Alison Cook Beatty Dance Presents "Beat-Léro" a Virtual Performance 2020
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Alison Cook Beatty Dance presents "Beat-léro" A Virtual Performance 2020 Tuesday, December 1st, 2020, 8:00 p.m. (EST) The Alison Cook Beatty Dance "Beat-léro" Virtual Performance 2020 was supported in part by Dance/NYC’s COVID-19 Dance Relief Fund. Alison Cook Beatty Dance CAROLINA RIVERA FIONA OBA VERA PAGANIN NICCOLÒ ORSOLANI NIKA ANTUANETTE RICHARD SAYAMA SASHA RYDLIZKY RICARDO BARRETT Artistic Director and Choreographer ALISON COOK-BEATTY 2 BEAT-LÉRO Music: "Spin Out" by Stanislav Fridman (Based on a theme from "Boléro" by Maurice Ravel) Percussion Beats: Michael Feigenbaum Co-Choreographers: Alison Cook-Beatty and Michael Feigenbaum Dancers: Carolina Rivera, Fiona Oba, Vera Paganin, Niccolò Orsolani, Nika Antuanette, Richard Sayama, Ricardo Barrett Understudy: Sasha Rydlizky Costume Designer: Ali Taghavi Prop Designer: Daniel George Cook Videographers: Nick Morgulis and Jeremy Teran Video Editor: Vincent Dale 3 MESSAGES IN TIME Conceived and created by Alison Cook-Beatty and Shem Guibbory Story: Alison Cook-Beatty, Shem Guibbory, and Anne Catherine de Mare Musicians: Shem Guibbory, Violin, and Susan Sobolewski, Piano Music: Preludes from Dmitri Shostakovich 24 Preludes for Piano for Piano, Op. 34, arranged by Tziganov and Auerbach, Lera Auerbach’s. 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano, Op. 4 Choreography: Alison Cook-Beatty Dramaturg: Anne Catherine de Mare Audio Postproduction: Medianoise Dancers: Carolina Rivera, Timothy Ward, Niccolo Orsolani, Sasha Rydlizky, Richard Sayama Understudies and Assistants to the choreographer: Fiona Oba and Vera Paganin Lighting Designer: Tony Marques Videographer and Film Editor: Ellen Maynard Generously commissioned by Charles and Deborah Adelman. “Messages In Time” Premiered on November 3rd, 2019, at The Salvatore Capezio Theater at Peridance Capezio Center in New York City. Paul B. Goode Photography 4 Synopsis of “Messages in Time” ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. - John Keats The characters emerge from a place out of time. A small town Official (Richard Sayama) watches over a local dance, where a young Poet (Timothy Ward) and his Bride (Sasha Rydlizky) celebrate, along with a mother – the Widow (Carolina Rivera) and her teenage son – the Boy (Niccoló Orsolani). When the Official joins in to dance with the Widow, the Boy objects, causing a disturbance. Tension builds and the Official moves to lash out at the Boy, and the Poet intervenes, challenging his authority. The party is shaken. Back home, the Widow lectures the Boy to be more careful, terrified at what might have unfolded if the Poet hadn’t stepped in. Only when the angry Official strides right into their home does her son finally understand what is at stake. The Official leaves them with a warning, and mother and son together are thankful for their narrow escape. While the Bride dances in joy awaiting her lover’s return, the Official confronts the Poet about his insubordination, handing him orders to report to an “education camp”. Unable to break the news to his beloved, Poet and Bride enjoy a last moment of tenderness. Their happiness is shattered when she discovers the order, and the Official returns to drag the Poet away. Time passes. Unwilling to bend to the injustice of his fate, the Poet suffers doubly at the hands of unseen guards, who break his body but never his spirit. Far away, the Bride is bringing the Poet’s baby into the world while the Official’s conscience struggles with the knowledge of what he has done. Destitute and alone, struggling to maintain her sanity, the Bride stumbles. She is ready to abandon all hope when the Widow and the Boy step in, creating a new family of love for the Bride and her child. 5 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ALISON COOK-BEATTY received her BFA from the Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee, receiving the Ruth Sandholm Ambrose Scholarship Award with high honors. She moved to New York City and danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Taylor 2. In 2012, Ms. Cook- Beatty founded ALISON COOK BEATTY DANCE, a classically-based modern dance company whose mission is to make dance accessible and emotionally engaging for all. She has been commissioned by companies such as Ballet Next, Carolina Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet School, The Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee, and New York University. She was awarded the 2013 sjDANCEco Award for Artistic Merit. Under her direction, the Company has grown to a reputable nonprofit with local impact and international esteem. In September 2020, the Company was honored and awarded a grant from Dance/NYC’s Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund. Artistic Vision For Alison Cook Beatty Dance, the purpose of art is to connect human beings more deeply to themselves and one another. The Company remains proudly oriented by traditional American modern dance techniques, which serve as a shared language between modern dancers worldwide. At the same time, the Company