New Original Works Festival 2015 Program One
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NEW ORIGINAL WORKS FESTIVAL 2015 PROGRAM ONE JULY 30–AUGUST 1, 2015 8:30 PM presented by REDCAT Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater California Institute of the Arts NEW ORIGINAL WORKS FESTIVAL 2015 NGUYỄN NGUYÊN & MARIA GILLESPIE: BLOOM SHEETAL GANDHI, ULKA MOHANTY & MARK GUTIERREZ: IN|EXPIRATION Choreographed and performed by Maria Gillespie & Nguyễn Nguyên Digital Video Artist: Fabio Altenbach Created and Directed by Sheetal Gandhi Video and Rigging Consultation: Erik Speth Choreographed in collaboration with Ulka Mohanty Music/sound or other sources: Fernando Albuerne, Johann Sebastian Bach, Taylor Deupree, Performed by Sheetal Gandhi, Ulka Mohanty, Mark Gutierrez Phương Dung, Chole Gillespie, Arvo Pärt, Giovanni Pergolesi, Franz Schubert Lighting Design by Tony Shayne Special thanks to Renaissance Arts Academy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Center for Music by Derrick Spiva, Ian Smith, Mark Gutierrez International Education, Erik Speth, Sarri Sanchez, Kate Hutter, Amilcar Aguilar, Allison Wyper, Sarah Additional credits: Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou – set to music by Mark Gutierrez. Leddy, Andrew Harth, Lisa Wahlander, Bryan Koneitzko, Jin Park and The Rock Collection. We also wish to acknowledge choreographers Victoria Marks and Bebe Miller, whose works inspired and influenced the Artist Note: In|Expiration is the first version of a full length work in development. I was inspired to making of Bloom. work on this subject matter while working on a piece called I Witness, produced by Anusha Kedhar and choreograohed by Anusha Kedhar, Meena Murugesan, and myself. Bloom was developed with the support of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for International Education. How do we turn a moment into a movement? This isn’t our story, but it is our story. We are not victims, but we are victims. We do not live in isolation. We are a community. And we must rise together, or we will fall together. So, how do we turn a moment into a movement? — B R I E F P A U S E — Perhaps, we start by moving. — Sheetal Gandhi The phrase “how do we turn a moment into a movement?” is based on the work of Alicia Garza and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. A huge thanks to Ulka and Mark for taking this journey with me. Thank you to Mark Murphy, Edgar Miramontes, Bill Ballou, Grace Leavitt and everyone at REDCAT for making this possible. Special thanks to Subhashish ZAC PENNINGTON, JHEREK BISCHOFF & STEVEN RAKER: Mukherjee, who helped me shape my vocal improvisations to emulate the beginnings of the universe. No small task. Thank you to the many people that I have interacted and spoke with over the last 20 years, whose CRYING stories and collective experiences inspire the shape of my artistic response. Authored & Directed by Zac Pennington The development of In|Expiration is supported through individual contributions and donations by friends, family and Composed by Jherek Bischoff people like you! Major contributors include: Deepak and Jolly Gandhi, Sunil and Anu Gandhi, Jyoti Gandhi, and Choreographed by Steven Reker Dr. Kris Lobo. Performed by Zac Pennington, Jherek Bischoff, Allie Hankins (dancer), Julie Pusch (violin), Crystal Brooke Alforque (violin), Marta Sofia Honer (viola) and Aniela Marie Perry (cello) Costumes designed by Nancy Shevlin and Erin Uerlings The New Original Works Festival is made possible by generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Special thanks to Mayumi Heider, On the Boards and Yale Union. the Rosenfeld Fund for Special Projects and REDCAT Circle donors. — I N T E R M I S S I O N — Media Sponsor ABOUT BLOOM ABOUT IN|EXPIRATION Nguyễn Nguyên was born in Vietnam and came to the United States at the age of seven. He was Sheetal Gandhi is a director/choreographer, actor, and educator. Her work has been described a Regents Scholar at UCLA and graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. He as “eloquent, inventive, virtuosic dance-theater” by the Philadelphia Inquirer utilizing “incisive received his teaching certification as a District Intern and taught biological and chemical science commentary offset by brilliant touches of humor” (Narthaki). Sheetal’s career has spanned genres for Los Angeles Unified School District. Nguyên was a part-time dance instructor at Santa Monica and disciplines including work as a creator and performer in Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion, playing a College and Cal State LA. He has worked with various artists in Los Angeles including David leading role in the Broadway production of Bombay Dreams, dancing throughout Ghana with the Roussève, Yu Cheng-Chieh, Holly Johnston and Maria Gillespie. His work has been presented at traditional West African dance company Novisi, and singing with the New York based, all-female Highways Performance Space, Diavolo Space, Citrus College Dance Festival, “Dancers For Life” at a cappella group, Anamcara. She received a 2012-13 NDP Touring Award for her one-woman Landis Performing Arts