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2010 DANCE & PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE BEGINS!
Celia Weiss Bambara and Tasha Connolly are the first artists in residence in Makeda Thomas/Roots & Wings Movement! 2010 Dance & Performance Institute in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
 Photo by Nadia Oussenko
On Saturday, 9 January 2010 Celia will be presenting a work in progress showing of "Kenbe, Amour, Colére, Folie: Improvisations for Love" at The Republic of Sydenham. Who are we allowed to love? How do we reconcile our differences? Who decides which bodies can love? Who decides which bodies can speak differently about love? Drawing upon Haitian novelist, Marie Chauvet’s once-banned novel, Amour, Colére, Folie to express the ways in which the anxiety of political and economic unrest are navigated by different female voices, this work strives to express how one can hold on tight, to hopes, dreams and liberty as well as love across cultures. This will the first showing of this new work outside of the United States.
Go here to learn more info about the Dance & Performance Institute.
Go here for Application Guidelines. Next application deadline is 1 April 2010.
LOS COLORES PREMIERES AT HOFSTRA DANCE CELEBRATION
In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Dance Department of Hofstra University and the retirement of Lance Westergard, Makeda Thomas premiered the all new work, Los Colores. The evening's program was shared with fellow Hofstra alumns - Larry Keigwin, Salvatore La Russa and Dina Denis - all who have New York based dance companies.
Los Colores is a 10 minute work for 11 dancers, with text from Chimamanda Adichie's The Danger of A Single Story. Lighting by Burke Wilmore. Also on the program - from 19 to 22 November 2009 - was "FreshWater", danced by Candace Thompson.
Candace Thompson, a Trinidad and Tobago native, holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Adelphi University. She has interned at Jennifer Muller/The Works, and has worked professionally with David Gordon, Andrea Woods, Christal Brown and now Makeda Thomas/Roots & Wings Movement! Candace is a member of INSPIRIT, a dance company and also a Pilates instructor and personal trainer.
See Current Events.
THEORY-OGRAPHY 1. AT DANSPACE
Makeda Thomas joins Thomas DeFrantz, Tessa Chandler, Jim Morrow, Elise Knudson, and Jennie Mary Tai Liu in Theory-ography 1 at Danspace/St. Marks Church on Thursday, 12 November 2009 at 8PM. See Current Events.
Go to Danspace Project website.
PART OF DANSPACE PROJECT'S FOOD FOR THOUGHT SERIES
http://www.danspaceproject.org/performance/event14.html
MAKEDA THOMAS PERFORMS FRESHWATER IN COCO AT DANCE FESTIVAL '09
Contemporary Choreographers Collective (COCO) will present two evenings of dance and performance in Dance Festival '09 at Port of Spain's Queen's Hall on Thursday, 15 October and Friday, 16 October 2009 at 8pm. Dance Festival '09 will feature the work of local
contemporary choreographers including: Makeda Thomas, Dave Williams,
Abeo Jackson, Nicole Wesley, Sonja Dumas, Anika Marcelle, Northwest
Laventille, and Akuzuru.
Makeda Thomas will present 'FreshWater', which on Thursday, 15 October will feature LIVE sound by FreshWater sound designer, Keshav Singh and live text by Attillah Springer. Call 868-383-4658 to reserve tickets.
Read more about 'FreshWater' on Andre Bagoo's blog:
http://pleasurett.blogspot.com/2009/10/makeda-thomas-freshwater-queens-hall.html
Read a review of 'FreshWater' by Andre Bagoo:
Makeda Thomas, Dave Williams last night at COCO, Queen's Hall
FRESHWATER AT MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
MIT Dance Theater Ensemble/SLIPPAGE presents Makeda Thomas in 'Freshwater'. 23 September 2009 at 1PM. See Arts@MIT website
The
performance will last approximately 45 minutes. A talk with the artist
will follow the performance. Presented by MIT Dance Theater Ensemble
and SLIPPAGE, Thomas F. DeFrantz, Artistic Director.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE:
This performance of 'FreshWater' is embedded within "Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies".
ABOUT THE ARTS AT MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY:
The
mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science,
technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the
nation and the world in the 21st century. The arts at MIT are rooted in
experimentation, risk-taking and problem solving, connecting creativity
across disciplines, and encouraging a lifetime of exploration and
discovery.
