Shannon Gillen's Vim Vigor troupe premieres "Separati"

Shannon Gillen's Separati
(photos: Arnaud Falchier)

Separati enters the turbid psychic space of highway travel and anonymous companionship. Caught up at a midway point, five characters travel through the past, present and dark hallucinatory projections of the future. Stilled periods of waiting juxtapose wild physical bouts of surreal movement, as reality gives way to the imagination. What is the distance between where we have come from and where we want to go? Between what happens to us and who we are? Can the space between bodies and ideas ever be joined? And if not, can we exist in the middle ground of separation?

Separati--Shannon Gillen's hour of dance theater at Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center--left me winded and feeling pistol-whipped. I would have checked her Vim Vigor Dance Company for bruises and sprains, but I was too busy checking myself.

And its psychic space really is "turbid," as advertised. With its Edward Hopper lighting and its stark old phone booth isolated in the middle of nowhere, Separati strands its characters, and its watchers, in a nightmare between real life and the surreal. Unpredictable cacaphony--disembodied or channeled voices that taunt and mock; pop-up music, new and nostalgic; assortments of sounds--would be enough to make anyone want to claw her way back to wakefulness. But it's the choreography for the five characters--seemingly rootless travelers who hook up and entangle--that takes the greatest toll.

(photos: Arnaud Falchier)

Jason Cianciulli and Martin Durov portray two creepy men, endlessly controlling and abusive; Laja Field, Lavinia Vago and Emma Whiteley, the women caught in their magnetic force field. Separati might need to come with a trigger warning.

I'm not sure about Gillen's murky questions about "the space between bodies and ideas" and "can we exist in the middle ground of separation." All I can say is it would have been far better had these bodies, these human gyroscopes, never closed any separating gap. As hard to watch as it is, the action exerts punishing, diamond-making pressure on these performers, and they are absolutely there for that pressure.

Although Gillen herself boasts an extensive international career in performance and dancemaking, Vim Vigor is a young venture, just formed in 2015. Given the all-out dancing and acting on display in Separati--and Gillen's impressive direction--this troupe bears watching. Fortify yourself and go tonight or tomorrow at 7:30pm. For tickets, click here.

Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center
29 Jay Street (between John and Plymouth Streets), Brooklyn
(map/directions)

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Museum's changes reflect a changing Brooklyn

With Expansion, Brooklyn Children’s Museum Is Accused of Forsaking Its Community
by Nikita Stewart, The New York Times, March 6, 2015

Start the Car: DUMBO series for multimedia storytelling

Start the Car

Multimedia Storytelling Series

presents

Getting Lost

October 10, 2013

 Galapagos Art Space

Getting Lost features storytelling from Zefrey Throwell (Whitney, MoMa), Hollis Witherspoon (Comedy Central, The PIT, WBAI), Elena Megalos (The Moth), Jenny Zhang (LMCC, Rookie Mag), Chris Stackhouse (Poet, Art in America), Benaifer Bhadha (Narativ), and Nathaniel Sullivan (Flux Factory, This Red Door).

Start The Car is a multimedia storytelling series featuring a diverse panel of writer/artist/performers at Galapagos Art Space in Dumbo, Brooklyn. The event brings together artists, writers, and performers that may utilize various creative multimedia to support an "alternative presentation" of a narrative structure. A rotating line-up of storytellers offer up diverse essays, non-fiction and fictionalized stories based around a loose theme and are encouraged to use sound, pictures, written and spoken word, video, music, images, collaboration and any other modes to creatively enhance the narrative.

Tickets are $8 in advance ($12 at the door) and can be purchased at ticketweb.com. Doors open at 7pm, and stories will begin at 8pm. This event is 21 and over; seasonal drink specials will be available for purchase.

Galapagos Art Space

16 Main Street, Brooklyn

(map/directions) 

What a hoot: Screening "The Shining" for writers!

Free Screening of The Shining with Poets & Writers Magazine

Poets & Writers Magazine celebrates its annual Writers Retreats Issue (March/April 2012) with a screening of the classic writers-retreat-gone-bad flick The Shining. Gather with writers, editors, agents, and Poets & Writers Magazine staff this Thursday at 6pm at DUMBO's Galapagos Art Space.

Admission is free. There will be a cash bar with drink specials, including Red Rum, Danny Boy, and Jack & Coke.

Poets & Writers Magazine
Hosts Screening of The Shining
February 23, 6pm
Galapagos Art Space
16 Main Street, DUMBO
RSVP (not required) on Facebook.

Directions
Galapagos is located at 16 Main Street, corner of Main and Water Streets in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Take the F to York, the A/C to High, or the 2/3 to Clark. Also accessible by the East River Ferry to the Fulton Ferry Landing stop in Brooklyn Bridge.

St. Ann's Warehouse confirms move

Brooklyn Theater Group St. Ann's Warehouse Says It's Leaving Dumbo
by Marlon Bishop, WNYC Culture, July 20, 2011

St. Ann’s Warehouse: future in doubt

St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn Facing a Nomadic Future
by Patrick Healy, The New York Times, June 3, 2011

New warehouse for St. Ann's

St. Ann's Warehouse Approved to Take Over Tobacco Warehouse

by Erik Piepenburg, The New York Times, November 18, 2010

Tobacco Warehouse--Request for Proposals

Brooklyn Bridge Park is seeking proposals for the rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of the former Tobacco Warehouse for cultural, educational or community purposes.

