DANCE

Presented as part of CORE’s 30th Anniversary Season, CORE Performance Company premieres new dance works The Point, choreographed by CORE Artistic Director Sue Schroeder, and The Moment Between, co-created by Schroeder and former CORE dancer and independent dance maker jhon r. stronks, at the Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex on Friday and Saturday, March 11-12, 2011 at 8 p.m. each day.

Influenced by visual artist, Sol LeWitt and writer, Raymond Federman, The Point is a dynamic quintet speaking to the contemporary human condition. The writings of experimental novelist Raymond Federman (1928-2009) inspire choreographic possibilities because of their graphic design and word play that speak directly to improvisational movement scores and structures in a myriad of ways.

The work of American conceptual artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), specifically his 1971 Wall Drawing #65, is an important reference for The Point. LeWitt’s full title illuminates its relationship to the dance: Wall Drawing #65 / Lines not short, not straight, crossing and touching, drawn at random using four colors, uniformly dispersed with maximum density, covering the entire surface of the wall.

The score for The Point was created in collaboration with German Composer/Sound Artist Christian Meyer (www.meyermal.de). Meyer’s compositions have included movie soundtracks, theatrical performances, solo concerts and dance works. His musical languages include electro, electro-acoustic and ambient.

The Moment Between - Beginning with William Forsythe's Improvisation Technologies and inspired by the Buddhist notion of Emptiness, Schroeder and stronks are exploring the “space between” that allows the body and mind to encompass the paradox of emptiness and form.

The Moment Between developed during an intensive 5-week creative process with CORE Performance Company dancers and co-choreographers Sue Schroeder (CORE Artistic Director) and jhon r. stronks (former CORE dancer and independent dance maker working in Houston and Los Angeles.)

The Moment Between will be an investigation of the cleansing that occurs when an individual achieves emptiness, a moment that allows the space between the body and mind to open wider and movement becomes pure and honest.

The system used to achieve this state will come from internationally renowned choreographer William Forsythe, specifically his Improvisation Technologies CD-ROM (2000), in which he provides a hands-on guide to the approach he uses to create different types of movements. His methodology is grounded in using geometric shapes such as points, lines and three-dimensional forms to help dancers develop their own improvisational practice.

Using the improvisation technologies as a skill set, the co-choreographers have worked with CORE dancers toward a practice of physical discipline that is as empty of pre-conception (movement/ intention) and pattern (being able to locate, engage and release) as possible. Together this practice led to the creation of choreographic language that will illuminate the concepts of emptiness and possibility.

Tickets are $20 general admission, and $15 student, senior, artist and may be purchased via CORE’s website at www.COREdance.org.

CORE is home to the internationally acclaimed CORE Performance Company known for its riveting, passionate and unique work. Made up of individual artists, the company performs new choreography that evolves through experimentation, improvisation, and collaborations with artists from different mediums.

For more information about CORE Performance Company, please call 713-862-5530 or visit www.COREdance.org.

CORE’s 30th Anniversary Season is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, the Pattillo Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, Houston Endowment Inc., and AirTran Airways. 

Pictured:  Photo of CORE Performance Company members in The Point. Photo by Mark Teague.