Center, Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, American College Dance show Bahu-Beti-Biwi, and her work has toured to over 15 cities in the U.S. and in India, Norway Festival and the Guangdong International Dance Festival in China. Nguyên is a founding member and Amsterdam. Past choreographic support has come from the James Irvine Foundation, New of Los Angeles Movement Arts collective. Nguyên has an MFA in Dance and Choreography from England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and UCLA UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. Nguyên is faculty at Ren Arts Academy and is part Department of World Arts and Cultures. She is a recipient of a 2014 Montalvo Artist Residency, of The Rock Collection. the 2012 Annenberg Community Beach House Choreography Residency, a 2011 COLA Individual Artist Grant, the LA Dance Advance Grant, a Puffin Foundation Grant and was a participating Maria Gillepsie is a choreographer, performer, and educator. She received an MFA from UCLA’s member of the 2012 Choreographers in Mentorship Exchange (CHIME) Program. Gandhi’s Department of World Arts and Cultures and a BFA from SUNY Purchase. Gillespie founded Oni commitment to artistic innovation, personal transformation and social change continues to lead Dance in 2005 and was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch.” While a Los Angeles her to work with various artists and non-artist communities - both locally and abroad - where she resident, her choreography was presented by The Ford Amphitheatre, The Getty Museum, strives to build bridges across class, gender, age and cultural differences through the arts. www. REDCAT, The A.W.A.R.D Show!, UCLA, CalArts, The Fowler Museum, Highways Performance sheetalgandhi.com Space, The Electric Lodge, numerous festivals as well as at Joyce SoHo and CounterPULSE. She has taught and performed internationally in Mexico, China, and Japan. Commissions include Ulka Mohanty is a contemporary dancer-choreographer, actor, voiceover artist and chef, and is The Getty Center, Scripps College, Pomona College, Cal State Long Beach, and Santa Monica very honored and excited to be part of this bold new work. Stage credits include: Super Ruwaxi: College. A four time Lester Horton Award winner, she is the recipient of grants from The Durfee Origins (PostNatyam Collective); Madras Postcard (Shyamala Moorty); Antachara (co-production); Foundation, The Irvine Foundation, and UW-Milwaukee’s Center for International Education. She Samsaara (Ekatva Collective); Pray To Ball (Skylight Theatre); Sherlock Through the Looking-Glass is an Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. www.onidance.org (Porters of Hellsgate); Buddha and the Rockstar (NACL Theatre Fest); A Woman’s Guide to Self- defense (Sketch Kombat); Dry Humping: Theatre for TV People (Marshmellow Men from Mars), Fabio Altenbach has an M.S. in Astrophysics from Caltech. In addition to acting as a theater The Mid-life Crisis of Dionysus (Mainline Theatre); Amazone: A Very Violent Love Story (Vangarde technician, he works with interactive technology, programming, and device communication Productions); Bhopal (Teesri Duniya Theatre). Film credits include: Doggoned (Arshad Khan); across networks as it relates to performance. This feeds into his involvement with Renaissance Khazana (Nik/Nak Productions); Cutthroat Kitchen (Food Network); The Dinner Bash (Manouschka Arts Academy, a public performing arts charter school, where he has designed and engineered Guerrier); Closure (JFA Production), and a supporting role in an upcoming children’s animation media with middle and high school students as part of their shows. He has also collaborated with show on NBC. Originally from Montreal, she has performed throughout Canada, United States, UK professional dancers on pieces that have been performed locally and internationally. and India. www.ulkamohanty.com Mark Gutierrez is a Classical Bass Performance Major at UCLA, studying with Chris Hanulik, Principal Bassist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is a proponent for the democratization of art music, or the increased use of improvisation and individual expression by performing musicians, in conjunction with global rhythms in contemporary pieces. Recently, Mark has performed with the UCLA Philharmonia, the Canyon Theatre Guild, and in the Las Vegas Production of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. As a composer and musician, he draws influence from rock and roll, R&B, hip-hop, videogame music, the enormous inheritance of western art music, and a variety of Latin genres. He has only recently come to terms with his love of opera. Derrick Spiva (composer) earned his BA and MFA at UCLA and California Institute of the Arts, moved from collaborations to his own work as a composer and performer. The last few years have where world music across many cultures became an integral part of his musical vocabulary. seen commissions from Lincoln Center, Kronos Quartet, yMusic and Austria’s Schauspielhaus with Derrick studied classical music as a student of Ian Krouse, Paul Chihara, David Rosenboom and live appearances at Carnegie Hall, Adelaide Festival, Tasmania’s MONA FOMA, St.