AN EVENING OF DANCE FILMS CURATED BY VENZA DANCE

( Program & Artist Information Below︎︎︎)

AUGUST 13TH, 6:30pm/8:30pm @ Arts on Site 12 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10003
Tickets: https://www.artsonsite.org/tickets
Featuring works by:
Quaba V. Ernest
Hannah Garner
Dava Huesca
Keerati Jinakunwhiphat
Hannah Straney

Program:

1. A Landing In the Sky (Excerpt) - ( Venza Dance )

Choreography by Quaba V. Ernest in collaboration with Dancers
Composer: Michael Wall
Costumes: Quaba V. Ernest & Jordan Lang
Dancers: Quaba V. Ernest, Jordan Lang, Sophie Whittome, Dex Van Ter Meij
Length: ~5 mins

This project was filmed in Trento, Italy shortly before the coronavirus outbreak. When dance and live performance initially came to an abrupt halt, I was able to relive moments of connections and close proximity through the creation of this project. This work was inspired by ideas of searching for something that’s beginning to fade, as if it's calling out to you while disappearing. It remains seemingly tangible but constantly out of grasp. I found creating this to be extremely calming in contrast to the anxiety I have been dealing with through all of this, and hope it does the same for those watching.

2. Impeccable Quake

Choreography by Keerati Jinakunwiphat
Filmed by Quinn Wharton
Composer: Du Yun
Dramaturg: Antonia Grilikhes-Lasky
Costumes: Keerati Jinakunwiphat
Dancers: Sarah Harmon, Maxwell Read, McKenzie Soares, Quinn Starner, KJ Takahashi, and Kennedy Targosz
Dancers courtesy of New York City Ballet and School of American Ballet.
Impeccable Quake was commissioned by New York Choreographic Institute in 2021.
Length: ~10 mins

3. ICU

Choreography by Hannah Straney & Quaba V. Ernest
Composer: Jon Rodriguez
Costumes: Hannah Straney
Directed and Produced by Hannah Straney
Choreographed and Danced by Hannah Straney and Quaba V. Ernest
Music: 'IseeU' Composed by Jake Kruty and Jonathan Rodrigues ('Promisea'- La Limpa)
Director of Photography and Editor: Jake Kruty
Film and Sound Production: Retrograde Studios
Made possible with support from: Mark Regan, Dave Warner, and The Creative Outpost
Length: ~10 mins

ICU is an excerpt of a five part film series that explores the loss of different senses through site specific dances. ICU follows two dancers as they explore a foreign space without the sense of sight. The film is a collaboration between the dancers and videographers, who have separately taken on the task of conveying the absence of a sense. Together the artists are investigating awareness, perception, disorientation, and reality through the exploration of foreign spaces.

- Short Break -

4. Pony (short)
Choreographed and directed by Hannah Garner
Performed by GroundWorks DanceTheatre: Runako Campbell, Nicole Hennington, Annie Morgan, Jacob Nahor, and Channce Williams
Dramaturg/Consulting Director: Ann Noling
Director of Photography: Darby Irrgang
Editor: Colleen McLaughlin
Sound Editor: Kevin Etherson Colorist: Prannoy Jacob
Costumes: Janet Bolick with Hannah Garner
Lighting designer: Dennis Duggan
Location: Ingenuity Labs, Cleveland, Ohio
Music: The Beatitudes composed by Vladimir Martynov and performed by Conspirare & Craig Hella Johnson
Virtual premiere on April 24, 2021
Length ~5 min

5. Astomi - ( Venza Dance )
Choreography by Quaba V. Ernest
Composer: Julia Wolfe
Costumes: Quaba Ernest & Márion Talán de la Rosa
Dancers: Rakeem Hardy, Sully Maleab Proloux
Length: ~5 mins

In Greek and Roman mythology, the Astomi, also known as the Gangines, are an ancient legendary race of people who had no need to eat or drink anything at all. They survived by smelling apples and flowers.They had rough and hairy bodies and no mouths. When traveling, they would carry roots, flowers and apples to smell. They could die by smelling a strong, unpleasant smell.

-Artist Info-

Quaba V. Ernest ︎
https://venzadance.org/ ︎

Hannah Garner
2nd Best Dance Company ︎

Photo Credit: Ingrid Holmquist
2nd Best Dance Company creates, performs, and teaches physically rigorous, sometimes virtuosic, almost always slapstick dance-plays. Since their founding in 2016, 2nd Best connects to audiences, students, and professionals to share emotionally accessible work that is relatable, honest, and resonant. They play very seriously and invite audiences into that play to ask: what does it mean to be alive?
Led by Hannah Garner, recently named ‘25 to Watch’ by Dance Magazine, 2nd Best Dance Company “tackles topics like death and queer identity through rigorous, inventive movement and wit” (Dance Magazine). Pursuing these interests, the work moves past the traditional dance proscenium to include collaborations in sculpture, animation, theater, film, and site-specific works. They seek beauty in failure, explore limits of the body, and find solace in the humor of being human.
2nd Best has been commissioned by GroundWorks DanceTheater, SMUSH Gallery, Gibney’s ‘dance-mobile’ series, Kizuna Dance, GALLIM x CreateArt, A-Y/Dancers, musical artists (such as Snail Mail, Frankie Cosmos, and Half Waif), Hartt School, and SUNY Purchase, among others. 2nd Best was the 2019 Resident Artist of Triskelion Arts, a 2021 Moving Woman Resident Artist at GALLIM, and 2022 Resident Artist at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. 2nd Best works in person in NYC and lives online at 2ndbestdance.com.

Keerati Jinakunwhiphat ︎

Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Originally from Chicago, IL., received her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase and was a recipient of the Adopt-A- Dancer Scholarship. She has additionally studied at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Springboard Danse Montreal. She has worked with and performed works of artists such as Kyle Abraham, Nicole von Arx, Trisha Brown, Jasmine Ellis, Hannah Garner, Shannon Gillen, Andrea Miller, Kevin Wynn, and Doug Varone. Keerati began working with A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham in 2016. She has additionally assisted Kyle Abraham in new commissioned work for New York City Ballet and Paul Taylor Dance Company. As a freelance choreographer, Keerati has presented her own choreographic works at the American Dance Guild Festival, Triskelion Arts, Dixon Place, Battery Dance Festival, Dance Gallery Festival, the Joyce Theater, New Victory Theater, New York City Ballet, and MASS MoCA. She has been commissioned to set and create works on the Evanston Dance Ensemble, the Martha Graham School, SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, Houston Contemporary Dance Company, New England Ballet Theatre, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, Bang On A Can, Princeton University, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, and the New York Choreographic Institute. Keerati has graced the cover of Dance Magazine featured as part of ‘25 to Watch’ for 2021.

Hannah Straney ︎