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Press Release: The Mazurka Project

Dance at Holy Trinity's 10th Anniversary season opens with

The Mazurka Project and other dances...

selections from the historic repertoire of Isadora Duncan and Jose Limon as performed by members of
Dances by Isadora and featuring guest artists from the Limon Dance Co.

...also new works by Catherine Gallant and Christopher Caines
with pianists Alan Moverman and Mary Jo Pagano

October 11-13 at 8pm (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and Oct.14 at 3pm (Sunday)
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY, 316 E. 88th St. (between 1st & 2nd Ave.)

Tickets: $20.00 and $10.00 for students, seniors and children.
Reservations: (212) 289-3725 or cgallant@dancesbyisadora.org

The Mazurka Project, in it's premiere version, includes the historic choreography of Isadora Duncan and Jose Limon all to the music of Frederic Chopin. Duncan's Mazurkas created nearly a century ago will be performed by members of Dances by Isadora, directed by Patricia Adams and Catherine Gallant. Dances by Isadora is known for interpretations which honor Isadora's original choreography while retaining the vitality and vibrant physicality of the movement.

50 years later Jose Limon choreographed his Mazurkas after visiting Poland following W.W.II. These dances with their weighted lyricism and sinuous energy were created as a noble tribute to the Polish people and will be performed by guest artists Roxane D'Orleans Juste, Nina Watt and Raphael Boumaila from the Limon Dance Co.

Also part of the Mazurka Project are two new works by Dances by Isadora co-founder Catherine Gallant. Wave is a trio to an obscure mazurka of Chopin known as Notre Temps. Late roses filled with early snow, which is set to four minor key mazurkas, is a prayer of remembrance for a brother lost to cancer. The movement of the five dancers evokes a perilous crossing requiring both unusual strength and yielding grace.

The music of Chopin, played live by pianists Alan Moverman and Mary Jo Pagano, carries the themes of love, death and memory throughout the dances and unites this unique cross section of American dance.

The second half of the program features, KISS, a recent duet by Gallant for dancers Katherine McGowan and Ben Dolphin to music of Glen Velez. The sensate thrill of falling and sinking into love is explored as each entraps the other, ending in a destructive embrace.

Guest choreographer Christopher Caines offers his new ballet, Daphne Variations, a solo of tragic mystery for dancer Sabra Perry with music composed and performed by Louise Schulman on viola.

The program returns to Duncan for it's conclusion with Isadora's powerful last works to the music of Alexander Scriabin; "Crossing", "Mother", and "Revolutionary" (1923) and the buoyantly joyful Valse Brilliante (1901).

Dances by Isadora directed by Patricia Adams and Catherine Gallant, is dedicated to preserving the repertoire and technique of the legendary "mother of modern dance", Isadora Duncan, and creating programming which includes historic and contemporary dance. Over the past twenty years Adams and Gallant have studied with Duncan's disciples throughout the world including Julia Levien, Hortense Kooluris, Gemze DeLappe and Sylvia Gold. Since 1986 Dances by Isadora has reached out to diverse audiences through the medium of performance and educational workshops informing and inspiring future generations. These works are essential parts of our history as makers of 21st century dance and theater. We believe that the future of contemporary dance is enriched by it's connection to the past.

"...ingenuous lyricism revealing a unique combination of earth, body and air."
Maya Korneva, Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Moscow) January 1993

"Adams and Gallant bring to life the ideals so important to Duncan's art; free, spirited movement and exquisite musical accompaniment."
Janine Parker Kolberg ,The Boston Phoenix, June 1991

Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) was a revolutionary and pioneer. Born by the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco, she liberated dance from the decorative confines of her time and elevated it to a new art form. She introduced a new recognition of the body's weight as it yielded to gravity and exposed the powerful creative expression of the human spirit, emphasizing natural movement and sensuous musicality. Bare limbs and bold energy made her work controversial and ignited storms of protest and waves of adoration. Duncan's strong influence over the emergence of dance as an art form in the twentieth century has been felt throughout the world in the development of ballet as well as modern dance.

Jose Limon (1908- 1972) electrified the world with his dynamic dancing and passionately dramatic choreography. Nurtured by his mentors Doris Humphrey and Charles Wiedman, Limon formed his own company in 1946 and went on to become a major figure in the development of American modern dance. Originally from Mexico, Limon began making dances in 1931 and continued until his death in 1972. His most well known works, The Moor's Pavane, There is a Time and Missa Brevis are now classics within the historic repertoire of modern dance. Limon's legacy is kept alive by the Limon Dance Company and Limon Institute based in NYC and Limon West Dance Project in San Jose, CA.

Alan Moverman (pianist) holds a Masters Degree from Juilliard and a Doctorate from SUNY Stonybrook. As an on stage pianist with the Martha Graham Dance Company, he has toured the U.S., Canada, and France, and has appeared at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. He is currently a staff accompanist for New York City Ballet and recently appeared onstage in Eliot Feld's Organon.

Mary Jo Pagano (pianist) was a scholarship student of Leon Fleisher, and received her Doctorate of Music from the Manhattan School of Music in 1996. Under the auspices of Columbia Management, Ms. Pagano has toured throughout the United States with The Royale Trio.

Catherine Gallant (dancer, choreographer, producer) is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and holds an MFA in Dance from Temple University. Ms. Gallant has appeared with the Jose Limon Co., Ze'eva Cohen and Dancers, Anna Sokolow, Muna Tseng, and Beth Soll. Ms. Gallant is an independent choreographer who has been creating work since 1979 in Boston, Philadelphia and New York. She began her study of the art and technique of Isadora Duncan with Julia Levien in 1982 and has performed with Dances by Isadora, which she founded with Patricia Adams, since 1986.

Christopher Caines (guest choreographer) is also a dancer, director, lighting designer, writer and composer. He recently appeared at the Lincoln Center Summer Festival in the Ping Chong/Sequentia collaboration EDDA, where he was the assistant director. In 1996 he founded Christopher Caines Dancers and Singers, a group that is known for it's devotion to live music.

This program has been funded in part by the Manhattan Community Arts Fund/New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, and The Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation.

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