TO ISLANDS

Part of Dance and Other Archives
by Michael Bodel

Anita’s Way
The pedestrian through block connecting 42nd and 43rd St.
(between Broadway and 6th Ave.)
New York, NY

Tuesday, May 8, and Thursday, May 10, 2012
5:30pm - 7:30pm

The performances are FREE and open to the public.

To Islands is a performance installation weaving original choreography, oral histories, scents, and a few hundred feet of brilliant batik. The piece employs the dramatic length of a pedestrian through block to connect two seemingly disparate immigrant passages: the Crown Height’s West Indian American Day Parade in the 90’s which travels the length of Eastern Parkway, and a young Polish woman’s arrival at Ellis Island in the 50’s.

To Islands is the newest iteration of an ongoing project called Dance and Other Archives, in which Michael Bodel and his collaborators create new movement for memories they wish they had and people they are not. The project challenges us to research through subjective embodiment; to ride the skin between ourselves and New York communities we live beside but will never be a part of.

Performers and collaborators include: Kristin Swiat, Liz Beres, and Michael Bodel.
 
About the Artist:
Michael Bodel is a choreographer, director & dance theorist. Michael has directed three dance films and curates the ongoing FRAMEWORKS dance film series at Dance New Amsterdam (www.frameworksdance.org).