Shelley Hirsch
My Father Piece
New York premiere
January 28 & 29 [Fri & Sat] 10pm & February 4 & 5 [Fri & Sat] 8pm $15
(w/Olga Broumas reading January 28 & 29 at 8pm: $20)

"Enormously inventive, scathingly satiric and virtuosic…a brilliant overwhelming presence on stage'-The New York Times

In My Father Piece, vocalist/composer and performance artist Shelley Hirsch returns to the source of her musical inspiration, her father Jerry. A sequel to her award-winning musical O Little Town of East New York, this new music performance piece delves into the subjective nature of memory, mapping out a shifting narrative in which music triggers memory and vice versa. Using her enormous vocal palette, Hirsch recollects life with Jerry, from the romance of dancing in the family's "enchanted" living room to her father's taped voice commenting upon or contradicting her colorful remembrances. Music sampled from Jerry's records and Hirsch's teen favorites, seemingly on permanent spin in the household, conjures up physical spaces and emotional states.

Molissa Fenley
February 9-12 [Wed- Sat] & 16-19 [Wed-Sat] 8pm $15
February 10 [Thu]: Post-performance discussion
http://www.diacenter.org/Fenley

Visual art by Carol Hepper and Merrill Wagner

Music by Harold Meltzer, Kevin Volans, Hamza el-Din, David Behrman, Somei Satoh, and Philip Glass

Music of Philip Glass and Kevin Volans performed live by cellist Joan Jeanrenaud

Dancers: Molissa Fenley, Nathan Balser, Reginald Ellis Crump, Foofwa d'Imobilité, Kimberly Richardson, Kerry Ring, Paz Tanjuaquio, Heather Waldon, and Meg Wolfe

Lighting design by David Moodey

For her two-week run at The Kitchen, award-winning choreographer Molissa Fenley presents a program of new solos created in collaboration with visual artists and musicians, and two group works and a duet.

In her first solo, Island, Fenley interacts with Carol Hepper's translucent fish-skin sculptures to explore ritual and spiritual connections to the natural world (alternate casting with Foofwa d'Imobilité). In Weathering Fenley relates seasonal changes to emotional states, assembling choreographic fragments that echo Merrill Wagner's process of aging canvas for her sculptures. In Voices the choreographer dances in dialogue with Kevin Volans' cello concerto performed live by cellist Joan Jeanrenaud.

Performed by a group of New York guest dancers are Escalay with music by Hamza el-Din and On the Other Ocean with music by David Behrman. I and you resemble each other now is a duet performed by Nathan Balser and Kimberly Richardson from the University of Utah's Performing Dance Company to music of Somei Satoh.

As a special event, during the first week only, Molissa Fenley will performed Provenance Unknown, a solo featuring a score by Philip Glass and played live by cellist Joan Jeanrenaud.

This project is made possible in part by funds from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Island, Weathering, and Voices were made possible by the Doris Duke Fund for Dance of the National Dance Project, a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts. Additional funding was received from the National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Philip Morris Companies, Inc.

[2/2] Two on Two
Irene Hultman/Dean Moss
February 18 & 19 [Fri-Sat] 6:30pm $5
(w/Molissa Fenley performance at 8pm: $18)

Works-in-progress by two seasoned choreographers. This evening is a culmination of a two-week rehearsal process creating new works and sharing feedback.

Choreographer Irene Hultman, in collaboration with composer Matthew Suttor, explores the dramatic elements of the everlasting myth of Don Juan and the opera Don Giovanni, conjuring up a world of mystery, humor and intrigue. Choreographer Dean Moss presents excerpts from his new work-in-progress American Deluxe, including a solo danced with a mirrored board and fragmented video images, as well as a duet featuring dancers Katie Chang and Marcelo Coutinho with music by Stephen Vitiello. A conversation with the artists follows each performance.

Don't miss Digital H@ppy Hour with Rhizome.org
February 24 [Thu] 6pm (doors open at 5:30pm) $8

Poets & Preachers

A new literature series that explores the performance-poem as liturgical form, the sermon as literary form, and the audience as congregation.

Safiya Henderson-Holmes
Patent Leather Black, Part I: The Healing
February 25 & 26 [Fri & Sat] 8pm $12

"Safiya Henderson-Holmes gives us spine and joy…with a surety of craft that cannot fail to swell and, rising, captivate the open, political heart of America." -June Jordan

For this second installment of Poets & Preachers, Safiya Henderson-Holmes joins forces with a gospel choir to perform Patent Leather Black, Part I: The Healing. Faced with a rare cancer, feeling lessened in body and desire, the poet realized that in order to live she needed more of herself-more weight, more passion. In an evening-length program that fuses poetry, performance, and the warmth of sacred spirit, Henderson-Holmes presents the "heart" of self-seduction-or how to enter the bedroom of our skins to love ourselves no matter what.

Fast Forward
Feeding Frenzy
February 25 & 26 [Fri & Sat] 10pm $20
(w/Safiya Henderson Holmes performance at 8pm: $25)
http://www.mrfastforward.com

Dim-sum music mania! Composer Fast Forward winds into top gear to bring you the third round of Feeding Frenzy. Featuring simultaneous activities by four chefs, four musicians, and four waiters, Feeding Frenzy is an interactive concert centered around the fabrication and consumption of food. Four separate 'nouvelle dim-sum' menus are prepared and delivered to the audience, while the actions of the chefs and musicians are amplified. Live video of the in-concert activities will be projected throughout the event.