Recipient of this year's Goldie Award for dance from theSan Francisco Bay Guardian, RAWdance is proud to announce the program for its 10th anniversary summer season, July 25 - 27 at Z Space. The event features two world premieres including Turing's Apple, set to a commissioned score by Voices of Light composer Richard Einhorn. Also on the program is the world premiere of Burn In, and works by guest artists Gretchen Garnett & Dancers and Tanya Bello's Project B.
Since its founding in 2004 by Ryan T. Smith and Wendy Rein, RAWdance has accrued a raft of critical praise and a loyal audience following -- not only for its original concert and site-specific dances, but also for its biannual CONCEPT series, which showcases the work of other local dance makers. This year the company builds on its past success with a rousing program that features two new works of their own, as well as two works from artists who are part of the extended RAWdance family of collaborators and CONCEPT series artists.
Turing's Apple is a full-company work inspired by the dramatic life and groundbreaking intellectual contributions of British mathematician Alan Turing. As "Britain's greatest code breaker" during World War II, Turing's lofty role within the field of cryptography is a point of shared interest for Smith and Rein as well as composer Einhorn. Turing's Apple is, on one hand, a formal exploration of complex patterns, both acoustic and kinesthetic, and on the other the tragic story of a man who dared to tell the truth about his homosexuality at a time when same-sex acts were criminal. Convicted on charges of indecency, and barred from his cryptographic consultancy with British Intelligence, Turing allegedly committed suicide by eating a poisoned apple.
Einhorn met Smith and Rein at a Ucross Residency in Wyoming, and together they quickly took to the idea of a piece inspired by Turing. Einhorn brings to the work not only a wealth of experience composing for dance, film and opera, but a passion for math and game theory. "I've found that algorithms, left to their own devices, often yield boring music," says Einhorn. "So in composing the music for Turing's Apple I've aimed to give the impression of rigorous patterning that one gets from algorithms -- with the emphasis on impression. Turing's many achievements -- not least of all his thought experiment which laid the foundation for the modern computer -- have been an inspiration to me in working on this piece."
Additional collaborators on the project include Tim Roughgarden, associate professor in Computer Science at Stanford; set designer
Sean Riley; lighting designer
David Szlasa; and costume designer Mary Domenico.
RAWdance's second premiere on the program, Burn In, is a dark, mesmerizing, and psychologically driven trio. Inspired by Rorschach imagery and the stark, half-lit world of film noir, the piece offers a study in contrasts, both visual and emotional. As a work in progress presented in 2012, Burn Inwas described by Allan Ulrich as "a low-down exchange in which every shift of weight, every daring lift, every displaced limb seemed both carefully wrought and another chapter in an ongoing relationship" (San Francisco Chronicle). Joel St. Julien joins RAWdance as sound designer on Burn In.
Rounding out RAWdance's 10th anniversary summer season are performances by Gretchen Garnett & Dancers and Tanya Bello's Project B. Currently based in Amsterdam, Garnett's company has performed at venues throughout the Bay Area where it was founded in 2008, as well as concerts and festivals from Tempe, Arizona to Brooklyn, NY to Berlin. For this summer's program, the company will perform a work for three dancers. More information will follow this spring.
Tanya Bello is the founder and artistic director of Project B., a contemporary dance company based in San Francisco. Bello has danced with Robert Moses' Kin, Mark Foehringer, ODC/Dance and Garrett + Moulton Productions. She founded Project B. in 2010, receiving recognition last year for her "impressive control in the way she used the dancers on stage" (Rita Felciano, San Francisco Bay Guardian). This summer Bello's company will perform a work for six dancers titledNawala, meaning "lost" in Tagalog. Set to a commissioned score by Jesse Olsen Bay, Nawala explores the various stages of grief in the face of death.
Tickets for RAWdance's 10th anniversary summer season are $30 general admission, $25 for students and seniors, and will go on sale in May. To purchase, visit zspace.org or call 866-811-4111.
Photo credit RJ Muna
