Elena Demyanenko & Dai Jian's BLUE ROOM Set for New York Live Arts, Now thru 2/15

New York Live Arts presents the world premiere of Elena Demyanenko and Dai Jian's Blue Room, today, February 13 - 15 at 7:30pm in the New York Live Arts Theater. Also on the bill will be the world premiere of Raw Nerves, a solo by Demyanenko in collaboration with performer Leah Morrison, and Deja Ve - As a solo, a work by Dai Jian featuring Jian and dancer Austin Selden.

A duet exploring relationship, Blue Room is a collaboration between Chinese artist Dai Jian and Russian-born Elena Demyanenko, recent alumni of Trisha Brown Dance Company. This evening of individual and paired works will unfold as a dialogue through myriad possible intricate and detailed existences. Two independent mind-bodies with different backgrounds, behaviors, languages and cultures are sutured together, provoking a third presence unique to each performance. Blue Room features music by Nick Brooke and Ian Chen, costumes by Sylvia Grieser and set design by Jian and Michael O'Connor.

Each performance features additional work by Demyanenko and Jian. Raw Nerves, a new solo for Morrison created in collaboration with Demyanenko, features music by Marta Cook, costumes by Grieser and set design by Ken Berman. Deja Ve - As a solo, choreographed by Jian, will feature Jian and Selden.

Blue Room is commissioned by New York Live Arts and made possible, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation and by contributors to the Dance Theater Workshop Commissioning Fund at New York Live Arts.

Performances will take place in New York Live Arts' Theater. Come Early Conversations and Stay Late Discussions will also be featured with two shows. Tickets are $15 and $20. Tickets may be purchased online at newyorklivearts.org/season by phone at 212-924-0077 and in person at the box office. Box Office hours are Monday to Friday from 1 to 9pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 8pm.

Elena Demyanenko & Dai Jian

Blue Room; Raw Nerves; Deja Ve - As a solo

Feb 13 - 15 at 7:30pm

New York Live Arts Theater, New York Live Arts

Tickets: $15, $20

T: 212-924-0077 | www.newyorklivearts.org

219 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011

Box Office hours: Monday-Friday 1 - 9pm | Saturday-Sunday 12 - 8pm

Schedule of Related Events:

- Feb 13 at 6:30pm Come Early Conversation Seeing, Making, Talking moderated by Jean Butler

- Feb 14 Stay Late Discussion: Provoking the Third Presence within the Duet Form moderated by Jodi Melnick in conversation with Elena Demyanenko and Dai Jian

About the Artists:

Elena Demyanenko is a Russian-born graduate of the Academy of Theatrical Arts in Moscow. She came to New York City in 2000 as a guest artist with Riverdance on Broadway and danced with the Stephen Petronio Company from 2003 to 2008. Demyanenko was involved in the Martha Clarke production of Garden of Earthly Delights at the Minetta Lane Theater in 2009 before joining Trisha Brown Dance Company, where she danced as a company member until 2012. As a recipient of the Jerome Robbins Fellowship for the Creation of New Work, Demyanenko premiered her own work, Disparate Bodies with Joe Poulson at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2011. That same year, she performed as a guest artist in Continuous Replay with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company at New York Live Arts. Demyanenko creates dance films, for which she received an EMPAC Dance Movies Commission (2007) and a nomination for the Dance on Camera Jury Prize for her work Kino Eye (2009). Her dance film Vienna was screened at the opening of the New Galapagos Art Space in 2008. Demyanenko has choreographed with Pavel Zustiak, Kota Yamazaki, Joseph Poulson, Lindsey Dietz Marchant and Jimena Paz. Her work has been presented internationally at the Architecture of Movement Festival in Yaroslavl, Russia, and at various venues throughout New York, including: Movement Research at Judson Church, Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, the WOW Theater, and the Red Bean Studios. Elena has taught at many schools and festivals, including TSEH (Moscow), Dance New Amsterdam, Center for Performance Research, Harkness Center for Dance, and Baryshnikov Arts Center.

Dai Jian, born in Hunan, China, combines his roots in both contemporary and classical movement forms from Eastern and Western practices, including martial arts, dance, improvisation, installation and visual arts. At the age of 18, Dai Jian received a Performance Award at the National Dance Competition in China, and won the New Stars Award in Performance and Choreography in Guangzhou city with his first solo creation. This solo work was later selected by the Boston International Ballet Competition as the Male Solo Compulsory Piece in 2012. Dai Jian joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in New York City in 2005, and assisTed Shen Wei with the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2008. Dai Jian was a company member of Trisha Brown Dance Company from 2008 to 2012. Among other choreographic experiences, he created One is 1 or Not (2012), an audience interactive experimental piece with/for the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, and Non Space Restriction (2009), a full-length multi-media performance using internet live chat feeds with installations. He has collaborated with Kimerbly Mayhorn (visual artist); Mimi Gerrard (video artist); Kirstie Simson (improvisational artist); Michael Shumaker (improvisational artist); Katrina McPherson (filmmaker); and the choreographers Yin Mei and Hou Young. Dai Jian is an artist-in-residence at CUNY's Queens College Dance Department (Queens, NY); the Carolina Friends School in (Durham, NC); The Chinese Cultural Center and The Puffin Room (New York, NY). He has received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council and a fellowship from the American Dance Festival.

New York Live Arts is an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry offering audiences access to art and artists notable for their conceptual rigor, formal experimentation and active engagement with the social, political and cultural currents of our times. At the center of this identity is Bill T. Jones, Executive Artistic Director, a world-renowned choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer.

We commission, produce and present performances in our 20,000 square foot home, which includes a 184-seat theater and two 1,200 square foot studios that can be combined into one large studio. New York Live Arts serves as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, provides an extensive range of participatory programs for adults and young people and supports the continuing professional development of artists. Our influence extends beyond NYC through our international cultural exchange program that currently places artists in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.