Suzanne Beahrs Dance

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Dance Mogul: What is the inspiration for Rise?

Suzanne Beahrs: The inspiration for RISE came from thinking about dance education. Modern dance places value on being yourself, and I love seeing truly magical moments when students allow themselves to share a part of themselves that they had been hiding. I wanted to better understand what it means to “Be Yourself,” a common directive that is often quite difficult to execute. I thought about everything that aids that process in people’s lives as they grow up: education, friendships, letting go, taking charge, wisdom, vulnerability, confidence, and even defiance.

Dance Mogul: What can audiences expect from this world premiere?

Suzanne Beahrs: Vibrancy. The piece has quite a range; some moments have sophisticated technique that pairs well with the accompanying Chopin compositions, and others are more eccentric and festive, a little bit like a parade.

Dance Mogul: What are expectations as far this production growing for the future?

Suzanne Beahrs: Celine Syslo and I are performing an excerpt at Breaking Ground Festival in Tempe, AZ in March. I would love to tour the entire work, a goal that will take funding since it involves seven dancers. I am moving to Durham, NC just after the premiere and the dancers will be living in NYC, so I am exploring creative ways to continue performing what we have created after that transition.

Dance Mogul: Is there anyone you would like to thank for helping on the production.

Suzanne Beahrs: The dancers have just poured themselves in to this process, and I am grateful to their commitment to imagine, play, and dig in. They are mindful of the through-line between nuanced execution of individual steps and the overall audience experience. Composer Angela Don and Lighting Designer Brittany Spencer are generous, skillful collaborators. Thank you!

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Suzanne Beahrs Dance

 

returns to Danspace Project

 

with world premiere of RISE

February 5-7, 2015 at 8pm

Suzanne Beahrs Dance presents a full evening of dance on February 5-7, 2015 at 8 pm as part of Dance:ACCESS at Danspace Project, located inside St. Mark’s Church, 131 East 10th Street, NYC 10003. Tickets are $20 / $15 Danspace Members and are available at danspaceproject.org.

 

People often refer to being true to yourself. Uplifting quotes, casual pep talks with friends, children’s books, and stories of coming out, coming home, leaving home, finding God, and leaving religion often include this idea. On one level, we all know what it means to “be yourself,” but why do we so often find ourselves doing it wrong? As we grow up and grow old, we learn (and relearn) how to feel at home in our own skin. This process demands that we let go of everything that we are not, and stop acting as if we can replicate our role models. We can never replicate anything, because we does not exist outside of ourselves, and that is all we will ever be.

 

RISE begins with letting go, as we unfurl into more open versions of ourselves. The dancers move with buoyant, airy grace and bold, weighted strides. Physical support between the dancers represents the influences of our best teachers and coaches as they push us to fulfill our specific potential. As the piece progresses, the movement becomes rhythmic and driving, a confident and even defiant proclamation of the eccentricities that we have bared. The piece itself seems to let go and reveal itself, echoing the task so many of us undertake: uncovering who we are underneath.  

 

Dancers: Suzanne Beahrs, Sarah Hillmon, Julia Jurgilewicz, Monica Mordaunt, Jessica Nolan, Julie Seal, and Celine Syslo.

 

Music: Chopin, marching band drumlines, LCD Soundsystem, text by Pablo Neruda, and more.

 

Lighting design: Brittany Spencer
Artistic Statement
“I love suddenly finding myself alone in an elevator, with no one around to bump into or wonder what the heck I’m doing. When the elevator doors close, I may have only a few moments, but my arms swipe and curve, my spine arches and folds, and my legs swing and step. This is how I really feel. As a dancemaker, I try to share with others something that is like what I experience in my elevator moments, daring to reach beyond how we thought we should behave. In order to share this experience with the audience, first I try to tap into something based on some seed of intuition, feeling whatever my body does if I let go of any holding or resistance to try something out. Beyond this initial searching, the work of making dances demands a lot of questioning, revising and refining; I want to create dances that connect us with the intricacy of the present moment through movement that is as potent as it is vibrant.” – Suzanne Beahrs

 


Photos by Christopher Duggan
Performance Information
Date/Time: Thursday, February 5, 2015 – 8pm
Friday, February 6, 2015 – 8pm
Saturday, February 7, 2015 – 8pm
Location:    Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, 131 East 10th Street, NYC 10003
Tickets:      $20 General / $15 Danspace Members
       Box Office: (866) 811-4111

Presented as part of Dance:ACCESS, a self production series administered by Danspace Project that serves independent choreographers and dance companies.
Suzanne Beahrs Dance investigates and celebrates the impermanent human experience through kinetically driven modern dance. The company aims to bring more modern dance to more people by presenting this choreography in live and recorded performance and through teaching classes and workshops to all levels of dancers.

 

Suzanne Beahrs dances, teaches, and choreographs in New York City. With her company, Suzanne Beahrs Dance, she has shown her work at NYC venues including Danspace Project, Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 92nd St. Y, Judson Church, Gibney Dance Center, Dance on the Greenway (commissioned by Dance Theater Etc) and many others. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Suzanne has shown her work at the Subterranean Arthouse in Berkeley as 2010 Artist in Residence as well as at the West Wave Dance Festival (ODC Theater). Suzanne Beahrs Dance has also toured to the Paramount Center in Boston and others. Suzanne has been called a “rising name” by The New York Times. Suzanne has been on modern dance faculty at Dance New Amsterdam and Dancewave, and has taught at Mark Morris Dance Center, Gibney Dance Center, and the 92nd St. Y. She has been Education Manager at Cora Dance in Brooklyn, where she was also a 3G (Give/Get/Grow) Resident Artist and set choreography on the Cora Youth Company. In addition to in her own work, Suzanne has performed with Mare Nostrum Elements, Dana Boll, Clare Cook Dance Theater, and others (NY) and Ishika Seth and Dancers, Dance Ceres, Mo Miner, Christine Cali, and others (CA). Suzanne received her MFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and her BA in Geology from UC Berkeley. 

For more information, visit www.suzannebeahrs.org and www.facebook.com/suzanne.beahrs.

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