values artistic risk and the exquisitely unexpected. Alison Cook Beatty Dance finds true grace in work that is emotionally honest and challenges both dancers and audiences through mutual vulnerability. ALISON COOK BEATTY DANCE: COMPANY DANCERS CAROLINA RIVERA was born in Santiago, Chile, and graduated from the University of Chile with High Honors and the Excellence Award “Isidora Zegers Montenegro.” She moved to New York on a scholarship from the Martha Graham School and joined Graham 2. Ms. Rivera recently performed in El Condor Pasa: Andean Hope alongside the United Nations Symphony Orchestra and presented her work at the Dzul International Dance Festival in Campeche, Mexico, in November 2019. www.carolinariveradance.com NIKA ANTUANETTE, a native of Chicago, IL, currently resides in New York City. She graduated from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (B.A. Dance & Psychology) and spent seven months abroad in Israel for Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company’s Dance Journey. As a freelance dance artist, Nika has been featured in music videos by Jash, ATELLER, and Financial Criminals. She has danced with Gotham Dance Theatre, Sarah Berges Dance Company (SBDC), ColliDe Theatrical Dance and Skylark Opera, in addition to performing work by Rami Be’er, Paul Taylor, Mats Ek, Larry Keigwin, Carl Flink, Penelope Freeh, & Arnie Zane. As a choreographer, she has presented and performed her solo, “The Itch,” at Alvin Ailey CitiGroup Theatre, as well as at the Koresh Come Together Dance Festival (Philadelphia, PA). She continues to develop a movement language for Jeremy Cone’s production, The Field. FIONA OBA began her dance training in Tokyo, Japan. A graduate of The Ailey School, she studied under the mentorship of Carolyn Adams. She has performed works by Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Elizabeth Roxas, Robert Battle, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Darrell Moultrie, and Amy Hall Gardner. Ms. Oba holds a BA (Hons) in Dance Education from the Royal Academy of Dance / University of Bath and joined Alison Cook Beatty Dance in 2016. 6 VERA PAGANIN was born in Milan, Italy, where she trained at the Centro Studi Coreografici Teatro Carcano. In 2013, she moved to New York City to study on scholarship at the Martha Graham School. Ms. Paganin joined Graham 2 and received the Teaching Training Program Diploma. She began dancing with Alison Cook Beatty Dance in 2017. She has danced works by Martha Graham, Alison Cook-Beatty, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Miriam Barbosa, Blanca Li, Lone Larsen, Kun-Yang Lin, Darshan Singh Bhuller, and Elena Albano, among others. NICCOLÒ ORSOLANI is from Turin, Italy, where he studied modern dance and ballet at Arkè. He attended the “Professional Training Program for Contemporary Dancers” at Teatro Nuovo Torino. In New York City, he graduated from the Martha Graham School and danced with Graham 2. Mr. Orsolani has also worked with Jersey City Ballet Theatre, American Liberty Ballet, Nickerson-Rossi Dance, and other companies. He has performed works by Martha Graham, Virginie Mécène, Lorenzo Pagano, and Katherine Crockett. Mr. Orsolani’s choreography has been presented in Italy and at the Palm Springs Dance Festival (CA). RICHARD SAYAMA is originally from Honolulu, Hawai’i, and earned a BFA in Modern Dance and a BA in Business Arts & Management from Marymount Manhattan College. Currently, he works with Alison Cook Beatty Dance and Jon Lehrer Dance Company, and he has finished seasons with H.T Chen & Dancers and Rock Dance Collective. Mr. Sayama has also performed works of XY Dance Projects, Obremski Works, Paul Taylor, Jose Limón, Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, Alison Cook-Beatty, Jon Lehrer, Elisabeth Motley, H.T. Chen, and Maria Torres, among others. SASHA RYDLIZKY grew up in Ellsworth, Maine, and graduated summa cum laude from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase. She has performed works by Christina Robson, Lucinda Childs, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Taryn Russel, and Kevin Wynn, among others. RICARDO BARRETT attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Afterward, Mr. Barrett was a three-year member of the Jamaica Junior Theatre Company and a member of The Company Dance Theatre under the direction of Tony Wilson. He continued his training there until he left for the Martha Graham School, where he was a member of Graham 2. During that time, he performed Amanda Kreglow’s “In The Midst of Dying” in TED Talks Live “War & Peace,” along with multiple Graham and contemporary works, including dances choreographed by Adam Barruch and Virginie Mécène. He was a second company member for three years and an Apprentice with the Martha Graham Dance Company’s first company for two years. He is currently a member of Dzul Dance Company and Buglisi Dance Theatre. Mr. Barrett is now proud to be a part of Alison Cook Beatty Dance. MUSIC STANISLAV FRIDMAN is a Ukrainian-Israeli composer and pianist. His compositions span genres as diverse as contemporary classical, pop, rock, progressive metal, jazz, movie, dance, and electronic music.