TOM WEINBERGER
Familiar Foreign Body
In partnership with Velocity Dance Center and Studio Kate Wallich.
MAY 31-JUN 3 / 8 PM
Velocity 1621 12th Ave
$20 ($25 at the door) / $17 MVP Member / $15 under 25 (w/ ID) / $50 Patron
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Former Batsheva dancer and internationally acclaimed teacher and choreographer Tom Weinberger premieres his work for the first time in Seattle at Velocity Dance Center. The Isreali native now based in Seattle is joined by dance artists Lavinia Vago and David Harvey, as well as LA based dancer Sarah Butler and SF based dancer Courtney Mazeika in this new evening-length dance work. Known for his complex musicality and striking physicality, Tom works with the most subtle nuances celebrating the body as an instrument played to its fullest expressive potential — creating a coherent world where dynamics, textures and structures are ever changing.
Tom Weinberger graduated from the Amal School of Arts and Sciences and upon graduation joined the Batsheva Ensemble in 2005. He continued to the Batsheva Dance Company from 2008 to 2011, where he worked extensively with Ohad Naharin and Sharon Eyal. Upon leaving the Batsheva Dance Company, Tom was a founding member of Sharon Eyal and Guy Behar’s Company L-E-V. He danced with the Gothenburg Ballet (Sweden) where he performed works by Peeping Tom, Marie Chouinard, and Alex Eckman. He was a guest artist with Michael Keegan Dolan’s-Fabulous Beast Dance Theater (UK, 2013), the Batsheva Dance Company (2014) and with the Forsyth Company (2015). He has been a Gaga teacher for the past 11 years, and has taught and created his own work in programs such as the Netherlands Dance Theater Summer Program (2010 – 2017), the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Springboard Dans Montreal, the Taipei National University of the Arts and SUNY Purchase University through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation residency program in collaboration with the Israel Institute.
Tom is an independent choreographer and began making his own work through “Batsheva Dancers Create” during his time with the Company. In 2014, he won the International Solo Tanz Theater Festival (Germany) with his solo work, which toured in Brazil and Germany. Since then Tom was an emerging choreographer at Springboard Dans Montreal (CA) and choreographed works for Arts Umbrella (CA) Ate9 dance company (LA), Sunny Purchase college (New York), Johannes Weiland company (Germany) and more.
Lavinia Vago is a dance artist from Italy, based in Seattle, working between NYC, Montréal, and Berlin. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornish College of the Arts, under the mentorship of Pat Hon, Wade Madsen and Tonya Lockyer. She has created, performed and toured internationally with Sidra Bell Dance New York, Vim Vigor Dance Theater, Loni Landon Projects, and more extensively with Rubberbandance Group. She has been co-directing, creating, and performing with Kate Wallich/The YC since 2010. She recently collaborated and performed with Saint Genet at Wiener Festwochen (Vienna) and Holland Festival (Amsterdam). Currently, she is exploring her solo practice with collaborator and sound designer Harald Stojan working towards a Split Bill with LA Szalt to be presented by Velocity Dance Center in February 2019. The new work is supported in part through creative residencies in Berlin and at Velocity; and Vago has performed excerpts at SAM Remix and 12 min max at Base. This is her first project collaborating and performing with Tom Weinberger.
David Harvey is an artist based in Seattle. He danced for Alonzo King Lines Ballet in San Francisco for seven years before becoming an independent choreographer, dance educator and freelance performer. Harvey is currently a resident choreographer for the Alonzo King Lines Ballet School, having created seven new works in the last four years for their Training Program, Summer Program, and BFA Program through Dominican University. In 2013 he was commissioned for a new work by Dawson Dance SF that premiered at ODC Performing Arts Theater, and in 2014 he and co-director Meredith Webster presented an evening-length installation dance piece at the Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco, after a series of creative residencies at Dancer’s Workshop in Jackson, Wyoming. His first solo work, Brake Tender, was conceived and created at the Banff Centre in dialogue with Crystal Pite, and was presented at On The Boards Northwest New Works, and Velocity Dance Center in 2016. Harvey recently premiered a new solo work at the Silicon Valley Dance Festival.
Courtney Mazeika received her BFA in Dance from the University of Texas at Austin. Upon graduation, she moved to the Bay Area to train with Summer Lee Rhatigan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and join Alex Ketley’s company, The Foundry. As a freelance artist, Courtney has had the opportunity to perform in various projects including works by Tom Weinberger, Bobbi Jene Smith, Crossings SF, burnsWORK, Project20, and UNA Projects. Courtney has taught and created her own work at the SF Conservatory of Dance, The University of Texas at Austin, SALT Dance Company, and solo commissions for SUNY Purchase, Cornish College of the Arts, LINES/Dominican, and Ailey/Fordham and recently CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work. She is currently a faculty member of the SF Conservatory of Dance, a collaborator with burnsWORK, and a member of the Conservatory’s alumni company, Crossings SF. She currently works closely with Tom Weinberger on new work, commissions, and workshops throughout Europe and North America.
Sarah Butler is an artist based in Los Angeles. She received early dance training at the Marin Ballet School and graduated with a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts. Since June 2012, Sarah has been a founding member of Danielle Agami’s Ate9 Dance Company in Los Angeles. With Ate9, Sarah has performed at prestigious venues nationally and internationally, including Jacob’s Pillow, White Bird Dance, American Dance Festival, the American Platform for Danceat The Joyce, Context Vishneva Festin Moscow, Russia, Chutzpah!in Vancouver, Canada, among others. She has had the honor of working with and performing a solo by Alex Ketley of The Foundry, and has also taken part in the creation of new works for Ate9 with artists including Guy Shomroni and Yaniv Abraham, Shahar Binyamini, and Tom Weinberger. Recently, Sarah returned to Seattle as a representative of Ate9 to stage Agami’s Vickie on students of Cornish College of the Arts and teach within the dance department. She has enjoyed being back in Seattle again for this process and second meeting with Tom Weinberger.