The Tobacco Warehouse is an historic 25,000 square foot open air structure with stabilized exterior walls, located in the Empire Fulton Ferry Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park on Water Street between Dock Street and New Dock Street in Dumbo. The purpose of this Request for Proposals is to solicit proposals from Lead Tenants, who are interested in leasing, redeveloping, and being the primary occupant of the Site as a cultural facility with community uses, and from subtenants, interested in using the new facility, which would allow the facility to provide a wide array of cultural programming.

Proposals are due no later than 3pm on October 18, 2010. An information sessions and site tour will be held at 1pm on September 14, 2010 at the Tobacco Warehouse (directions)

Click here to download the RFP.

DUMBO fest wants your site-specific dance

  Young Soon Kim

2010 DUMBO DANCE FESTIVAL - CALL FOR ARTISTS

Call for site-specific works

Application Deadline: Postmarked August 15, 2010

In celebration of our 10th anniversary WHITE WAVE is proposing a series of site-specific dance works to be performed in seven outdoor spaces throughout DUMBO during the 2010 DUMBO DANCE FESTIVAL. The seven sites are situated within two designated areas: the Brooklyn Bridge Park (near the entrance at Washington and Plymouth Streets), and along the Pier 1 waterfront (entrance at Old Fulton and Water Streets) in DUMBO Brooklyn.

There is no application fee to apply.

Ideally we would like these pieces to be collaborations between dancers, movement artists and multimedia artists of all kinds: musicians, composers, fashion/costume designers, video artists, photographers etc. You may apply as collaborators or as individual artists who we will match together. We are primarily a dance festival but are open to creative applications from artists in different media who can make a strong case for the way their work would fit in a dance context.

Be imaginative. Your proposals will be reviewed, selected and curated by a committee headed by Young Soon Kim, Artistic Director of WHITE WAVE. The sites are presented raw—i.e. no built stages, sound systems, lights, electricity: All production value for the site specific pieces will be self-generated. Successful applications will propose flexible performances that are adaptable to shifting circumstances and enthusiastic about the creative potential of collaboration with other artists. Applicants are encouraged to present new work.

Before you submit your application, we strongly suggest that you visit the site – specific designated areas in person.

We are excited to offer this opportunity and to see your submissions!

See more details and RSVP on DNA World.

Toying around with theater

Last evening, the good folks from Great Small Works--hosts of the 9th International Toy Theater Festival--devoted time to teaching their audience the fundamental qualities of Toy Theater. It seemed critical that we actually absorb these fundamental qualities in a visceral way. Unfortunately, I cannot recreate that experience for you here, but I will list them.

Toy Theater is:

1. performed within a proscenium arch
2. small
3. made of paper
4. flat
5. something you can do yourself

Well, from what I saw at St. Ann's Warehouse--where the fest runs through Sunday--that definition doesn't always hold true. You can break free of the frame, use other materials besides paper and go 3D to the max. But the part that really gets me is this nice, democratic notion that you and your kids can do this at home.

Oh, sure you can.

Okay, maybe you can...do something...somewhat...like this. But, I can tell you, it will not be easy for the vast majority of us to recreate the visual wonders, heart, wit and surprising sophistication of this theater form at its most effective.

For inspiration, though, go tonight, your last chance to see Who's Hungry--West Hollywood, three lovely, poignant puppet plays by Dan Froot and Dan Hurlin, derived from interviews with homeless LA residents from their Who's Hungry project. The Froot/Hurlin pieces are running in a long, awkwardly-arranged and intermission-less program with works by Concrete Temple Theatre and Marsian, but they're worth the bother.

The Toy Theater Festival's Program 3 (with Froot and Hurlin and others) concludes tonight, with a 7:30pm curtain, at St. Ann's Warehouse, 38 Water Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn. The festival continues through Sunday.


Also, go early and view THE TEMPORARY TOY THEATER MUSEUM:

"the finest examples of historical and contemporary toy theaters, representing visual artists reinterpreting the Toy Theater form, and collectors, including a group of classic Spanish stages from the collection of Lucia Contreras of Valencia. FREE and open to the public one hour before showtimes."

Complete festival information and schedule

Ticketing or (718) 254-8779

Directions to St. Ann's Warehouse

60x60 at Galapagos

60x60 Dance returns to Dumbo's Galapagos Arts Space, pairing 60 composers with choreographers to create 60 dances for a one-hour multimedia performance.

Tuesday-Wednesday, April 7-8 (8pm)

60x60 Dance is a multimedia extravaganza creating 60 dances with the works of 60 composers for a thrilling one-hour surfing of today's music and dance scenes. Envisioned by 60x60 project director Robert Voisey and choreographer Jeramy Zimmerman, this one-of-a-kind performance consists of 60 modern dance pieces set to 60 different and brand-new one-minute compositions. Dance influences range from ballet and tango to postmodern movements, while music includes medieval chant, neo-romantic chamber music, jazz, pop, electronica and everything but the kitchen sink.

Slots for choreographers remain available. If you agree to participate, you will be e-mailed a one-minute piece of music, and it's up to you to make a one-minute dance for it. Each night the call is at 5pm for tech and runthrough; performance at 8pm. Everyone improvs the first and last minute. If you're interested, please contact Jeramy Zimmerman at jeramy@catscratchtheatre.org.

Get information
Get tickets ($10)

Galapagos Arts Center (16 Main Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn)
718-222-8500
info@galapagosartspace.com