Francesca Harper Project Presents Dance Piece Modo Fusion, March 8-12

By: Feb. 06, 2006
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The Francesca Harper Project (FHP), an eight member contemporary dance-theater ensemble created in 2005 by dancer/singer/choreographer Francesca Harper, will celebrate its company premiere with the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival performance series March 8th-12th at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater at The Joan Weill Center for Dance (405 West 55th Street at 9th Avenue).

"In the world premiere of Modo Fusion, conceptual pop artist Francesca Harper, known for her statuesque lines and grace, brings her formal training to bear on her unique style of dance-theater. Starting with classical dance forms, Harper deconstructs and reconnects them, merging dance, music, film, video and narration into new art forms," state press notes.

"Conceived of by Harper and Brian Reeder, a former ABT principal dancer and choreographer, and drawing on Harper's experiences as a dancer and singer and an African-American woman, the multimedia, evening-length work explores the aspirations and exploitation of performers viewed through the lens of a beauty pageant."

First preformed as a work-in-progress at the Ailey Studios in August 2005, Modo Fusion includes new choreography by Harper, by company members Hattie Mae Williams and Michael Thomas, and by former Frankfurt Ballet dancer and choreographer Helen Pickett. The piece also includes three existing pieces—Harper's Apex and A Trace After (an ensemble piece premiered by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 2002) and an excerpt from Limb's Theorem, a work by William Forsythe in whose Frankfurt Ballet Harper danced for seven years.

The program includes several songs composed and performed by Harper, an experienced singer who has performed in the musicals The Color Purple, The Frogs and The Producers, and with her band, ICO. Modo Fusion also features a new piece by composer/performer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and Wynne Bennett, music director and keyboardist for DBR & THE MISSION, commissioned by the American Music Center for the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival.

The Francesca Harper Project, founded in 2005, is dedicated to creating groundbreaking dance, music, and theater works. Harper's direction and choreographic work serves as the company's artistic foundation. For more information about FHP, visit www.thefrancescaharperproject.org.

The performance schedule is: Wednesday, March 8th at 8pm; Thursday, March 9th at 8pm; Saturday, March 11th at 8pm; and Sunday, March 12th at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets are $20. For reservations, please call the 92nd Street Y at 212.415.5500 or visit www.92y.org.


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