Dance Now's Fall 2016 DANCE-MOPOLITAN Series Presents Chelsea & Magda, Bryan Strimpel and Shaina Branfman

Commissioned and produced by DANCE NOW, National Intimacy Month is a collaboration between performance duo Chelsea and Magda, choreographer/dancers Bryan Strimpel and Shaina Branfman of B.S. Movement, and choreographer Raja Feather Kelly and his troupe, the feath3r theory. Combining choreography, improvisation, text, live podcasting, and sketch comedy, the work explores the role of intimacy in the creative process and in performance. The cute and the aggressive, the familiar and unknown, the popular and the underrated-all come into play in dynamic, surprising, and humorous ways, complete with commercial breaks and apple pie.

Performances are Friday and Saturday, November 4-5, at 7pm, at Joe's Pub. Tickets are $15 in advance / $20 at the door. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 212-967-7555, online at joespub.com, and in person at The Public Theater box office from 2pm to 6pm. Joe's Pub at The Public is located at 425 Lafayette Street (between East 4th Street and Astor Place).

About the Artists

Co-choreographers Shaina Branfman and Bryan Strimpel of B.S. Movement research the function-design of human movement, distilling biomechanical processes into a unique language used to deepen our humanity. As movement research enthusiasts they endeavor to create, teach, and perform their movement/philosophy in order to cultivate a community rooted in awareness, empathy, and inclusion. Branfman graduated from All Faiths Seminary International and graduated as a Certified Movement Analyst from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. She is a member of the feath3r theory and a registered Wedding Officiant by the City of NY Office of the City Clerk. Strimpel has danced with Nicholas Leichter Dance, Brian Brooks Moving Company, and David Dorfman Dance. He is also a member of the feath3r theory, and is currently performing with Third Rail Projects in The Grand Paradise. www.bsmovement.co

Chelsea & Magda (Chelsea Murphy and Magdalene San Millan) have been collaborating since 2012 when they met at the Headlong Performance Institute in Philadelphia. Since the beginning their staged works have been part dance, part talking, and part angry yelling. For the past year they have fixated on and fallen in love with shame-shame in performance. If you have a negative reaction to the mere inclusion of the word "shame" here you are not alone-many people prickle at this taboo-laden word. But they have found shame to be a powerful path to pleasure and freedom, so let's talk about that. They recently premiered The Shame Symposium at FringeArts. www.everybodygetinthecar.com

Raja Feather Kelly was born in Fort Hood, TX, and is the first and only choreographer to dedicate the entirety of his company's work to Andy Warhol. He is the creator of Andy Warhol's Drella (I Love You Faye Driscoll), Andy Warhol's 15: Color Me, Warhol, and Andy Warhol's Tropico, all of which have been performed to critical acclaim. For over a decade, Kelly has worked throughout the United States and abroad (Austria, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, and France) in search of the connections between popular culture and humanity and their integration into experiential dance-theateR. Kelly currently choreographs, writes, and directs his own work as artistic director of the feath3r theory, a culture-driven dance-theater company. He the recipient of the 2016 Solange MacArthur Award for New Choreography and a 2016 NYFA Fellowship for Choreography. He has been the Guest Choreographer in Residence at Princeton University, University of Maryland College Park, University of Florida, Harkness Choreographer in Residence at Hunter College; and a Dance Web Scholar (Vienna). Kelly can be seen in the work of Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group, Keely Garfield, and Christopher Williams. He has also performed with David Dorfman Dance, Zoe | Juniper, PearsonWidrig DanceTheater, Colleen Thomas and Dancers, and Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion. www.thefeath3rtheory.com

About DANCE NOW

DANCE NOW is produced by directors Robin Staff, Sydney Skybetter, and Tamara Greenfield.

For 21 years DANCE NOW has bent the rules to offer all-inclusive destination events that reveal the bustling energy and innovation of New York City dance makers. Created in 1995 as a program of the Downtown Arts Festival, DANCE NOW launched in 1996 as an independent festival. Without a performance venue, DANCE NOW learned to embrace limitation as a powerful source for creativity. Seeking creative ways to bring dance and community together, DANCE NOW developed partnerships to connect new audiences to innovative dance makers. Presenting dance in venues both traditional and not, DANCE NOW designed all-inclusive destination events for drained swimming pools, firehouses, galleries, and Joe's Pub, where, in 2003 DANCE NOW introduced the Dancemopolitan series. In 2005, DANCE NOW furthered its "less is more" mantra, creating a "challenge initiative" to encourage work marked by brevity, clarity, and effect. This inspired the commissioning of full-evening works specifically for the Pub, and the merging of all DANCE NOW programs to the Pub in 2011.

DANCE NOW's programming at Joe's Pub has defied the standard and encouraged artists to think outside the box and utilize the unique space, creating an inspiring new platform for dance. In the last decade, DANCE NOW has produced numerous critically acclaimed works at Joe's Pub including Doug Elkins' Fräulein Maria, David Parker's ShowDown, Misters and Sisters, and Head Over Heels, Nicholas Leichter'sThe Whiz and 20/20, Kyle Abraham's Heartbreaks and Homies, Nicole Wolcott and Vanessa Walters' Alley of the Dolls, Camille A. Brown'sOne Second Past the Future, Monica Bill Barnes' Snow Globes, Takehiro Ueyama's Somewhere Familiar Melodies, Claire Porter's Sent-ence, Mark Dendy's NEWYORKnewyork@Astor Place, and, most recently, Ellis Wood's The Juggler of Our Ladies.

From a small festival series to four distinct programs, from NYC to Pennsylvania, DANCE NOW presents young innovators and emerging and maturing artists side by side, building relationships at varying stages of development and providing comprehensive assistance to advance creativity and new career paths. DANCE NOW Joe's Pub challenges artists to investigate new directions. DANCE NOW Raw funnels new artists into its programs. DANCE NOW Silo and DANCE NOW SteelStacks provide paid teaching, residencies, and commissioning and performing opportunities through partnerships with DeSales University, Muhlenberg College, Lehigh Valley Charter School, and ArtsQuest at SteelStacks in Bethlehem, PA.

DANCE NOW is supported, in part, with public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information, visit dancenownyc.org and silokirklandfarm.dancenownyc.org.