Jaroslow: a meditation on partnership

The Partner Project/Scene in Public--a world premiere by Risa Jaroslow & Dancers at Danspace Project--is a dream of a dance, my idea of dance heaven, a seemingly bottomless cornucopia of good things. It lasts only 50 minutes but seems an eternity--and I mean that in a good way. I did not want it to end.

The Partner Project/Scene in Public is an apt, if unfortunately clunky, title. Partnership--and how human interactions appear to, or are shaped by, those who witness them--is indeed the project. But this title represents a dance filled with grace, relatedness and sensitive response. Jaroslow explores many journeys of human connection, and her discoveries are fresh, never literal or obvious, always evolving in surprising, quirky ways. Her dancers are so alive in their movement and in their interactions that you clearly detect the flow of subtle thoughts and feelings, not only actions.

It is a flow of dancey dance (and a profoundly dancer-loving dance) performed by some of the craftiest, most supple, most illuminating performers in the contemporary art--most notably, Luke Gutgsell, Elise Knudson, Rachel Lehrer and Paul Singh, the core quartet of the ten-member cast. (Composer Robert Een and percussionist Hearn Gadbois also perform Een's atmospheric original score live.) And so, if you have friends who are a little shy of dance or who might be willing to venture beyond The Nutcracker and Revelations this season, take them to this. But you'll have to move fast, since The Partner Project/Scene in Public, which opened only last night, closes tomorrow night.

With dancing by Chellamar Bernard, Marcos Duran, Briana Fails, Courtney Jackson, Anne Merrick and Laurel Snyder

With video by Barbara M. Bickart, lighting by Carol Mullins, costumes by Amanda Bujak and set by Jon Pope

The Partner Project/Scene in Public--tonight and tomorrow night at 8pm (information and ticketing)

Danspace Project

St. Mark's Church

131 Est 10th Street (at 2nd Avenue), Manhattan

Risa Jaroslow seeks administrator

Risa Jaroslow & Dancers seeks an energetic, organized self-starter to serve as Company Manager.

Risa Jaroslow & Dancers (High Tide Dance, Inc.) creates electrifying dance that both challenges experienced dancegoers and welcomes new audiences. The inclusion of people of different ages, backgrounds and skills in our dancemaking process adds richness and complexity to our work, while building new audiences for dance. More information about the Company can be found on its Web site.

Responsibilities, to be carried out in consultation with the Artistic Director, may include:

• Write grant narratives and budgets, report on funded grants, research new funding opportunities

• Cultivate individual donor base, track individual donations, write and produce annual letter, maintain donor database, coordinate annual benefit event and silent auction

• Manage all aspects of Company performances

• Draft yearly budget, track monthly cash flow, handle accounts payable and receivable

• Create and implement marketing strategies, including new media initiatives (Facebook, YouTube, etc)

• Provide administrative support to the Board of Directors

• Prep content for website

• Maintain office space, answer email, provide general administrative support for Company activities

An ideal candidate will have excellent writing and communication skills, be a good multi-tasker, work well independently, and move easily between planning and implementation. Comfort in both PC and Mac environments and with the MS Office suite essential. Familiarity with Quickbooks, Giftmaker Pro, Photoshop, iMovie and iDVD a plus. We prefer a candidate with 3-5 years of non-profit management experience and familiarity with New York City dance funders.

This is a part-time position. Compensation commensurate with experience.

Send resume and cover letter to Risa Jaroslow at 917-922-0936 or risajaroslow1@gmail.com

Jaroslow's "Sixty"

[Note: Correction of closing date.]

For the life of me, I cannot understand how most Americans--even some smart ones--miss the exceptional value of dance and dancers. One could not ask for more from art and performance than we are receiving from Risa Jaroslow & Dancers in Sixty, this week, at Danspace Project.

In 2007, prior to her sixtieth birthday, Jaroslow solicited dance ideas from a range of people she'd known. From their varied ideas, she selected nine, worked them over and came up with a surprisingly seamless, if frequently nutty, blend of fifteen sections in sixty minutes. Sixty is a work of ferocity, wit and charm. It's a symphony of relationships rendered with full-tilt intensity and sensitivity by Jaroslow and her delicious, gustsy company--Gabriel Forestieri, Luke Gutgsell, Elise Knudson, Rachel Lehrer and Paul Singh--plus a large corps of guests, including Vicky Shick.

Do your heart a favor and go. There's just one more show--tonight at 8:30pm.

Tickets (or 866-811-4111)

Risa Jaroslow & Dancers Web site
Jaroslow's journal: notes on the creation of Sixty

Risa Jaroslow: Body and Soul podcast

Program notes at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at www.risajaroslow.org. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Show notes: Risa Jaroslow: Body and Soul podcast

What do we expect of government in these fraught, transitional times? Choreographer Risa Jaroslow wants to know and has turned the power of asking questions into a new dance involving everyday New Yorkers in the live creation of its soundscape. See the following blog entry, and click on the audioplayer or mp3 link to listen to my Body and Soul podcast interview with Jaroslow.

Risa Jaroslow and Dancers present 311 at New York City's Municipal Building (1 Centre Street) on July 7, 8, 10, 11, 14 and 15 at Noon and 1:30pm. These free site-specific and interactive events are commissioned by and presented as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Sitelines '08 series, produced in association with the River to River Festival.

For guest bio, event details, and additional information about Risa Jaroslow and Dancers, click here.

(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa