2009
February 2009
Thursday 26 February 2009
Thu 26 Feb to Sun 1 Mar. 449 West 125th Street Apt. 5D, New York, 10027. Neta Pulvermacher, 212-866-4626. The Neta Dance Company - [email][events]
Venue: Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, New York, New York. Fold is a new multidisciplinary work by choreographer Neta Pulvermacher exploring folding operations that are inspired by architecture, science and philosophy. It is an exploration into the possible meanings of folding and un-folding and the kinds of spatial and dramatic transformations that folding operations can cause and inspire when applied to movement, space, time, narrative and relationships. Fold is a collaboration of Pulvermacher with Israeli composer, Alon Nechushtan.
Air is a work for 12 dancers set to George Fredric Handel’s Dixit Dominus. This meticulously constructed and highly musical work, breathes lightness and air. Gia Kourlas of The New York Times called Air “a little slice of heaven” and lauded “Ms Pulvermacher’s frisky musicality and aptitude for stillness” (June 2007). The final incarnation of Air will feature sextets, octets and large group sections in addition to the five sections that I have already choreographed. The completed Air will be set to eight sections of Dixit Dominus.
Born of an atheist yearning for a vision of heaven unshackled by religious and historic conventions, Air derives its grace from the singular beauty of Handel’s music, which, although religious in nature, cannot help but lift the hearts of all listeners. An object of beauty is anything that resonates with personal meaning. In its most profound sense, beauty engenders an experience of positive reflection about the meaning of one's own existence. I want the audience to inhale the beauty of Air through their lungs, their eyes, their skin and their minds. Like air itself, Air’s beauty is not a fixed ideal that is held up beyond reach but one that is fully human, fluid and constantly shifting in texture, form and tone. Each section of Air crafts a unique relationship with space. A trio, for example, revolves around three architectural pillars; a quartet sends dancers running in parallel formations, carving horizontal lines, which ultimately evolve into reeling orbits. In the large group sections I plan to juxtapose tribal and primitive movement against the ethereal quality of Handel’s score.