MIT students benefit from work with scholars,
practitioners, and mentors possessing excellent credentials and passion
for art. Distinguished arts faculty include Pulitzer Prize-winning
author Junot Díaz and composer John Harbison (one of eight faculty
composers), video and performance artist Joan Jonas, and conceptual
artist Krzysztof Wodiczko. Renowned artists from around the world come
to campus for residencies, providing insights from different cultures
and alternative views on familiar problems. (from MIT website)
ABOUT MIT DANCE THEATER ENSEMBLE/SLIPPAGE: Culture|Performance|Technology
SLIPPAGE:
Performance|Culture|Technology is a multi-disciplinary arts collective
in residence at MIT. SLIPPAGE stages alternative histories of race,
sexuality, gender, performance, and technology.
PAPER PRESENTATION
"Legacy & Laterals:
A Rhizomatic Study of the Black Arts Movement"at American Dance Festival, 3 July 2009. 6-7pm
“Legacy & Laterals” offers a rhizomatic analysis of The Black Arts Movement in the creative work of Eleo Pomare and a collaboration by Germaine Acogny's Compagnie Jant-Bi-and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's Urban Bush Women. It looks to Eleo Pomare's “Hushed Voices” in study of dance theater works created during the Black Arts Movement of the 1960's and 70's; and to Germaine Acogny and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's 2008 dance theater work, “Les Écailles de la Mémoire” in meditation on how the tenets of the Black Arts Movement are maintained in today's reality. White Lecture Hall at Duke University, East Campus.
UPCOMING PROJECTS- 2010 COLLABORATIONS
Makeda Thomas to collaborate on the creation and performance of a new work with Brazil/Berlin's Ricardo de Paula. More on Ricardo de Paula. More on Grupo Oito.
Working in Buenos Aires, Argentina with ideas for an upcoming duet with Chimene Costa of Projecto Cuvilas.
NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO OF FIFTH ANNIVERSARY INTERNATIONAL TOUR
Makeda Thomas/Roots & Wings Movement! 5th Anniversary International Tour to Mexico, Zimbabwe and Seattle. This video features our time in Mexico and Zimbabwe with music by Laventille Riddim Section of Trinidad & Tobago.
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--> DANCING DIASPORA IN SIX-WEEK SCHOOL
Makeda
Thomas teaching "Dancing Diaspora" in the Six-Week School of American
Dance Festival. Classes held at Durham School of the Arts in Durham, North Carolina. See American Dance Festival
FreshWater performed at The Attic at The Republic in Port of Spain. With live reading of "The Whirlwind" by Attillah Springer. Friday, 29 May 2009 at Midnight. Video of FreshWater
--> FreshWater at Fashion Week T&T with designer, Robert Young/THE CLOTH. 29 May 2009, Port of Spain Hyatt Regency at 7pm. Learn more about 'FreshWater'.
--> WEBSITE EXCLUSIVE!
Makeda Thomas interview by BBC London food expert and journalist, Franka Philip.
Read Franka Phillips' Can Cook Must Cook here.
--> Makeda Thomas interviewed on Allyson Hennessy's weekly television talk show on
--> Makeda Thomas 2008-2009 Guest Artist at Hollins University. More about Hollins Dance
--> Read 'Costa Del Alma' on Small Axe
--> See Current Events
--> See 2003-2008 Calendar
--> Read about Makeda Thomas
--> View photos
-->Request press photos
--> stills from 'Costa Del Alma' - collaboration with Panu Kari
--> stills from 'Ramgoolie Trace' - collaboration with Elspeth Duncan
--> Book a performance by Makeda Thomas/Roots & Wings Movement!
--> Watch video of 'A Sense of Place'
--> Arrange a screening of FILM by Makeda Thomas
--> Watch video of 'Subtle Changes/The Talented'
--> Art Lives! - a grassRoots & Wings Movement!
--> Bring Makeda Thomas/Roots & Wings Movement! to your school!
--> Arrange a residency in your community
--> Photos by Mariamma Kambon (Trinidad)
--> Photos by Stephen Schreiber (U.S.)
--> Photos by Matthew Karas (New York)
--> Photos by Stefan Falke (Germany/NY)
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