New York-based contemporary dance company KDNY presents TREADING PUDDLES choreographed by Kathleen Dyer and set to original live music by Connecticut composer Cristina Spinei at The Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport, CT, on January 23 at 7:30pm and January 24 at 3pm. Tickets are $20 ($15 students and seniors) and are available at www.kdnydance.com or by phone at 203-227-4177.
At moments on the brink do we bend and bounce back? What does it take to reinvent oneself again from the ground up? KDNY's TREADING PUDDLES explores the obstacles that emerge unexpectedly in life and translates those experiences into an evening of dances by Norwalk resident Kathleen Dyer that emphasize the importance of resiliency, patience, and the desire for reinvention. While waiting, dreaming and mourning, we grow with everyday storms. The evening's three premieres, Evergreen, From, and Wide Asleep, feature original music composed by Stamford resident and Juilliard Alumna Cristina Spinei. Appropriate for ages five and up.
Inspired by a painting of a violent storm brewing over a single blade of grass, Evergreen considers the potent resiliency in nature and pursues this elusive quality, harnessing the power that it can bring to one's life.
In From, a quartet finds itself lost in a forest of heartbreak where the magic of connection inspires the realization that some breaking is building.
Wide Asleep is acomedic exploration of the peculiar disjointed ideas that manifest within those half-awake wee morning hours during which you have suddenly been caught in a fleeting, inexplicable world of uncertainty, embarrassment, and mystery, and it seems completely plausible.
Inspired by the women depicted in Jan Vermeer's paintings, Flowers on the table by the Open Window (2002) recalls an era in which women played a lesser role in society and were often found waiting and wanting. Leaping out of a life-sized frame, the dancers embody their untold emotions and stories, as they look out of the window into the unknown. Music by Massenet, Gounod, and Cacani.
KDNY Performers: Katie Aggen, Meredith Clinton, Heather Kemp,
Lisa Peluso, Alexandra Rose, Shayne Staley, Kaitlyn Waldo and Leslie Ziff.
Artistic Director Kathleen Dyer established KDNY in 1997 as an all-female modern dance company which focuses on the compelling experiences and intricate nature of the female spirit. Based in New York City, the company features Ms. Dyer's vibrant feminine choreography that is renowned for its athleticism and grace. KDNY is committed to uncovering the female spirit and transports diverse audiences through poignant dance, dynamic music and brilliant characters. The company has developed a vast repertory of group works that range from narrative to abstract and feature highly talented performers. KDNY has extensive performance engagements at top New York City dance venues including Lincoln Center's Clark Studio Theater, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, The Duke Theater on 42nd Street, and has been featured in the New York International Fringe Festival and Joyce SoHo Presents. Touring highlights include Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Toronto's Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Kathleen Dyer has choreographed extensively for the past fifteen years, creating twenty-two repertory works and four powerful evening-length pieces for her company, KDNY, and four pieces for university dance programs and other dance companies. Her energetic and technically specific work explores dance's capacity to communicate both literal and metaphorical meanings simultaneously and is therefore accessible to dance aficionados as well as mainstream audiences. She attended Florida State University in Tallahassee via scholarship, earning her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance. After graduation and while continuing to pursue her own choreography, Kathleen danced with several New York dance companies. Over the past decade, Dyer's work has received a number of accolades including selection for presentation by prestigious performing arts festivals. Her company, KDNY, in addition to its annual New York season, performed at Jacob's Pillow in Massachusetts, the New York International Fringe Festival, the Fringe Festival of Independent Artists in Canada, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Her works are primarily group works, and she has created several projects to develop female partnerships. Her goals are to inspire physical and emotional empowerment through movement, and to gain a greater understanding of the female psyche as it presents itself physically. She has given master classes, repertory workshops, and lecture demonstrations in a number of states including Texas, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Florida. Ms. Dyer's choreography has been restaged on regional companies around the country including the Huntsville Ballet of Alabama and Moving Current of Tampa, FL.
Cristina Spinei has been called "one of the most talented young composers in America" by Grammy award winning composer/conductor Jose Serebrier. At 25, Ms. Spinei is in demand from choreographers, film directors, and musicians. Her compositions have been commissioned by the Ebony Strings Quartet, the ETA3 Trio, Kathleen Dyer Dance NY, London Central School, Mary Seidman and Keystone Dancers, Metropolis Ensemble, the New York Choreographic Institute, Pacific Northwest Ballet, St. John's Church, Treetops Chamber Music Society, and by Jazz at Lincoln Center saxophonist Victor Goines. Ms. Spinei is the Wet Ink Fellow for Metropolis Ensemble this current season. She is the recipient of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism Grant for Composition, the Composition Award from the Arts Recognition and Talent Search, the
Pia Gilbert Scholarship, and the
Marvin Hamlisch Scholarship in Composition. Spinei has been a finalist for the Sackler Composition Prize and the Sundance Composers Lab. Ms. Spinei received her BM and MM in composition from the Juilliard School where she studied with
Christopher Rouse. As a co-founder of Blind Ear Music, Ms. Spinei produces contemporary music concerts in New York. Blind Ear has been featured on YouTube in their weekly "Spotlight on Music" section and most recently performed at the World Technology Awards. Ms. Spinei's music will be performed by Blind Ear at The Brooklyn Lyceum and by the Metropolis Ensemble in the fall of 2009. For more information, visit www.cristinaspinei.com.
For more information, visit www.kdnydance.com.
