Starting from the rhythm that is already within us, our steps, our heartbeat and our ears, we will be questioning the basis of our perception, our ability to coordinate our body parts and the role of the mind within this process, by entering simple rhythmical patterns in various ways.

Confronting our current habits, musical sensitivity and the rational understanding of rhythms, we aim to strengthen our consciousness and ability to wander freely in the world of rhythm.

Vahan Kerovpyan is a Paris/Porto-based musician, percussionist and pianist. For several years he followed courses of dehol and zarb (Armenian and Persian percussion instruments). During his university years, he studied history and Armenian studies, in Paris. He is a member of Akn since 2001, a member of Kotchnak since 2003, and a member of the Medz Bazar collective, formed in Paris in 2012, which performs the traditional music of the Middle East. He has played in rock, reggae and soul bands. He is also a member of the theatre collective L’Enjeu a des Ailes, based in Paris. He is a member of Péniche Anako association, the educational association Mgnig, and the association Land and Culture Organisation, which works for the preservation and development of Armenian cultural heritage.

Social norms, conventions, etiquette and rules create an environment that shapes our physicality and relation to the body – that is, our “body view”. The way we walk, run, dance, touch ourselves and each other is culturally determined but so deeply ingrained that we readily identify with it and say “this is the way I am”. We don’t remember or seem not to remember that from birth we are exposed to intense training that never really ends, and our behaviour is a way of conforming to the prevailing norms.

The aim of the workshop is to make us forget the body as we know it, and make us listen to it in the here and now, in relation to ourselves, the surrounding space, our partners and group. By focusing on solo and partner training we discover new modes of perception, communication and improvisation that brings together, in a creative process, co-action, co-creation and co-existence.

ARTIST BIOS

Przemysław Błaszczak - an actor; he has been associated with the Grotowski Institute since 1995. He studied philosophy at the Wrocław University. From 1996 to 1999 he worked with Song of the Goat Theatre, where he performed in Dithyramb. In 2002–2003 he created a solo performance, Ecce Homo. Since 2004, he has been an actor with Teatr ZAR; he performs in Gospels of Childhood. The Triptych and in Armine, Sister performance. Starting from 2012 he collaborates with Theodoros Terzopoulos and performs in Heiner Müller’s Mauser directed by the Greek director. Since 2005, he has studied the Japanese martial art of aikido under sensei Piotr Masztalerz (5th Dan). In 2011 he studied under Juba Nour Shihan (6th Dan) in Baja California, Mexico. He is currently training to become an aikido teacher. In 2005 he was in Japan, invited by Toshi Tsushitori, practicing shintaido, a Japanese system that integrates voice and body through training based on traditional Japanese karate.

he has been associated with the Grotowski Institute since 1995. He studied philosophy at the Wrocław University. From 1996 to 1999 he worked with Song of the Goat Theatre, where he performed in Dithyramb. In 2002–2003 he created a solo performance, Ecce Homo. Since 2004, he has been an actor with Teatr ZAR, he performs in Gospels of Childhood. The Triptych and in Armine, Sister performance. Starting from 2012 he collaborates with Theodoros Terzopoulos and performs in Heiner Müller’s Mauser directed by the Greek director. Since 2005, he has studied the Japanese martial art of aikido under sensei Piotr Masztalerz (5th Dan). In 2011 he studied under Juba Nour Shihan (6th Dan) in Baja California, Mexico. He is currently training to become an aikido teacher. In 2005 he was in Japan, invited by Toshi Tsushitori, practicing shintaido, a Japanese system that integrates voice and body through training based on traditional Japanese karate.

Asteria 1 is part of a new choreographic series of 11 solo dances for women inspired by the 11 body lives of the mythical Greek figure Asteria. The project investigates aspects of temporality and transformation of the body in space. Based on the concept of "eternal recurrence" that is central to the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Bonansea created an iterative process using the idea that with infinite time and a finite number of events, they will recur again and again infinitely. The work presented at SFIAF is the first proposition of The 11 Possibilities of Asteria.

ARTIST BIOS

Christine Bonansea is a multi disciplinary performer artist and choreographer who studied in choreographic dance centers in France with Regine Chopinot, Mathilde Monnier and Catherine Diverres. She’s been performing with numbers of companies internationally. Her work covers a broad artistic field, featured an integrated and participatory process carried out in collaboration with artists. Resident artist in international art programs and commissioned by festival art organizations in Europe, USA and Japan. She’s supported by Theater Bay area CASH Grant, the Zellerbach Family foundation, the American Dance Abroad, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Lightning Designer Grant.

www.christinebonansea.com

ka·nei·see | collective presents a collection of short world-premiere dances as well as excerpts from its recent sold-out production Cookie Cutter. These vignettes coalesce dichotomies in space, manufactured moments, childhood laughs, rawness, and freedom within boundaries to express familial love, recycled ideas, and unapologetic beauty.

ka·nei·see | collective is a Bay Area performing arts ensemble directed by Tanya Chianese, creating vitalizing and accessible contemporary dance that promotes finding humor, appreciation, compassion, awareness, and celebration in life. The company has been presented at various theaters including Dance Mission Theater, ODC Theater, Shawl-Anderson Dance Theater, The Garage, Joe Goode Annex, and Yerba Buena Gardens. The company's sold-out, two-weekend production Cookie Cutter was the Cover Story of the SF Chronicle's 96 Hours, one of SF Arts' Top Ten dance picks for January 2015, previewed by Rita Felciano in the East Bay Monthly, and received rave reviews.

