Carrie Ahern: Body and Soul podcast

My guest, Carrie Ahern, is a dancer and an independent choreographer whose work shows a powerful sense of visual order and psychological depth. We met in the dressing room at St. Mark's Church, home of Danspace Project, to talk about "Red," which premiered there in 2006, and her new piece--"The Unity of Skin"--which will premiere on April 3 and run through April 5.

To listen to original music composed for "The Unity of Skin" by cellist Greg Heffernan, visit http://www.carrieahern.com/calendar/calendar.html.


BIO

Carrie Ahern, a Wisconsin native, is an independent dance and performance artist who has been based in New York City since 1995. She worked primarily as a freelance performer/choreographer for over a dozen dance and theater companies until forming Carrie Ahern Dance in 2005. Her current evening length project, "The Unity of Skin" is commissioned by Danspace Project for performances April 3-5, 2008 and is being presented at Baltimore Theatre Project March 6-9, 2008. Investigations into "The Unity of Skin" were shown at Dance Conversations at the Flea, Danceworks in Milwaukee, Movement Research at Judson Church and at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) as part of their 2007 Space Grant Residency. Her studies of Ancient Greek Philosophy for this piece were funded, in part, by Fractured Atlas' Creative Development Grant. Carrie's first evening length work "Red" (2006) was commissioned both by Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church and the Guggenheim Works-and Process Series.

Her shorter works have been seen at over a dozen venues in New York City such as Danspace Project, P.S.122, Dixon Place, the Angel Orensanz Foundation, Dance Space Center (now DNA), Chashama, The Flea and Soundance among others. Nationally and internationally, her work has been presented at Baltimore Theatre Project, Danceworks and Walker's Point Arts Center in Milwaukee, Le Regard du Cygne in Paris and at the Festival D'OFF in Avignon, France. She self-produced two seasons in conjunction with her frequent collaborator, Jennifer A. Cooper: "Alteregomania" at Cunningham in 1999 and "Exploding Plastic Acorns" at the Williamsburg Art Nexus (WAX) in 2003. In 2002, Bessie award winning dancer Carolyn Hall commissioned a solo, with an original score by Grammy award winner Matt Darriau and Ivan Goff. As a performer Carrie has had the pleasure of working with many artists here in New York City including, Pat Cremins/Wyoming, Heather Kravas, Heidi Latsky, Allyson Green, Nina Winthrop, Jeffrey Frace, Ridge Theater, Donna Bouthillier and Jennifer A. Cooper.

Upcoming choreographic experiments include a collaborative effort with The Nietzsche Circle -the exciting and daunting task of using Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zaranthustra" as a jumping off point for a dance. She is exploring remounting 2006's "Red" for the crumbling and infamous Eastern State Penitentiary.

Ahern is a sought-after teacher of pilates and yoga throughout NYC. She has taught improvisation at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and dance technique in the New York City Public Schools.

LINKS

Carrie Ahern
http://www.carrieahern.com

Greg Heffernan (composer)
http://www.gregheffernan.com

Agata Oleksiak (visual designer)
http://www.agataolek.com

Danspace Project
http://www.danspaceproject.org/

Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.

(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

MP3 File