VIDEO: Olivia Palacios and Mandie Rapoza Present World Premiere of CIRCLES

Olivia Palacios and Mandie Rapoza have released 'Circles'.

"In the height of the pandemic The Overlook boldly brought their music out of their homes and into the streets, for our Upper Manhattan neighborhood to enjoy. Riverbank State Park, the film location, felt like an oasis for New Yorkers as we found our way through the repetitive nature of life during quarantine. Together, these two elements were the catalyst for us to begin making new work. As choreographers, our goal was to create a dance that would visually amplify the powerful impact of Trevor Weston's music, and continue The Overlook's pursuit of connecting music with the community."

Circles is directed, choreographed and produced by Olivia Palacios and Mandie Rapoza.

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THE ARTISTS

OLIVIA PALACIOS (Director/Choreographer) is a NYC based choreographer-dancer-designer, working in dance and theatre. Select theatre choreography credits include: Hercules (Asst. Chase Brock); Fragments (Mandie Rapoza, Dixon Place); Grey Gardens, A New Brain (Front Porch Theatricals), Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, [title of show], Rocky Horror Show (University of Pittsburgh Stages); NYC workshops: Billy and the Golden Pencil (NY Theatre Barn); You, Me, I, We; concert dance: Dixon Place, The Tank, Spoke the Hub, The Craft, Millennium Dance Complex PGH, Carnegie Mellon Film Festival, Pitt Dance Ensemble. Olivia works as an Artistic Associate & Designer for The Chase Brock Experience, Graphic & Web Design Associate for JAMpress Management and Marketing Manager for New Dance Alliance. Most recently, she has been named an upcoming Artist-in-Residence for Modern Accord Depot's MADarts program. OliviaPalacios.com / @ChoreoByLiv_Pal

MANDIE RAPOZA (Director/Choreographer) Mandie's performance and creative work has played on stages from London to LA including Broadway, National Tours and downtown New York Theatres. Originally from London, Mandie moved to NYC in 2012. She was the 2016 SDCF Traube Fellow, and worked under the mentorship of Casey Nicholaw. Select credits include Something Rotten! (1st National Tour, Dance Captain), You're A Good Man Charlie Brown (The York Theatre, Assistant Director), The Parlor (SOHO Rep, Movement Director), Flocking (The Old Vic Tunnels, ensemble), Broadway Dance Center Showcase (Choreographer), Digital Narratives Lab (The National Theatre London, Ensemble Writer) and Pandemic Voices (Choreographer/ Artistic Director, UptownWorks NYC). Next month, Mandie will be the Satellite Artist- in-Residence at New Dance Alliance.

THE OVERLOOK is a string quartet dedicated to amplifying the music of Black composers. The quartet was formed during the Covid-19 pandemic by four accomplished string players who occupy top positions on Broadway and in the chamber music scene: violinists Monica Davis and Adda Kridler have held chairs in the orchestras of Hamilton, Beetlejuice, Mean Girls; while violist Angela Pickett and cellist Laura Metcalf are members of the award-winning string quintet Sybarite5. Central to its mission is rehearsing and performing outdoors in public spaces in their community of Upper Manhattan, and actively engaging with the neighborhood's cultural institutions, businesses and residential enclaves.

TREVOR WESTON (Composer) Trevor Weston's music has been called a "gently syncopated marriage of intellect and feeling." (Detroit Free Press) Weston's honors include the George Ladd Prix de Paris from the University of California, Berkeley, a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and residencies from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the MacDowell Colony. Weston co-authored with Olly Wilson, chapter 5 in the Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington, "Duke Ellington as a Cultural Icon" published by Cambridge University Press. Weston's work, Juba for Strings won the 2019 Sonori/New Orleans Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition. Dr. Weston is currently Professor of Music at Drew University in Madison, NJ.

ANGELO SORIANO (Director of Photography) is a proud native of the Philippines. His performer career started on the magical stages of The Walt Disney Parks where he performed for millions of guests through the years. Angelo soon after joined the company of the National Tour of Flashdance: The Musical. His Broadway debut happened on the New Amsterdam Theater stage in Aladdin: The Musical. Outside of performing, his favorite hobbies support his passion for creation as a music producer, filmmaker and photographer with commissioned works featured in Disney on Broadway, Joffrey Ballet School and the world of YouTube.

DANCERS: Jasmine Gobourne, Hannah McClean, Nicole Chase Rondeau, Gabriela Selino