A poignant drama that examines the physical and emotional loneliness of a young female farmer who feels tied to the family land in rural Ireland. Kitty in the Lane received much critical attention at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2014 and is the debut play by Irish playwright and actor Áine Ryan.

'It is rare to find a writer and performer whose gifts work together in such wonderful intensity and imagination...anticipate something that will leave you haunted. Five stars' Broadway Baby, Edinburgh Fringe 2014

Studio Perform was formed as a company to facilitate production of Kitty in the Lane, the debut play by Áine Ryan. Kitty in the Lane played various venues and festivals around Ireland before enjoying a successful run at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2014, and will continue touring in 2015. Studio Perform is committed to showcasing theatre by unlocking the landscape of contemporary rural Ireland from Ryan's perspective.

ARTIST BIOS

Áine Ryan

Áine holds a BA in Theatre and Performance from Goldsmiths, University of London. She has completed E20 Writers School with the BBC, a programme for emerging scriptwriters, and attended playwriting courses with Fishamble and The Royal Court. Aswell as playing the title role in Kitty in the Lane, other recent theatre credits include Sive in the Irish premiere of Desolate Heaven by Ailís Ní Ríain , directed by Tony McCleane Fay at the Everyman Theatre, Cork. Also, May in Angel Dust and Dallas by Paul Maher, directed by Amy Hill , a touring comedy production.

Emily Matthews

Emily has served as Sound & Lighting Designer/Technician on Kitty in the Lane since the shows conception in 2013. She has served as lighting technician on other productions at the Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick and Cork School of Music. As an actor Emily's credits include Nina in A Dream Play with National Youth Theatre at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin and Melaine in Going Places at Draiocht Theatre. She also works as a drama facilitator and workshop coordinator.

reveries and elegies Volume TWO opens the next chapter in MADT’s long term site specific dance theater installation about change, dislocation, and the ungraspableness of the present. reveries and elegies is an on-going series of works interrogating the nature of site specificity and the act of performance itself. Volume TWO explores the conflation of fleetingness and loss, intention and presence, repetition and performance, and history and autobiography, within the context of the human mark upon the environment. reveries and elegies Volume TWO will be created in collaboration with composer Evelyn Ficarra and videographer Ian Winters. 

COMPANY HISTORY:

The Mary Armentrout Dance Theater (MADT) exists to support the genre defying works of Mary Armentrout and her collaborators. Founded in 2000, the company is a fluid blend of dancers, actors, and sound and media artists. MADT installs work in both conventional and site-specific venues, and has been presented at numerous venues all over the San Francisco Bay Area, including ODC Theater, The LAB, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, as well as in less proscenium-oriented spaces including a bathroom, the beach, and a car. MADT has also been presented across the US and the UK, Europe, and China.

ARTIST BIOS

Mary Armentrout

Mary Armentrout is a San Francisco Bay Area based experimental choreographer, performance artist, and videographer, and the director of the Mary Armentrout Dance Theater (MADT). She calls her genre-mixing works performance installations, and two of her recent site-specific works have been nominated for Isadora Duncan Dance Awards. She studied at Sarah Lawrence College and is a Feldenkrais Practitioner. She also is the organizer of the Dance Discourse Project, an on-going series of artist-curated discussions of the Bay Area dance scene, a co-curater of The Milk Bar in Oakland, and teaches on-going technique and composition classes in the East Bay. www.maryarmentroutdancetheater.com

Evelyn Ficarra

Evelyn Ficarra is a composer and sound artist. Her music has been heard in concert halls, theaters, music festivals, film festivals, on television and in radio broadcasts in the UK, Europe, the Americas, Australia and the Far East. Throughout her career she has enjoyed collaborative work with choreographers, directors, filmmakers, and visual artists. She studied at the University of Sussex and UC Berkeley, and is currently a Lecturer in Music Theatre at the University of Sussex, where she is Assistant Director of the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre. www.evelynficarra.net

Ian Winters

Ian Winters is a San Francisco Bay Area based photographer, video artist, and performer working at the intersection of architectural form, frozen image, and time-based media in solo work and collaborations with composers, directors, and choreographers, to create open-ended environments through performance, photographic/video/film media, and sonic environments. Winters trained in photography, film and performance at SMFA-Boston and Tufts University. His work has been seen throughout the US and the UK, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He also co-curates the Milkbar in Oakland. www.ianwinters.com