CUNY Dance Initiative, John Jay College and Mari Meade Dance Collective Presents World Premiere of IMMIGRATION STORIES

The CUNY Dance Initiative and John Jay College, in collaboration with Mari Meade Dance Collective/MMDC, present the World Premiere of immigration stories on Friday, September 13, 2019 at 7:30pm at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 W. 59th Street, NYC. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students and seniors) and can be purchased online at www.bit.ly/mmdc_immigrationstories or at the door the night of the performance.

immigration stories, a series of dances based on true experiences about relocating to the United States, opens up the vastly different paths people take to come this country. What began with a frustrating phone call for choreographer Mari Meade to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has evolved into a full evening of personal stories, music and dance. From a young man who was born in Germany and lived in Ghana before making his way to New York, to a Russian woman who moved to Florida as a teenager, these individual stories expand the conversation around immigration in this highly politicized time. Weaving together interviews with original compositions by Rosana Caban, Domenico Curcio, and Eran Sabo, with additional music by Chino Amobi, immigration stories combines words and movement to question assumptions around cultural identity and what being "American" might really mean.

immigration stories is choreographed by Mari Meade with costumes by Emily Petry, and performed by Allison Beler, Breanna Gribble, Misuzu Hara, Sean Hatch, Morgan Hurst, Isaac Owens, Or Reitman, and Roza Savelyeva.

Founded in 2009, Mari Meade Dance Collective/MMDC creates intricate, fully-formed worlds with epic, abstract narratives. Highly physical, quirky movement forms tight-knit communities of exaggerated characters who are bound to complex narrative arcs. The company is driven by Mari Meade's choreographic inspiration but is shaped by interactions with and contributions from other visual art forms. MMDC has shown work nationally and internationally. Highlights include: the Clark Theatre at Lincoln Center; Dance: Access at Danspace/St. Mark's Church (NYC); STUFFED at Judson Memorial Church (NYC); Triskelion Arts (Brooklyn); FLICfest (Brooklyn); Battery Dance Festival (NYC); New Orleans Fringe Festival (LA); Asheville Fringe Festival (NC); Baltimore Dance Invitational (MD); Katlehong Arts Center (South Africa); and Lake Studios Berlin (Germany).

MMDC's residency and performance at John Jay College is part of the CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), a program that opens the doors of CUNY campuses to professional choreographers and dance companies. CDI receives major support from the Howard Gilman Foundation and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the SHS Foundation, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, and Dance NYC's New York City Dance Space Subsidy Program, made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. CDI is spearheaded and administered by the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College.

www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative

John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York, an international leader in educating for justice, offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. www.jjay.cuny.edu.

Photo Credit: Ben Yannette

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