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Solo and SoloShow, two new dance works by Maria Hassabi, premiere consecutively this fall at Performance Space 122 as part of Crossing the Line, and a month later as part of Performa 09.
Conceived as a diptych of two autonomous evening-long boundary-blurring solos, the works play between opposing orientations. The performer moves from solitary contemplation in Solo, to a devotion to 'show-culture' in SoloShow. Seamlessly weaving dance and installation, Hassabi continues her rigorous exploration of representations of the body - embedded within art history, pop culture, and the performance of daily life - dissolving them into the physicality of contemporary dance.Solo premieres Tuesday, September 29 and runs through Sunday, October 4: Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 5:30pm SoloShow premieres Thursday, November 12 and runs through Sunday, November 15: Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 6pm, with Late Shows Friday and Saturday at 10pm
In Solo, the work centers on a Persian area carpet, the performer's movement an investigation of familiar, often reductive representations of the body. The carpet becomes, in turn, a prop object, an outer skin, and an architecture. These shifts describe the negotiation of desire in and of a dancing figure, as the desire becomes as complex and interwoven as the patterns in the carpet.
SoloShow is more representational; a kind of staging of the relationship between sensation and its display. SoloShow outlines the history of female representation by physically collaging together hundreds of images pulled from art history, pop culture and everyday life. By manipulating these images in time and space, their immediate meanings are disrupted, inviting a shift in perception. Both Solo and SoloShow are created and directed by Maria Hassabi; Solo is performed by Hassabi and SoloShow will be performed alternatively by her longtime collaborator Hristoula Harakas and Hassabi herself. Solo and SoloShow feature lighting by Joe Levasseur, clothing by ThreeAsFour, dramaturgy by Marcos Rosales and Scott Lyall, sound score by James Lo, and set design by Scott Lyall and Hassabi.
Maria Hassabi is a director/choreographer/performer. Her work employs extreme physicality and aesthetic precision, creating landscapes filled with iconic images that put forth-then push beyond-their initial connotations. Hassabi's work lives within the juncture of dance, installation and performance. Hassabi's work has been presented at venues such as PS122, The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, The Joyce Theater, and Ballroom Marfa. Internationally, she has been featured at ImpulsTanz Vienna, In-Presentable Festival Madrid, TSEH-Springdance/Dialogue Moscow, Musée Géo Charles in Grenoble, France, The Biennale of Young Artists of Europe, in Sarajevo-Herzegovina and European festivals in Cyprus, Greece and Portugal. Hassabi was born in Cyprus and received a BFA in 1994 from the California Institute of the Arts. She is a recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, 2009 Grants to Artists Award.Solo and SoloShow are presented with funding from the National Performance Network, MCAF supported by the N.Y.C. Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by LMCC and The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston. Additional support provided by the Performa Commissioning Fund. Co-produced and presented by Performance Space 122, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) as part of the Crossing the Line Festival, and the 2009 visual art performance biennial, Performa 09.
Crossing the Line (September 12 - October 3, 2009): Crossing the Line is FIAF's fall festival, conceived as a platform to present vibrant new works by a diverse range of transdisciplinary artists working in France and New York City. Initiated, conceived, and produced by FIAF in partnership with leading New York cultural institutions, the 3rd annual edition of this inter-disciplinary contemporary arts festival further develops its focus on artists who are transforming cultural practices on both sides of the Atlantic. www.fiaf.orgPerforma 09 (November 1-22, 2009) is the third edition of the internationally acclaimed biennial of new visual art performance presented by Performa, a non-profit multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century. www.performa-arts.orgPerformance Space 122 is New York's ultimate destination for cutting-edge theatre, dance, music, live art and multi-media. PS122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists who explore innovative form and provocative content and who rigorously challenge the boundaries contemporary performance; PS122 is committed to a steadfast search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures, nations and beliefs. www.ps122.org.
Tickets: $20 and $15 (students/seniors); Solo and SoloShow PACKAGE $30.
Tickets, Packages and PS122 Passports are now on sale and available online at www.ps122.org, by calling TheaterMania at 212-352-3101, and at the Performance Space 122 Box Office. Note: The PS122 Passport is a bundle of 5 tickets for only $55 that can be used in ANY combination to the 2009-10 season performances.
Performance Space 122 is located at 150 First Avenue @ E. 9th Street, New York, NY 10009
