Big success for Nu Vu Festival!
Thank you so much for all who came to see and share your time with our artists.
These are some beautiful moments from the Inaugural Nu Vu Festival on May 17th!
And hope you will join next time if you missed it this time!!!
Steven Hitt , the director LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, making opening speech.
Opening ceremony by Kaoru Watanabe. His Shinobue and Taiko performance filled our space with beautiful sounds. Every culture and country has drum sound and dance. And so for me, dance and Drum are so connected. So having him open our inaugural Nu Vu Festival was very special. He put some heart beat – life in it.
We opened with a duet Sospiri by Jacqulyn Buglisi. ( Buglisi Dance Theatre). Virginie Mécène and Kevin Predmore. A duet is almost like Romeo and Juliette of Argentine. When I was a young dancer, I danced Jacqulyn’s work at the Graham School, when she had a baby, I replaced her roles in the Graham company, danced in Buglisi Foreman Dance and met my husband Stephen. I learn so much dancing in her works – physically and mentally both.
Masha Dashkina Maddux made a beautiful solo First Movement, inspired by Dancing Angel foundation’s founder’s story. Real story. When I met her, She was a very young, out of college dancer, came in to the Graham company, I watched how she worked and I shared a lot of with her. Now she is in North Carolina, working as a freelance dancer, and founded Wake Forest Dance Festival which opened last year. She has a hidden drive to make thing happens.
Lisa Thurrell brought her company -Juan Carlos Diaz Velez, Alyssa Jendusa, Emily Shelton, Sara wolf - Kanopy Dance Company, from Madison, WI. Excerpts from her Miserere, gave sense of inside of church, lit with candle light at LPAC Stage! This is a longer work, hope one day we can see her complete work! I know Lisa for a long time. I get inspired by what she does with her school and company. She and her husband Robert Cleary educate dancers, parents and audiences. Give them so much opportunities to learn from many masters’ work, and new masters’ work and how to be a dancer, dance artist.
Charlotte Griffin’s Real, Ideal, danced by Calvin Bittner of Vivid Ballet. Charlotte saw something very special about Calvin, his sensitivity, wit, and dreamer of him came out in this solo.
Space Between is a beautiful contemporary duet by Isaac Lerner. Danced with Marjorie Gross and himself. Both of them graduated form the Hartt School where my husband Stephen Pier is the director and I also teach at the school. He is now choreographing for Opera company in Iowa, his work is taking him all over.
I met Troy Ogilvie when she was about 13, dancing in NJ Dance Theatre Ensemble. She went to the Juilliard, she was a major force of Gallim Dance, worked with Sleep No More and more. Now she present solo works. She is exploring. I love watching her journey. And this work a girl by Roy Assaf is so Troy. I can’t wait to see what she is going to do next!!!
Jacqueline Dugal is one of the participants of Emerging Choreographer Series at LPAC( directed by Nicola Iervasi and Kevin Albert). I was on the panel, watched her work developed, and now to see her finished( or on going work!) work under was so interesting and happy to see it. Her brought 4 original dancers Desiree Amadeo, Isaac Lerner, Jessica Stroh, Louisa Pancoast and herself danced in it.
With Tuce Yasak’s Lighting direction, it gave the idea of under water, under pressure, under all emotions.
We closed our evening with Kaoru’s Taiko and Shinobue. But this time, with dancers improvised all over the theatre!
All artists come together! That is what I wanted!
Connect:
Old to New,
New to Old
Culture to Culture
Artist to artist
Dancer to dancer
Human being to Human being!
At the after performance reception, we can connect many friends, family, new friends… It was a great evening.
Thank you Stephen Pier for your love and support, thank you Brad Orego and Yurie Anai for volunteering for this Festival!!!
Thank you Steven Hitt, LPAC, all staff---for your vision, encouragement and having us!!!
Now I am going to see many more dances to find dance artists for
Nu Vu Festival 2019!
Keep in touch!!!
Photo ©︎Tokio Kuniyoshi