It Calls You
It Calls You
a traveling dance directed by Abigail Levine
May 29 - June 2, 2007
chashama 266 Performance Window
266 West 37th Street
New York, NY
Beginning May 31st, It Calls You flies us into the minds of short-term travelers. We take off fantasy-filled, loaded down with recording devices and slathered with SPF. We dare ourselves to find a year’s worth of satisfaction in a week’s vacation. It Calls You mines movement, music, romance novels, travel guides, and a changing physical environment to play with the layers of watching, imagining, manipulation and interpretation involved in taking a trip. The performers weave the audience into the work, turning their watching into the performance itself, offering them opportunities to respond, be photographed, and sail off to a momentary vacation on the street. With this work, choreographer Abigail Levine reaffirms her commitment to making dance more accessible, affordable and relevant to diverse audiences throughout our city. She has created works for airports, swimming pools and subway stations to bring dance into more immediate dialogue with the world that surrounds it.
a traveling dance directed by Abigail Levine
May 29 - June 2, 2007
chashama 266 Performance Window
266 West 37th Street
New York, NY
Beginning May 31st, It Calls You flies us into the minds of short-term travelers. We take off fantasy-filled, loaded down with recording devices and slathered with SPF. We dare ourselves to find a year’s worth of satisfaction in a week’s vacation. It Calls You mines movement, music, romance novels, travel guides, and a changing physical environment to play with the layers of watching, imagining, manipulation and interpretation involved in taking a trip. The performers weave the audience into the work, turning their watching into the performance itself, offering them opportunities to respond, be photographed, and sail off to a momentary vacation on the street. With this work, choreographer Abigail Levine reaffirms her commitment to making dance more accessible, affordable and relevant to diverse audiences throughout our city. She has created works for airports, swimming pools and subway stations to bring dance into more immediate dialogue with the world that surrounds it.
Additional support for this work provided by the Seaport District Cultural Association, The Culture Project, The Tank, DTW, the Field and La Guardia H.S. of the Arts.
Rehearsals in public: 4-6pm, May 31 – June 2
Performances: 8pm, May 31 – June 2
Visual art by Rachel Ostrow on display May 29 and 30, 12-6PM.
FREE and open to the public.
Performers: Mandy Caughey, Abigail Levine, Violette Olympia, Bret Mantyk, Ryan Myers, Molly Phelps, Despina Sophia Stamos, Elizabeth Wilkinson, and Wen-shaun Yang.
Painter Rachel Ostrow will surround the performers with original sets, dominated by architecturally painted, clear plastic shower curtains.
Abigail Levine has created work for subway stations in New York and Caracas, Venezuela, swimming pools, offices gardens, and La Guardia and Bradley airports, as well as for Lorin Maazel’s Chateauville Foundation, the Escenario Urbano Festival in Caracas, Venezuela, the DanceNow/NYC Festival, the Brooklyn Museum, Dixon Place, La Guardia High School of Performing Arts and the Manhattan Opera Theater. From 2001-2003, Levine lived in Havana, Cuba, where she danced, taught, and created work for Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, the National School of the Arts in Havana, Danza Voluminosa , the Dias de la Danza Festival, and the International Festival of Dance in Urban Landscapes. Since graduating from Wesleyan University, Levine has danced with Jennifer Monson, koosil-ja hwang, Alan Good, Pat Catterson, Wendy Osserman, the Denishawn Repertory Dancers and is currently working with Clarinda MacLow and Cuban choreographer Marianela Boan.
Abigail's choice of 266 was an interesting coincidence in that she later learned that her grandfather, Harry Levine, started his dressmaking business, "Dobby Girl Coats", in the building complex of which 266 is part.
Abigail's choice of 266 was an interesting coincidence in that she later learned that her grandfather, Harry Levine, started his dressmaking business, "Dobby Girl Coats", in the building complex of which 266 is part.
