Slamfest | Reperetory

reperetory

Intercourse

A collaboration made and performed by Karl Anderson and Kate WeareRecorded music by Lhasa and by Fred FrithAdditional sound elements by Karinne Keithley

Intercourse is mercurial in its structure, quickly shifting through a series of highly-crafted images. Contained by their proximity to one another, the dancers create precise, intertwined partnering, detailed pictographs, and a language of minutia. Intercourse opens a window into two people's changing experiences of intimacy, with suspense and gentle humor.

Premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in March 2004 and was commissioned by DTW’s
Bessie Schönberg / First Light Commissioning Program with funds provided by The Jerome Foundation)

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Squint to Focus

Made by Karl Anderson

Pictured performers: Rachel Lynch-John, Erin Reck, and Heather WaldonOriginal music by Guy YardenCostumes by Naoko Nagata

Premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in March 2004 and re-choreographed for the ’SWEAT’ Modern Dance Series in January 2006.

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Squint to Focus

Made by Karl Anderson

Pictured performers: Rachel Lynch-John, Molly Rabinowitz, and Kristi Spessard

Current performers: Rachel Lynch-John, Erin Reck, and Heather WaldonOriginal music by Guy YardenCostumes by Naoko Nagata

Three women signify a human microcosm as they traverse a subtle range of emotional and psychological connections within an implied context of female community. The movement vocabulary was created within the context of Skinner Releasing Technique improvisations such that each performer embodies a rich and full juncture with their physical expressions. The tone and mood of this trio is mature and sophisticated. These are adult women engaged in complex interactions. There is no overarching narrative, rather a multifaceted series of relationships that the audience is encouraged to imbue with personalized meaning and feeling which are triggered by the open-ended resonances of these three women. What exactly happens and why is up to each viewer to project as this impressionistic work respects the creative capacities of the audience.

Premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in March 2004 and re-choreographed for the ‘SWEAT’ Modern Dance Series in January 2006.

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Embracing Nothingness

Made and performed by Karl Anderson

Costumes by Naoko Nagata

Recorded music by the Gyuto Monks

Embracing Nothingness is a prayer. This solo explores a personal ritual: the process of preparation which directly preceeds the act of art-making. Patterns and routines create a framework for improvising and channeling energies which have been methodically accumulated. Embracing Nothingness premiered on September 10th 2001. That afternoon I sat on a bench in DUMBO, with a friend from Syria, talking about how the United States was creating so much fear, hatred, and terrorism in the world. Ironically enough, we were gazing at the world trade center the entire time. Soon after the premiere, this piece became a cry for compassion and empathy in our complex and often unjust world. This solo is a quiet introspective expression of acceptance. One need not have answers, the act of wondering, in and of itself, is sufficient for a state of mindful being.

Premiered at Williamsburg Art NeXus as part of Dancenowfest 2001.

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Crack Baby

Made and performed by Karl Anderson and Leslie Derrick

Costumes by Naoko Nagata

You and your Crack Baby need to get your shit together because we have a show is, as its title promises, a brazen, anti-vanity statement. It is a ‘not-love’ duet which is gross and gritty as well as silly and playful. With vaudevillian bigness, inevitable dorkiness, and the melodrama of a Latin Tango, Anderson and Derrick tackle a gamut of twisted insights on human relations. A shifting stream-of-conscious environment is unraveled within a blither of precise partnering. Silver and gold unitards poke fun at anarconistic modernist aesthetics.

“...a duet of pure and impure mischief...”
Eva Yaa Asantewaa / the village voice

Premiered at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in August 2001

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Malemade

Made by Karl Anderson

Performed by Carolyn Hall, Amanda Loulaki, Ron Mesa, Heather Olson, and Molly Rabinowitz

Costumes by Naoko Nagata

MALEMADE is a raucous exploration of uncensored relationships between four spunky female dancers and one bossy male “King”. A piercing excavation of patriarchy (and feminism), the meta-theatrical MALEMADE parodies sexist relationship dynamics common to the world of dance as well as the world-at-large. The dancing is expressive and bold – a joyful unison section mocks the objectification of female dancers, and a disturbing, physical duet exposes a brutal battle for personal space. With cleverly scripted banter and unrelenting humor, Anderson spotlights each character’s struggle for power. Both their individual virtues and faults are all too familiar in this horrifically funny cartoon.

Premiered at Movement Research at the Judson Church in December 2000
and re-choreographed for a self-produced concert at Williamsburg Art NeXus in July 2002

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Public Showing

Made by Karl Anderson

Performed by Eva Lawrence and Tom O’Connor

Original sound environment by Sean G. Meehan

Public Showing is an absurdist and surrealist adventure for two dancers, one male and one female, who pursue one another through a series of highly physical displays of affection, angst, conflict, and compromise. All the while a musician, whose head is encapsulated within a Plexiglas box, is slowly submerged by Plexiglas spheres as he dutifully performs his sound score. Various private behavior patterns are presented in a public space. A perverse yet silly fantasy-scape is created.

Premiered at Dance Theater Workshop in April 1999

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Weaving Through The Grid

Made by Karl Anderson

Weaving Through The Grid is a satirical and absurdist journey through a process of justifying our opinions of the self and of others. We often reach conclusions based on what we agree upon as fact even through objectivity and rational thinking are quite suspect in our post-Einstein relativistic world. Real and fake statistics are the road map for this ‘universal man’s’ path, as his notions of what is real become quite challenged and disjointed. Devoid of associative critical thinking, a lovable madness prevails as our hero descends into the depths of linear blindness.

Premiered at Danspace Project in March 1998

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Words

Made by Karl Anderson

Pictured solo performers: Karl Anderson / Maura Nguyen Donohue
Previous solo performer: Sean Kelly
Current solo performer: Linda Marraccini (a.k.a. Dirty Martini)

Words is study of male vulnerability, although this solo has been performed by both genders. The use of explicit language and nudity seek to subvert the ‘male gaze’. The various identities and messages which vie for dominance over the male self-concept are scrutinized without mercy. As each dollar bill is pealed off, the masculine totality becomes increasingly fragmented. In the end, one must surrender and forgive.

Premiered at Footwork Dance Studio in June 1987
and re-choreographed for a showcase at Robert Yohn’s Dance Loft in November 1987

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