improvisation and composition. The Ephyras’ training also emphasizes music, vocalization and harmony, integrating these aspects into their work in a style akin to the Creature. They are partners and collaborators, working together to expand their ideas of what dance and theater are and can be. The Ephyras' different backgrounds and previous training combine to build a company that reflects their individuality and collective energy. If you are interested in enrolling your child in The Ephyras classes, please contact us at christinanoelandthecreature.com.
A native of Chicago, IL. James Morrow is the founder and artistic director of james morrow/ The Movement. Coming from an urban background, Morrow yearns to see the contemporary composition prevalent in concert dance integrated into the hip-hop culture in which he is submerged. His movement has become a fusion of modern, contemporary, and urban dance styles. www.jamesmorrowthemovement.com
江峰 Jiang Feng is a non-gendered artist working in movement/dance, theatre, voice, text, modeling, film, photography, and theory. She is the receiver of the Government Fellowship and “Grants for 20-40-Year-Old Writers” from Ministry of Culture in Taiwan. His works have been presented in Taiwan, the U.S., Germany, Ireland, and India. https://www.jiangfeng-mine.com/
Lilianna Kane, Tim Bendernagel, and Maddie Leonard-Rose are all dance artists from Brooklyn, NY. They also happen to be best friends. Kane began to choreograph on Bendernagel and Leonard-Rose while the three were studying dance at The Ohio State University. They have loved working together ever since. www.liliannakane.com
Sunday, May 12
BREAKTIME is a site-fluid reservoir for bad ideas, generated and performed by Holly Sass and Jonathan Matthews. Classmates in Tisch Dance’s class of 2014, they were often cast together in a diverse array of work until joining forces in 2017 for Tisch Dance’s Alumni Choreographic Workshop under the mentorship of Gus Solomons, Jr. Since then they have been presented at numerous venues in NYC, participated in residencies in and beyond the City, and have developed a variety of multimedia collaborative relationships. To learn more, clickonbreaktime.com
Collin Ranf is a 6th-generation Montanan, Brooklyn-based dance artist, 500-hour registered yoga teacher, Pilates instructor, fundraiser, and home cook (@bobbys_cooking_adventures). Using storytelling, movement, and performed rituals, he engages in dialogue with audiences about the appropriation and commodification of new age spiritual practices. His aesthetic takes inspiration from the phenomena of yoga photos on Instagram, durational performance, late night radio, and David Lynch. His work intends to express the absurd complexity of what it feels like to be alive right now trying to understand how everything came to be as it is. www.collinranf.com
Dave Hannon is a New York based installation artist, performer and teacher. He is interested in work that blends the digital to physical, through projection based 3-D animations and video. He has exhibited in Western Massachusetts; Kansas City, MI; Portland, Oregon; New York City and Boston; his work can be seen here at davidmccordhannon.com.
The Ephyras The Creature's children's company, The Ephyras, features dancers ranging in age from 7 to 13. The Ephyras train in the ways of the Creature: they learn precise technique, including physical and technical modern dance moves, as well as improvisation and composition. The Ephyras’ training also emphasizes music, vocalization and harmony, integrating these aspects into their work in a style akin to the Creature. They are partners and collaborators, working together to expand their ideas of what dance and theater are and can be. The Ephyras' different backgrounds and previous training combine to build a company that reflects their individuality and collective energy. If you are interested in enrolling your child in The Ephyras classes, please contact us at christinanoelandthecreature.com.
Mary Esther Carter is a singer-songwriter, as well as a dancer and actor. She has cultivated her voice as an artist in New York City for the past 10 years, performing in dance companies, performance art, immersive theater, and film, as well as creating her own music and choreography. Her debut EP "DOULA" will be released in the spring of 2019. Expression is the key, leave room for error, and open your mouth even if "nothing" comes out. https://maryesthercarter.com/
Melissa Valente is a choreographer who is focused on the potential of the female form and its ability to be abstracted. Originally from Annapolis, MD, Melissa moved to New York to pursue a degree in Dance Studies from Marymount Manhattan College. Since graduating she has had the pleasure of showing her work at shows hosted by Mari Meade Dance Collective and Sans Limites, and is excited to be restaging her work "Listening Eyes" for Crest: 1st Annual Creature Fest.
Piug Dance Theatre is a creative partnership between NYC-based artists Caitlin Morgan and Benjamin Roach. Their work operates at the apex of movement and language, drawing from Caitlin's literary affinities, Ben's theatrical background, and their ever-evolving understanding of communication. Piug Dance Theatre has presented through NACHMO at Mark Morris and The Actors Fund Arts Center, and through The Craft at Threes Brewing. https://piugdance.wordpress.com/
Directed by choreographer Ashley McQueen, Smashworks Dance is a New York based dance company dedicated to the integration of political action and performance. Since inception in 2015, Smashworks Dance has performed throughout the greater New York City metropolitan area and toured in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Kalamazoo, and St. Louis. Smashworks Dance was named a Village Voice “Voice Choices" for their evening length performance of City Stories at Center for Performance Research, and their evening length political satire For Which It Stands was featured in Time Out New York, Brokelyn’s “Top 20 Cheap Things To Do,” and the Dance Enthusiast. smashworksdance.com
Team:
Artistic Director/Curator: ChristinaNoel Reaves
Executive Director: Cameron Mizell
Producer: Phoebe Rose Sandford
Lighting Design: Dalia Sevilla
Performance Photography: Natalie Deryn Johnson
ChristinaNoel & The Creature is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of ChristinaNoel & The Creature must be made payable to Fractured Atlas only and are tax-deductible the extent permitted by law.