KEIGWIN + COMPANY (K+C) announces the company's first solo week of performances at The Joyce Theater from March 16-21, 2010, including the World Premiere of Bird Watching. Tickets start at $10 and are available at www.joyce.org or by phone at 212-242-0800.
K+C's 2010 season will include the World Premiere of Bird Watching, made possible by the
Jerome Robbins New Essential Works (NEW) Program. Set to Haydn's Symphony #6 in D Major, Bird Watching places audiences in the position of voyeur, observing and reflecting upon the world that surrounds them. The piece playfully explores the juxtaposition between human and bird rituals, natural and urban environments. The movement vocabulary, with shifting dynamics from the simple and sublime to uncontrollable forces, combines
Larry Keigwin's signature theatricality and athleticism.
The company will also perform Runaway, with music by Jonathan Melville Pratt, originally commissioned by The Juilliard School in December 2008. Runaway, accompanied by an electronic, percussive score, was initially set with 25 dancers dressed in sophisticated business suits and dresses inspired by the 1960's. Re-staged for K+C's season at The Joyce, Runaway will showcase 16 dancers performing contrasting and vigorous movement to a pulsating beat down a runway of light, forming and dissolving lines and shapes amid shadows, while sudden bursts of aggression and surprising contact create vibrant counterpoints. Caffeinated (2007), set to
Philip Glass' "Glasspiece #3" was initially commissioned by the Department of Dance at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Caffeinated is a witty, hyper-kinetic response to the American coffee culture craze. Dancers speed through the space in intersecting lines and tight formations, each clutching, and sometimes led by, a coffee cup, their movements driven by Glass' increasingly hurried tempo to create a frenzied scene. The New York Times said that Caffeinated is "a hilarious, jittery mix of aerobics, cheerleading, ballet and boxing." Mattress Suite (2004) is a compilation of seven short dances set to music from opera to pop, exploring the various facets of human sexuality and the yearning for love.
Dancers:
Matthew Baker,
Ashley Browne, Aaron Carr, Kristina Hanna, Liz Riga, and Gary Schaufeld. Lighting Design by Burke Wilmore.
Founded in 2003 by Artistic Director
Larry Keigwin, KEIGWIN + COMPANY (K+C) lives to create and share provocative, witty, and engaging dances. Combining physicality with theatricality, K+C's electrifying brand of contemporary dance samples a variety of mediums and, ultimately, fuses art with entertainment. K+C's commitment to variety encourages harmony between professional & amateur and high-brow & low-brow, allowing for cross-pollination of audiences. Community projects seek to physically engage audiences in movement and the choreographic process, and bring new opportunities for individuals to become more invested in dance. Since K+C's premiere performance in 2003, Mr. Keigwin has created such acclaimed works as the large-scale choreographic event, Bolero, Mattress Suite, Natural Selection, and Love Songs. Over the past six years, K+C has presented performances throughout NYC and nationwide at venues including
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Summerdance Santa Barbara, New York
City Center,
The Joyce Theater, the American Dance Festival, and the Bates Dance Festival. K + C has received grants and generous support from National Endowment for the Arts, The O'Donnell-Green Music & Dance Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, The Christian Keesee Charitable Trust, Dianne & Daniel Vapnek Family Fund, and the Royce Family Fund. Tour Support has been provided by Expeditions, a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), and the National Performance Network (NPN).
Larry Keigwin's prolific and wide-ranging dance career began the day he auditioned as a back-up dancer for Downtown
Julie Brown on Club MTV (he got the gig). He continued his dance career working for Chezzam! enlivening many a bar and bat mitzvah while earning his BA in Dance from Hofstra University. He founded KEIGWIN + COMPANY in 2003, and as Artistic Director, Mr. Keigwin has created 16 ground-breaking dances and led the company as it has performed at theaters and dance festivals throughout New York City and across the country. Recent commissions have included Works & Process at the Guggenheim, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, The Juilliard School, The New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, The
Martha Graham Dance Company, The NYU/Tisch School's Second Avenue Dance Company, and California Institute of the Arts. Mr. Keigwin's other choreographic credits include work with the pop band Fischerspooner, comedian
Murray Hill, and as an Associate Choreographer for both the The Radio City Rockettes and the Off-Broadway musical "The Wild Party." As a dancer, Mr. Keigwin has danced at the Metropolitan Opera in
Doug Varone's "Le Sacre Du Printemps" and
Julie Taymor's "The Magic Flute," in addition to his work with
Mark Dendy (receiving a Bessie Award in 1998 for his performance in "Dream Analysis"),
Jane Comfort, John Jasperse, Doug Elkins, Zvi Gotheiner, and
David Rousseve. He appeared in the Broadway show "Dance of the Vampires" and the
Julie Taymor, Oscar nominated film "Across the Universe." In addition to his work with K+C, Mr. Keigwin has created Keigwin Kabaret, a fusion of modern dance, vaudeville, and burlesque acts presented by the Public Theater at Joe's Pub and by
Symphony Space. Mr. Keigwin is also a co-founder of the Green Box Arts Festival in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado.
Bird Watching is made possible through a grant from the
Jerome Robbins New Essential Works (NEW) Program and is being developed at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Caffeinated was commissioned by the Department of Dance at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Mattress Suite was funded by and created in residence at SUMMERDANCE Santa Barbara. Runaway was commissioned by the Dance Division of The Juilliard School.
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