GUEST ARTIST SERIES: SARA SHELTON MANN (SF)
GUEST ARTIST SERIES:
SARA SHELTON MANN (SF)
THE EYE OF LEO PERFORMANCE
MAY 25 / 7PM WITH POST-SHOWING CONVERSATION
Velocity Founders Theater 1621 12th Ave
TICKETS $12 / $9 MVP
“An iconoclast who has performed to great acclaim and inspired others for decades . . . in addition to her formidable reach as an artist, Shelton Mann’s role as a teacher has been immense.”
— San Francisco Bay Guardian
Legendary San Francisco choreographer, improvisor and teaching artist Sara Shelton Mann crafts solos for three of Seattle’s most provocative dance artists — Alia Swersky, Alice Gosti + Beth Graczyk.
Photo Joseph Lambert
workshops + imp series
Photo Mark McBeth
INVESTIGATIVE MOVEMENT PRACTICES (IMP):
SARA SHELTON MANN PROJECT
WEDNESDAYS MAY 14 – JUNE 18 / 6-8PM
$15 DROP-IN / $12 MVP / $60 ENTIRE 6-WEEK SERIES
Sara Shelton Mann’s Velocity IMP Series will guide attendees into her uniquely developed material by tuning our kinesthetic perception and unveiling “the Morse code of our collective body”. From many years of research Sara has created a training that integrates the physical and energetic body. Opening systems of the body from a trance/relaxed space we find the body that is both grounded and expanded into a multi-dimensional reality. We dance, solo, in partnership and with creative puzzles from this platform. The training includes chi cultivation and lots of breathing as a way to both detox and invigorate the whole being. We address a segment of the body each day and through function and research. This may include writing and image creation. We work the imagination muscles. We play and invite new possibilities each day. We dance.
Sara Shelton Mann will lead the first two classes in this series. Beth Graczyk, Alice Gosti and Alia Swersky will continue the trajectory of the work Sara has introduced by synthesizing her workshop material and the work they will be delving deeply into while in residency at Velocity with each of their own personal processes with Sara’s teachings and their own long standing research in dance, improvisation, healing and spirituality.
WORKSHOP SERIES: MOVEMENT ALCHEMY
SARA SHELTON MANN
MAY 16 + 17 / 2-5PM
Velocity Founders Studio 1621 12th Ave
REGISTER $30 ONE DAY / $55 BOTH DAYS
This workshop starts with Chi Cultivation — A series of movement/breath exercises that articulate the spine, work the muscles, touch all the meridians and will raise your physical energy and your consciousness building strength and vitality. Then moves into improvisational research, to partnering, integration and sharing.
The Body Process — From the ground up, bringing you deeply inside, we will explore segments of the physical structure and converse with the energetic structure. There will be a lot of breathing, hands on, time for questions and sharing. We will also do grounding work, protection and releasing modalities.
The Energetic Body — In relationship. Playing in the field of space, time, weight and relationship. The whole is more than the parts. Establishing personal and impersonal game plans we enter the terrain of choice, focus, ease and clarity. Owning your choices.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
SARA SHELTON MANN (SF) is an already legendary dance artist whose choreography and teaching has played a significant role in shaping contemporary dance performance aesthetics and choreographic process. Her protégés (Curtis, Epiphano, Hennessy, Hermesdorf, de Hoyos, Erdman, among many others…) tour internationally. Herself a protégé of Alwin Nikolais and Murray Lewis in NYC in the 60s, Sara was also deeply influenced by Contact Improvisation. From 1979-96 Sara directed Contraband, a ground breaking troupe of artists working at the leading edges of contemporary dance, performance, ritual, and music. She has received 5 Isadora Duncan Awards and was a Guggenheim Fellow in Choreography in 2000. Sara collaborated and toured internationally with Guillermo Gomez-Pena 96-99 and has created commissioned work across the US, in Europe and Russia as well as at UC Davis and other universities. Sara’s work has been supported by Djerassi Artist in Residence Programs, ODC commissions, NEA, NEFA, SFAC, SFF, Zellerbach Family and Gerbode Foundations.
BETH GRACZYK is a dance artist who works as a performer, choreographer, teacher, and biochemist. Since 2001, Graczyk has performed throughout the states including New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle and internationally in Japan, Ecuador and France. In 2012-2013 Graczyk choreographed a version of John Cage’s STEPS in collaboration with musician Jarrad Powell and video artist Robert Campbell. Graczyk co-directs the performance company Salt Horse with Corrie Befort and Baldoz. They have created three evening-length works since 2008, and toured This Was A Cliff through the SCUBA national touring network. Through her collaborative work she has received funding from Artist Trust, 4 Culture, Washington State Arts Commission, and The National Endowment for the Arts. Graczyk is also a Research Scientist with six science publications in the field of mitosis, including a first author paper in Analytical Biochemistry. cacophonyfor8players.com / salthorseperformance.com
ALICE GOSTI is a space transformer. Born and raised in Perugia, Italy. Daughter of the dynamic art duo Sandford&Gosti, she trained in her hometown at Ass. Culturale Dance Gallery with Rita Petrone and Valentina Romito. Graduated in 2008 with a B.A. in Dance from the University of Washington. In college she developed an interest in experimental film and installation. She is an emerging dancer/choreographer/performer/filmmaker. Alice has performed in works by Paige Barnes, Keith Hennessy, Carolyn Carlson, PB_TMOG, Bruno Collinet, Jane Comfort, Laara Garcia, Mark Haim, Tonya Lockyer, Monica Mata Gilliam, Tiffany Mills, Amy O’Neal, Fritha Pingelly, Cherdonna and Lou Show, Anna Conner, Jennifer Salk and Ellie Sandstrom. She has received – the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Dance 2012 and Dance Web Scholarship 2012 for ImPuls Tanz in Vienna. Alice’s videos have been shown in group shows in Seattle, Perugia, Cascia, Spoleto (Italy) and Tokyo (Japan). And her choreography has been shown in Italy, Germany and in the United States. Since 2009, she has been curating a quarterly series of restaurant cabaret/performances at the Pink Door (Seattle). Alice is also the mind behind Yellow Fish // Epic Durational Performance Festival, the first durational performance festival.
ALIA SWERSKY is a movement artist, performer and teacher, engaged deeply in the vital act of dance improvisation. She graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 1998 is an adjunct faculty member. She was a long time Co-artistic director of Dance Art Group (DAG), and has taught yoga continuously for over 12 years. She has danced and toured nationally and internationally as a member of the LeGendre Performance Group. Swersky has collaborated and performed in the works of many Seattle artists including The Maureen Whiting Company, Khambatta Dance Company, Jurg Koch, KT Niehoff of Lingo Dance, and Salt Horse. Her improvisational and choreographic works have been presented in many venues around Seattle since 1998. Alia is also a Nutritional Therapist and her work as a movement artist is deeply imbedded in her interest to help people heal and to guide them towards embodied healing states.
INSIGHTS
READ Goldies 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award: Sara Shelton Mann — San Francisco Bay Guardian, Robert Avila and Rita Felciano, February 18, 2014
LISTEN Beth Graczyk + Alice Gosti Interview Sara Shelton Mann STANCE: Journal of Choreographic Culture
