Reimagine: 30 Years | Reimagined

WHO: Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre
WHAT: REIMAGINE: 30 YEARS | REIMAGINED
WHERE: Livestream online event – Register on Eventbrite for link
WHEN: Saturday, September 12 at 8:00pm
TIX: Free. Donations welcomed. https://reimagine30years.eventbrite.com/
20% of donations will be given to the Austin Justice Coalition/Black Arts Matters
MORE: arieldance.org | facebook.com/AndreaArielDanceTheatre

Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre Presents
REIMAGINE: 30 YEARS | REIMAGINED
A virtual re-creation of selected works from AADT’s postponed show REIMAGINE celebrating 30 years in Austin, TX

AUSTIN, Texas (September 2020)— REIMAGINE was to premiere May 1, 2020 at The Long Center’s Rollins Theater featuring music composed and performed by Graham Reynolds with Alexis Buffum on Violin and Nora Karakousoglou on Cello. After rehearsals were suspended and the performances were postponed, Artistic Director, Andrea Ariel regrouped with the company dancers on Zoom to create a reimagined, virtual version of the show.

REIMAGINE was to be an evening of dance and live music that reimagined and weaved AADT’s past repertoire with new choreography all set to scores by Reynolds. Long time collaborators with over 10 shows together from 1999-2012, Ariel reunited with Reynolds to mark the company’s 30-year anniversary. “Over all these years we were both developing our work, and there are many threads of Graham’s compositions that are part of my work during that time” Ariel says. ”I thought it would be interesting to reimagine older works and create new ones to a selection of scores that resonated with these connections.”

Over three months during shelter-in-place, the company rehearsed virtually to re-create selected pieces from REIMAGINE in the dancers’ private homes and environments where they then filmed the work. While some of the dances aligned well for a virtual re-creation, others did not. REIMAGINE: 30 Years | REIMAGINED brings three re-creations together with a look at a few past repertoire pieces through archival excerpts and the company’s rehearsal footage pre-COVID. The 45-minute premiere, edited by Colin Lowry, aims to be a virtual experience akin to seeing a show, moving from one piece to the next. The company will be live in the chats during the premiere.

One of the reimagined pieces, “Home,” explores isolation. The first section was originally created with the dancers limited to an 8 ft.x 8 ft space and separated from each other. As the piece progressed these spaces enlarged creating overlaps and connections between the dancers’ movements and patterns that were developed. The uncanny relevance of this piece in our current situation lent well to re-creating the first section in a room in the dancers’ homes.

“Crossings,” another reimagined piece, moves from isolation to patterns of the daily comings and goings of our lives beyond our personal spaces. It explores random crossings that occur leading to interactions and connections with each other that then evolve. In this re-creation during “stay-at-home,” the choreographic score had the dancers employ film concepts using vectors to create movement and pathways in their personal spaces and environments. The choreography was brought forward by Ariel by connecting the vectors through editing. “Home” and “Crossings” use scores originally composed by Reynolds for AADT’s “Geometry of Proximity” in 2012. The third reimagined work is a short, fun delight called “Getting Dressed,” set to Reynold’s “The Pencil Song.”

Other works included in the virtual program are Ariel’s signature solo from 1990, “Broken Head,” and “Life’s a Circus” from 1996. These pieces combine archival excerpts and rehearsal footage of the early process of re-staging the dances to Reynold’s “Cam Stack & Crank Handle” from his album The Difference Engine: A Triple Concerto and “Droids” from his album Tosca String Quartet.
REIMAGINE: 30 YEARS | REIMAGINED was created in collaboration with dancers Whitney O’Baugh, Luis Ordaz Gutiérrez, Ceci Proeger, Rebecca McLindon, Kevin Armstrong, Sandie Donzica and video editor Colin Lowry.

About Andrea Ariel & Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre
Andrea Ariel is the Artistic Director of Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre, based in Austin, TX where she produces, choreographs, and performs works that are created in collaboration with artists working in dance, music, theater, poetry, film, media and visual art. Ariel has created over 50 original works since first forming the company in 1990. Recent productions include “Rally“, Locked-In” and the highly-acclaimed “The Bowie Project”. Her work has been presented all over the country, and she has been a recipient of numerous project support grants and commissions including thirty years of project funding by the City of Austin, Cultural Arts Program. Honors for her work include special citations from the Austin Critics Table, The Sound and Vision Award (2017), for accomplishments in the realm of dance and a commitment to visionary cross-discipline work, and the Site for Sore Eyes and Ears Award (2016) for invigorating collaborations of dance and music in site-specific performance. Andrea and her collaborators previously received twelve nominations and four awards for LUMEN (2016), HEART (2014) and The Bowie Project: A Rock and Roll Soundpainting (2014, 2015, 2017). They were also named #2 of the Top Nine Big Bang Dance Concerts of 2015. Ariel was a member of the 2019 Creative Ambassador Program, ten artists and art groups selected by the City of Austin to promote multidisciplinary art forms internationally to enhance Austin’s global profile as center of creativity. Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre was a recipient of the City of Austin’s Artist Access Program and Capacity Building Program for 2019 and is currently an Austin ISD Arts Partner as part of the Creative Learning Initiative.

About Graham Reynolds – EPK Link: https://www.grahamreynolds.com/epk

This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.