Infinity Dance Theater & Pi Dance Theater Present Productions Featuring Dancers With and Without Disabilities, 11/15-11/18

Infinity Dance Theater and Pi Dance Theatre present two richly diverse productions, "The Women's Stories Project" and "Elements" featuring dancers with and without disabilities performing at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village this weekend, from November 15 through November 18.

First, Infinity Dance Theater presents the premiere of The Women's Stories Project. Conceived and created by Kitty Lunn, The Women’s Stories Project features five amazing women, with courage and resourcefulness to spare, who tell their stories of love, loss, illness, and aging. Depressing? Not at all. The 75-minute work is just the opposite - it's funny, sad, ironic, and unexpected.

Kitty Lunn, who also narrates, begins with her solo "In Time Like Air," created for her by Peter Pucci to a haunting saxophone solo by Don Cherry.

Lunn is followed by longtime dancer Lynn Barr, dealing with the loss of her husband of 50 years.

Sister Margaret, an outspoken Catholic nun for nearly 60 years, speaks about the trials of her life, vocation, and mission.

Lucy lost her mother to breast cancer and, after burying her mother in Puerto Rico, discovered she had the same cancer. She underwent difficult treatment and discovered her own strength through art, music, and dance. Lucy took up belly dancing and Puerto Rican Bomba dancing, which she will demonstrate on the program.

The company's scholar is Alice, a native of England, a professor of Medieval Literature, and proficient in 14 medieval languages. She became a wheelchair user as a result of an acquired spinal disease.

Marcia Bernstein adds a haunting vocal as the women weave The Common threads of their lives. Though these endearing women represent different ages, races, and walks of life, they represent all of us, connected through common threads of humanity, in this celebration of the triumph of the human spirit. Performances of The Women’s Stories Project will be sign language interpreted.

The Women's Stories Project will be performed on Saturday, November 17 at 2PM and Sunday, November 18 at 5PM.

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Performances of Elements focus more on dance, and feature Lunn's Infinity and Toni Taylor's Pi Dance Theatre in works for disabled and non-disabled dancers. Choreography is by Lunn, Taylor and Roxana Lewis, with new music composed and performed live by William Catanzaro, and poetry by Andrew Macmillan.

Opening the program is a revival of Roxanna Lewis's Dreambody, created for Infinity Dance Theater and last performed at the Kennedy Center in 2000. Dreambody is informed by the Chakra system, an ancient approach to the connection of mind, body, and spirit and set to an exotic original score by Glen Velez.

Receiving its premiere is The Elements Suite, inspired by the elements of Feng Shui and co-created by Lunn and Taylor to music composed and performed live by William Catanzaro. The work consists of the segments "Wind and Water," "Solid Ground/Stainless Steel," and "Fire in the Palm." Poetry read by Andrew Macmillan brings contemplation between the pieces. The Elements Suite is performed by five dancers with and without disabilities.

Completing the program is a revival of UpDownInOut.Allaround, first presented by Pi Dance Theatre in 1999. Using a combination of specially designed ladders and lengths of fabric, Taylor, in collaboration with the dancers, considers the possibilities and tensions of individual and collective effort to achieve the task at hand.

The unique partnership of choreographers Lunn and Taylor began at Steps, when both found themselves in the same Horton technique class. Taylor, recognizing Lunn's distinctive artistry and strong command of technique as she danced using her wheelchair, approached her and thus began a partnership that is a natural extension of their shared interest in creating works with dancers who bring their intellectual and emotional lives to their performances. Elements reflects the choreographers' individual explorations of dancing while the body inevitably changes.

Performances of Elements will be on Thursday - Saturday, November 15-17 at 7PM.

For ticket reservations, call 917-289-0799.