Henning Rubsam's SENSEDANCE to Present 'TWO BY TWO' at Salvatore Capezio Theater, 11/23-24

Henning Rübsam's SENSEDANCE will present TWO BY TWO - SENSEDANCE in an evening of new "pas de deux" on Saturday, November 23 at 8:30pm and Sunday, November 24 at 6:00pm at Salvatore Capezio Theater at Peridance, 126 East 13th Street, NYC. The premieres will celebrate his 22nd year as founding artistic director of his ensemble. The Dancers for the season are: Nathan Bland, Uthman Ebrahim, Heidi Green, Erin Ginn, Temple Kemezis, Oisin Monaghan, Juan Rodriguez, Henning Rübsam, Jacqueline Stewart, and Matt Van. Tickets are Premium/Reserved: $44.00; General Admission: $33.00; Students with ID/Dancers with (any dance studio's) class card: $22.00. Tickets for all programs (including the salon series) below are available by calling SmartTix at (212) 868-4444 and on the web through www.sensedance.org

On Saturday, November 16 & Sunday, November 17 at 7:00pm, Hunter College's Dance Education Program will present its first installment of a new Salon Series at The Ailey Studios, 405 West 55th Street, focusing on Rübsam's work with SENSEDANCE. He and his dancers will answer questions following the informal presentation. Tickets for this are $20.00 (General Admission).

The program includes the premiere of RUSSIAN LESSON, a male pas de deux, accompanied by Russian phrases of a phonetic language lesson set to a moody jazz score. Simple phrases such as "Welcome to Moscow," "what is your name" and "where is your hotel" serve as part of the aural backdrop. Motivated by Russia's recently implemented propaganda law, Rübsam's choreographic statement is also a political one.

HALF-LIFE, originally premiered as a quartet in 2011 and re-worked as a sextet last year, will receive its premiere as a septet this season. A reaction to the nuclear disaster of Fukushima, the increase in cast members mirrors the escalation of the catastrophe. This ensemble work will break up the flow of a variety of pas de deux, including two choreographed to Lieder by Brahms and one to a guitar score by frequent collaborator, composer Ricardo Llorca.

Henning Rübsam is the artistic director of SENSEDANCE, a resident choreographer for Hartford City Ballet, on faculty at The Juilliard School and a visiting guest artist at Texas Academy of Ballet. He earned his BFA in dance from The Juilliard School, where mentors included Martha Hill and Elizabeth Keen. While there, he performed as the Faun in the Nijinsky/Debussy ballet, worked extensively with Anna Sokolow, and toured internationally with the Limón Dance Company. Upon graduation he founded his own ensemble SENSEDANCE and continued to dance with other choreographers, namely Duncan Macfarland, Murray Louis, Beverly Blossom, and Alwin Nikolais. Rübsam appeared as a guest dancer with a myriad of contemporary choreographers, and in works of dance pioneers Isadora Duncan and Doris Humphrey. Among Rübsam's citations are a Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, a Lincoln Center Fellowship, a Manhattan Spirit Award as "best male dancer," a choreography award from Stephens College, an award for his advocacy from Dancers Responding to AIDS, and the Distinguished Artist Award from Bergen College, the first time this award was given to a dance artist. He and his company represented the United States at the Danza Nueva Festival in Lima. Rübsam also choreographs and directs for theatre and opera. He has been a guest choreographer and teacher for numerous companies and universities throughout the Americas as well as in Australasia and Europe. A writer, historian and advocate for his art form, he is a long-time board member of the Martha Hill Dance Fund, has implemented a dance appreciation program at Juilliard for the general public, taught dance history at SUNY Purchase, and has given lectures at the GEL Conference and for the Young Patrons Program at Lincoln Center. He created a solo for his late mentor, Prima Ballerina Assoluta Eva Evdokimova. Rübsam, who has presented annual performances with SENSEDANCE and has toured internationally, appears in several television documentaries about his work - produced by Dancevista - and in the documentary feature Behind the Curtain. ANOTHER TOUR, a documentary (by director Greg Vander Veer) about the company's Peruvian tour is available online at: www.sensedance.org