"dANCEpROjECt" will present "MEN DANCE MICHIGAN," a new forum for male choreographers who live, work, and create in the state of Michigan, on Thursday and Friday, May 3-4, at 8 p.m. in the Knickerbocker Theatre.
Formerly known Aerial Dance Theater, dANCEpROjECt in its new venture will showcase works by emerging young choreographer Matthew Farmer, who is a 2004 Hope graduate, and established choreographers Steven Iannacone and Ray Tadio of the Hope faculty.
Farmer, born in Bangor, received his schooling and dance training in Michigan and toured both nationally and internationally as a company member with Aerial Dance Theater and Peter Sparling Dance Co. As an undergraduate at Hope, he studied and worked with both Iannacone and Tadio. He recently completed his master's degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Farmer has choreographed for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, Umbigada Dance Co. and the University of Michigan's Freshman Touring Co., and collaborated on "Rheinorange," an outdoor site-specific work in Duisburg, Germany.
Iannacone, a member of the Hope dance faculty since 1990, lived in Belgium for eight years. He tours regularly as a solo performer and creates works for "dANCEpROjECt" as the company's artistic director. His choreography has been presented at the Dance in the Desert Festival, The Roof (Germany), the Festival of Dance and Non-Verbal Theatre (Croatia), EXPO '92 (Spain), The Best Solo in Belgium, and The Legacy Forum, and has been produced in Luxemburg, France, Mexico, Slovania, and Sweden, as well as throughout the United States.
Tadio, who has taught at Hope since the fall of 1999, moved to Holland from New York City. He is an active dancer and choreographer and is co-artistic director of IDT, a company in residence at Hope. His choreography is in the repertory of Reflections Dance Company (Washington, D.C.), Pori Dance Company (Finland), Jazz & Spirit Dance Theater and Theatreschool (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). He has created works for Ailey 2 (New York City), Movements Dance Company (Jamaica), Dazzle Dance Company (the Netherlands), and numerous studios in the U.S., Japan and Europe.
The three men have all worked, danced, and collaborated together, and will inaugurate this new venture with their works: "Human-Kind-Ness" (Farmer), where breath, strength and fragility are expressed in one man's spiritual journey; "A Right to Neverland" (Farmer), which focuses on the on-going conflict in Northern Uganda as seen from the point of view of the children who are experiencing it and who are its victims; "White" (Iannacone), a solo of intensity and inevitability that explores a dream of ritual and illusion; "Violet" (Tadio), a multi-media work that reveals the fine thread between the artist and the art itself; "Hyphenasian" (Tadio), a collaboration between Asian American artists Ray Tadio and Dana Hash Campell which is being presented at Ellis Island in New York as part of Pacific Asian Heritage Month in May.
A percentage of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated by dANCEpROjECt to the charitable organization "Invisible Children" to support the group's work to stop the abduction and enslavement of children as child soldiers in Northern Uganda. More information about the organization may be obtained at www.invisiblechildren.com.
Tickets for the concerts are $7 for regular admission, $5 for senior citizens and students, and free to children 12 and under, and may be purchased in advance at the ticket office in the main lobby of the DeVos Fieldhouse, which is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and may be called at (616) 395-7890. Tickets will also be sold at the door.
The DeVos Fieldhouse is located at 222 Fairbanks Ave. between Ninth and 11th streets. The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. Eighth St. in downtown Holland.