CHOREOGRAPHER ALISON CHASE CREATES FIRST MAJOR NEW WORK FOR FESTIVAL
Portland, Maine - The Portland Performing Arts Festival presents the world premiere of new dance work by iconic American choreographer and Maine resident Alison Chase, formerly a co-founding director of revolutionary dance companies Pilobolus and Momix. Chase has been developing her new company, Alison Chase/Performance for several years; the world premiere of the new work The Hadnsomest at the Festival on June 30 marks her return to dance work for the stage after a hiatus of several years.
The Handsomest combines dance with videography, music, and photography and is presented as a part of the Portland Performing Arts Festival’s Saturday evening program on June 30 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine. The Handsomest will be the second half of an evening-long presentation that will also include shorter works (Tsu ku tsu, Ben’s Admonition, Femme Noir, and Devil Got My Woman) from Chase’s earlier repertory.
“This is a big launch, a stepping out,” said Chase in an interview recently. “People will see the new directions I’m going to pursue.” Acknowledging the past few years spent working in non-traditional collaborations, she said that audiences would see that “I’m returning to the proscenium... but this is a departure from the work of mine they’ve seen before.”
Chase is an iconic figure in contemporary dance. She taught the Dartmouth dance class that led to the founding of Pilobolus Dance Theater, and as the company’s co-founding artistic director she helped to change the direction of American dance, creating works that used the human body in unpredictable ways and helping to create a uniquely recognizable and inventive corpus of dance works that have been seen by audiences around the world for over 35 years. Her work has been recognized by many awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Maine Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship in the Performing Arts. After parting ways with Pilobolus in 2006, she spent several years exploring creative opportunities at home in Maine, resulting in such projects as “Quarryography,” a large-scale, site-specific work that combined dancers with choreographed earth-moving equipment.
Developed over the course of the past three years, The Handsomest was inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ short story, "The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World." It features projected photography by Sean Kernan and video by Derek Dudek working in concert with Alison Chase's choreography for live and filmed dancers, expressing the tale's realm of magic realism. A visual meditation that combines dance and performance art, and film and live theater, the work is the first chapter of a planned longer work. It features an original score by Grammy-award winning Maine composer Paul Sullivan and costumes by Angelina Avallone.
“I saw this piece coming together in an early workshop performance and thought it was breathtaking,” said Festival president Kara Larson. “Alison is a major figure in the dance world, and the festival’s board agreed that it would be a shame to let some New York presenter have the premiere of her first new work in years.”
Festival organizers approached Ms. Chase to see if she would premiere The Handsomest at this summer’s inaugural Portland Performing Arts Festival. When she agreed, they asked Portland Ovations, the city’s established arts presenting organization and a long-time dance programmer, to consider joining them. Ovations signed on as co-presenting partner for the performance.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Portland Performing Arts Festival in the presentation of the internationally recognized, Maine-based artist Alison Chase. Alison is an artist we hold in high regard; co-presenting her with the Festival further underscores our commitment to contemporary dance and Maine artists.” said Aimée M. Petrin, Ovations executive director.
The Portland Performing Arts Festival is a new four-day event, featuring eight performances of nationally renowned artists in classical music, jazz, dance, theater, and performance art. In its inaugural season, it presents two world premiere performances: of The Handsomest by Alison Chase/Performance, and of Thumbs up, a new play by the artists of the Celebration Barn Ensemble.
In addition to Alison Chase/Performance at 7pm on June 30, featured Festival performances include:
June 28th:
Guitar Master Class, featuring visiting artists Sharon Isbin and Doug Wamble in teaching session with Maine artists, free and open to the public. 3pm, One Longfellow Square, 181 State Street, Portland
Maine performance art duo Eepybird (the Coke & Mentos guys), live demonstration spectacular. 6pm, Monument Square, Congress & Elm Streets, Portland (sponsored by Headlight Audio Visual) Free and open to the public: rain date Friday, June 29, 6pm
June 29th:
Sharon Isbin, classical guitar, solo concert. This multi-Grammy winning artist is regarded as the pre-eminent classical guitarist of our times. 7pm, Williston-Immanuel United Church, 156 High Street, Portland.
Tickets $20-45, plus ticketing fee
June 30th:
Celebration Barn Ensemble, world premiere play, “Thumbs Up.” Created by the artists of the Celebration Barn, “Thumbs Up” is an inventive and uproarious look at Maine’s unique qualities and characters. 8pm, John Ford Theater @ Portland High School, 284 Cumberland Avenue, Portland
Tickets $15-30 plus ticketing fee
Doug Wamble, jazz. Featuring an 8-piece ensemble presenting “Yoknapatawpha,” an evening-length work based on the literary works of William Faulkner. 9pm, The State Theater, 609 Congress Street Portland (sponsored by The State Theater)
Tickets $20-40 plus ticketing fee
July 1st:
Celebration Barn Ensemble, “Thumbs Up,” matinee performance. 1pm, John Ford Theater @ Portland High School, 284 Cumberland Avenue, Portland
Tickets $15-30 plus ticketing fee
Piano Concert, Festival Finale. Curated by the Portland Conservatory, this concert presents the premier artists of the International Piano Festival in works by a variety of composers, including Maine resident Elliott Schawartz. 3pm, Williston-Immanuel United Church, 156 High Street, Portland
Tickets $15-25 plus ticketing fee
Tickets for all performances are available through PortTix, tickets.porttix.com. More information about all the Festival performances is available at www.portlandfestival.org.
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