the glimpse project: nancy stark smith and the underscore
THE GLIMPSE PROJECT: NANCY STARK SMITH AND THE UNDERSCORE
Part of Next Fest NW 2016: pastFORWARD
NOV 30 – DEC 18
REGISTRATION + TICKETS
PHOTO RAISA KYLLIKKI KARJALAINEN
Katherine Cook and Velocity Dance Center partner to celebrate American iconoclast Nancy Stark Smith with The Glimpse Project–three weeks of workshops, conversations, practice, and an Underscore symposium, culminating in a special performance installation as part of Next Fest NW 2016: pastFORWARD.
DO IT (Community Underscores on DEC 3 + DEC 18)
SEE IT (performance installations on DEC 16 + 17)
DECONSTRUCT IT (Underscore Symposium on DEC 4), and
DIG IN (Express Train to States of Grace workshop with Nancy Stark Smith, NOV 30-DEC 2).
Learn more about each of the events below.
schedule of events
WORKSHOP SERIES: Express Train to States of Grace
A CI + Underscore Workshop with Nancy Stark Smith
WORKSHOP // NOV 30 + DEC 1 + DEC 2 + DEC 3 / 10-6PM
Velocity: V2 1525 11th Ave
REGISTER $350 Workshop Only / $400 Workshop + Symposium
(includes admission to the Underscore Dec 3)
“States of grace” is what can happen when all the balls are in the air at once: solo dancing, contact improvisation, non-CI improvisation, composition, contemplation, listening, performance/art, mystery, and humanity. This three day workshop aims to weave these strands into satisfying, focused, curious, embodied, and engaged solo, duo, and group improvisations. The Underscore on Saturday, December 3 will be the culminating vehicle for our discoveries.
COMMUNITY UNDERSCORE
SAT DEC 3
Talk-Through with Nancy Stark Smith / 10-11:30AM + Underscore / 1:30-5:30PM
Velocity: V2 1525 11th Ave
$15 / $12 MVP
The Underscore is a dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith. Based in Contact Improvisation, it comprises a spectrum of states, from quiet, internal activity to high-energy, interactive dancing. Undirected; for research and play. Open to all familiar with CI. On DEC 3, dance with the Workshop and Symposium participants.
UNDERSCORE SYMPOSIUM with Nancy Stark Smith
SUN DEC 4 / 10-6PM
Velocity: V2 1525 11th Ave
REGISTER $70 Symposium Only / $400 Workshop + Symposium
(includes admission to the Underscore Dec 3)
The Underscore examined: a dance-and-think exchange of physical, philosophical, and practical information through practice, discussion, and labs. Includes the Underscore talk-through and practice on Saturday, December 3.
Glimpse 3 PERFORMANCE INSTALLATIONSDEC 16 + 17 / 5-7PM
Velocity Founders Theater 1621 12th Ave
TICKETS $15 / $12 MVP
You are invited to step into a living world—somewhere between a 3D moving art installation, a visit to the zoo, and your living room. Your observation is an essential part of the composition.
After 8 days in retreat on the Olympic Peninsula and in residence at Velocity, a group of dancers and musician Mike Vargas will share the results of their research in a series of performance installations. In each 2-hour installation, they will create a live improvised movement composition based on their investigation of the multi-phase dance improvisation structure called the Underscore.
COMMUNITY UNDERSCORE
with live music by MIKE VARGAS
SUN DEC 18
Talk-Through / 10-11:30AM + Underscore / 1:30-5:30PM
Velocity: V2 1525 11th Ave
$15 / $12 MVP
The Underscore is a dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith. Based in Contact Improvisation, it comprises a spectrum of states, from quiet, internal activity to high-energy, interactive dancing. Undirected; for research and play. Open to all familiar with CI. On DEC 18 with live music from Mike Vargas.
about the artists
NANCY STARK SMITH first trained as an athlete and gymnast, leading her to study and perform modern and postmodern dance, greatly influenced by the Judson Dance Theater breakthroughs of the 1960s. She danced in the first performances of Contact Improvisation in 1972 with Steve Paxton and others and has since been central to its development as dancer, teacher, performer, writer/publisher, and organizer. She has traveled extensively throughout the world teaching and performing Contact and other improvised dance work with Paxton and many other favorite dance partners and performance makers, including Ray Chung, Julyen Hamilton, Peter Bingham, Andrew Harwood, Karen Nelson, and musician Mike Vargas. She co-founded Contact Quarterly, an international dance journal in 1975 which she continues to co-edit and produce along with other dance literature. Her work is featured in several books and films, and she has been developing the Underscore, a long-form dance improvisation structure, since 1990. Her first book, Caught Falling: The Confluence of Contact Improvisation, Nancy Stark Smith, and Other Moving Ideas, with David Koteen, came out in 2008. She lives in western Massachusetts. www.nancystarksmith.com
MIKE VARGAS has been performing and teaching internationally for the last 30 years. Started working with dancers in 1978. Collaborated with Bebe Miller and toured with Liz Lerman in the 1980s. Composed probably 150 commissioned dance scores to date. Worked at Naropa, re-focused on piano music, and met Nancy Stark Smith in the ’90s. Published two articles about composition and improvisation and nine albums of original music so far. Last 16 years touring with Nancy, currently teaching dancers at Smith College. www.mikevargas.net
press
A Glimpse into the Underscore
Kaitlin McCarthy, Seattle Dances, December 28, 2016
