MOTHER.F***ER Makes LA Premiere at Highways Performance Space, 10/26-10/27

Highways Performance Space and SuarezDanceTheater present the Los Angeles premiere of Mother.F***er. for a limited, three performance-only engagement October 26-27. What does it mean to be a mother? Christine Suarez wants to find out-and the result is a fearless, hilarious, irreverent and compelling evening of dance-theater that uncovers the myriad facets of maternity.

Being a mom, becoming a mom, sometimes loving it, sometimes hating it, embracing it and running away: that is the inspiration for Mother.F***er. Through her own stories and those of others-she incorporates interviews with over 50 women-Suarez exposes the duality of her personal experience as a parent and as an artist, and her struggle to balance the two roles.

"Mother.F***er. is a self-portrait of my own transition to becoming a parent," she explains. "It's about the elation and the shame of being a new mother who cannot quite let go of her ambivalence. Somehow I knew that the only way to make sense out of my jumbled emotions was to create a dance." Mother.F***er. premiered last July at the Santa Cruz Fringe Festival.

Channeling a mix of Sandra Bernhard and Pina Bausch, Suarez finds the poetry and mines the absurdity of our collective and sometimes idealized image of motherhood. Against a distinctive back drop of adult-sized tinker toys, her movement at once devours space and rigorously spirals in on itself. Always pulling from her bag of props and costumes, Suarez's idiosyncratic movement and willowy gestures are punctuated by keen observation and wry humor.

Best known for dancing in unexpected places with unexpected people and for her seamless combination of dance, music and words., Christine's past work has been hailed as "ingeniously crafted… poignant… [and] hilarious" by the Los Angeles Times, "savvy" by The New York Times and "smart and stylish" by the Village Voice. Influenced by her work with playwrights like Athol Fugard, Christine brings a passion for storytelling that enriches her dance projects with compelling narratives. Drawing on subjects and settings as diverse as Cajun Louisiana, South African apartheid, motherhood, skateboarding and female org*sm, her pieces are marked by irreverent humor, social critique and poetic visual imagery. Since its inception in 1998, her company, SuarezDanceTheater, has produced ten evening-length dance-theater works, numerous site-specific and community events and close to a dozen dances for the theater and film, along with teaching, creating and performing dance-theater at over 20 school sites throughout the U.S.

Mother.F***er. is presented by Highways Performance Space, Leo Garcia, artistic director, and SuarezDanceTheater. Costume design is by Marie-France Drouin, production design is by Nathalie Renard and sound design by Phil Darovic.

Performances of Mother.F***er. take place on Friday, October 26 at 8:30 pm and on Saturday, October 27 at 3 pm and 8:30 pm. Tickets are $20, with $5 off for seniors and full time students with ID. Highways Performance Space is located at 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, CA 90404 (in the 18th Street Arts Center, one-half block north of Olympic Blvd.). For reservations and information, call (310) 315-1459 or go to www.highwaysperformance.org. Rated PG-13 for mature themes and language.

Photo Credit: CedarBough T. Saeji