Island Moving Company Announces 2022-2023 Season Featuring Six Original Productions

Island Moving Company, Newport's Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of new Artistic Director, Danielle Genest, announced details of its Forty-First season today. Expect Transformation! Tickets are now on sale now.

For its 2022/2023 season, the company will present six original productions in Newport, Barrington, and Providence. The new season will include all-new Frontier Series and Family Series productions, along with IMC's iconic holiday favorite A Newport Nutcracker at Rosecliff, new Fall & Spring Repertory Series with expanded performance dates, and concludes with its outdoor summer dance celebration, The Newport Dance Festival in July of 2023. A full schedule of events and links to purchase tickets may be found at www.islandmovingco.org

"As we move into our fourth decade, IMC continues to build on its legacy of innovation and collaboration, while charting a dynamic vision under Danielle Genest's artistic leadership" said IMC's Executive Director, Peter Bramante. "Danielle has thoughtfully curated a collection of choreographers and new works for both new and returning audiences to experience a season filled with exciting, visceral and engaging dance."

Highlights of IMC's 41st season include: a world premiere work entitled Run Echo from visiting Mexican Choreographer Tania Pérez-Salas in October; an all-new Family Series Production conceived and choreographed by IMC's Artistic Director Danielle Genest, adapted from Drew Daywalt's book The Day The Crayons Quit-(on the New York Times #1 bestseller list), with an original score by Newport musician/composer Ben Shaw; and a special invitation to participate in the national Arpino Centennial Celebration to honor the 100th birthday of one of the 20th century's most influential artists. IMC will perform the pas de deux from Light Rain, one of the masterworks from the late choreographer as part of its spring Repertory Series Elements, in March of 2023. Arpino, who with Joffrey Ballet founding partner, Robert Joffrey, created a body of work that has made a singular and enduring impact on American ballet. The final highlight for IMC's 41st season will be the debut of its Frontier Series production entitled Catch Fire! which includes a reimaging of Stravinsky's Firebird, conceived & choreographed by IMC's Artistic Director Danielle Genest, and presented at the WaterFire Arts center in Providence in May of 2023.

IMC's 2022/2023 season kicks off with its opening Fall Repertory Production Points of Departure, October 6-9 and 13-15 2023, in the performance space at Newport Congregational Church. The production is comprised of world premiere works from leading female choreographers.

In describing the production, IMC's new Artistic Director Danielle Genest remarked that "Points of Departure will be a dynamic evening featuring four new works of choreography. I am honored to be joined by three amazing women whose work is beautiful, powerful, evocative, and steeped in meaning. Each perspective represents a different direction, and each direction moves us forward, creating space for understanding and connection".

The program for Points of Departure features Choreographer Tania Pérez-Salas. Born in Mexico City in 1970, Ms. Pérez-Salas founded her name-sake company in 1994 and has collaborated with Ballet Hispánico and premiered her work in the United States at the Joyce Theatre in New York. She has been invited to present work at festivals such as: La Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, France; Cervantino International Festival in México; the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in United States; Shanghai International Dance Festival in China; and Tel Aviv Dance Festival in Israel among others.

Ms. Pérez-Salas' work is based on universal topics from her unique perspective, exploring dimensions of death and life, femininity, love, and sensuality are all themes she explores in what she describes as observed from "the chaotic, surreal, and exotic Mexican culture."

Ms. Pérez-Salas began developing her newest work, RUN ECHO for IMC earlier this year. She will be in residence in Newport for two weeks starting September 18, to choreograph the work on IMC dancers. Ms. Pérez-Salas explains; "Run Echo proposes different points of view about borders and migration. It reflects the society in which we live, questioning human nature and its condition. Though this is the era of communications and technology..., shortening the distance between persons..., the free movement of people is far from becoming a reality because the walls tend to grow every day."

Another work developed for IMC's Points of Departure comes from Choreographer Francesca Genovese. A native of Rochester, NY, Francesca trained at the American Academy of Ballet as well as on full scholarship at the Garth Fagan School. In 2004, she began her professional career with Carolina Ballet Theater and became a resident choreographer with the company in 2009. ln 2015, she returned to her hometown of Rochester NY to dance with Rochester City Ballet. Francesca now teaches at Renaissance Academy Charter School for the Arts and is an Adjunct Faculty member in the dance department at Nazareth College in Pittsford, NY.

Ms. Genovese came to work with IMC dancers and students at this past summer's Newport Dance Festival, where Ms. Genest invited her to develop a new work for the company's production of Points of Departure. Inspired by Ukranian musical artists, DakhaBrakha and their recent performance celebration of art, culture, and strength, Ms. Genovese set off to create her work entitled насіння (Nissinya), which translated in English means 'seeds'. Genovese explains she was moved by the story of Ukranian native who met invading soldiers at the border of her town giving them handfuls of sunflower seeds and demanding they put them in their pockets. Foretelling that they would not return home, the women exclaimed "that at least they would leave something beautiful behind".

The program for Points of Departure will also include new works from Choreographer Colleen Cavanaugh, who is an assistant clinical professor of Ob/Gyn at Brown University's Warren Alpert School of Medicine and has been in private practice for thirty years in RI. Cavanaugh founded & directed Cadence Dance Project and Part of The Oath, both in RI, and worked with Festival Ballet Providence and Island Moving Co. Cavanaugh's work for the program is entitled, She Flew Away and is set to a score by composer Max Richter and dedicated to the memory of Dr. Marlene Cuititar.

Rounding out the production will be an all-new work from IMC's Artistic Director, Danielle Genest entitled City. Set to a score by composer Olafur Arnalds, Genest explains that "City explores the tidal nature of communities - constantly shifting and changing with time. Gravitating between firm ground and free space, we cling to one another for support but find ourselves lost in a sea of motion."

Tickets for IMC's 41st Season are on sale now and may be purchased at the IMC Box Office. Additional information will be provided in future updates to IMC's Website as well as its social media platforms. Follow IMC on FaceBook , Instagram and/or sign up for the company's e-newsletter on the website.

IMC's complete 2022/2023 season calendar is provided here:

Season Opening Repertory Performances- Points of Departure

October 6-9 & 13-15, 2022

Newport Congregational Church

73 Pelham Street, Newport, RI

Tickets: $38- $48 - $58

A Newport Nutcracker at Rosecliff

November 23, 25-27, 29-Dec.2, 2022

Rosecliff Mansion

548 Bellevue Ave, Newport, RI

Tickets start at $135 ages 7 & up

Spring Repertory Performances- Elements

March 16-18 & 24-25, 2023

Keats Theatre at St. Andrews School

63 Federal Rd. Barrington, RI

Tickets: $38- $48 - $58

Spring Family Series Performances- Adapted form Drew Daywalt's book-The Day The Crayons Quit!

March 23-26, 2023

Keats Theatre at St. Andrews School

63 Federal Rd. Barrington, RI

Tickets: Start at $25, Family 4-packs available

Frontier Series Performances- Catch Fire!

May 18-20, 2023

WaterFire Arts Center

475 Valley Street. Providence, RI

Tickets: $38- $48 - $58

IMC Presents- The Newport Dance Festival

July 18-23, 2023

Outdoor stage on the lawn of Great Friends Meeting House

21 Farewell St. Newport, RI

Tickets: start at $38