2014 Idea Swap Project Ideas

2014 Idea Swap

Idea Swap is NEFA's annual event that provides opportunities for New England-based nonprofit presenting organizations to network and share project ideas.

 

Post your project idea below! Follow the instructions below. These projects will have the potential to tour New England through NEFA's Expeditions grant program.

Learn more about the 13th annual Idea Swap and register today.

How to submit your Idea Swap project:

  • Project ideas must be submitted by Monday, October 20, 2014. If you are selected to present, you will be notified by October 30.
  • Project ideas must include a link to a video or audio work sample of the artist. The work sample does not have to be of the proposed project. It will be reviewed by NEFA when considering project ideas for presentation. Work samples will NOT be posted on the Idea Swap Project Idea page. If chosen to present, you will be given the chance to review your work sample for the Idea Swap. 
  • Project ideas with at least one interested presenter and creative presentations, which may include the featured artist, are given priority.

submit project idea

by 10.20.14

Circus

RUCKUS 2.0 (working title)
ARTIST:
Nimble Arts

Contemporary circus built on a freestanding aerial rig that transforms from pieces scattered around the stage into an elegant sculpture. No theater rigging. Our work is poetic, showcases human talent and explodes with vaudeville comedy. The eight member ensemble from Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize, Big Apple Circus, and Circa is internationally award winning. We now tour Ruckus, but for 2015 will have a new show.  The freestanding rig modifies for tiny to large stages. NEST eligible. Workshops, too.

SUBMITTED BY: Serenity Smith Forchion | Nimble Arts | Brattleboro, VT

Dance

2125 STANLEY STREET PARTS 1 & 2
ARTIST: Dahlia Nayar

2125 Stanley Street is an adaptable performance installation exploring intimate notions of home. Choreographer Dahlia Nayar collaborates with dancer/co-creator Margaret Paek and composer/cellist Loren Kiyoshi Dempster, excavating  the mundane in search of a poetic consciousness. Household objects transform into musical instruments, basic tasks are infused with virtuosity, recordings of family singing multilingual fragmented lullabies invite the audience into a home that is is both familiar and yet cannot exactly be located. Organizing performances in New England for spring 2015, and currently working on a sequel.

SUBMITTED BY: Dahlia Nayar | Dahlia Nayar Choreography | Northampton, MA


DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM
ARTIST: Dance Theatre of Harlem

Fresh from back to back appearances at Jacob's Pillow and a highly touted national tour, Ovations seeks partners to create a New England tour of Dance Theater of Harlem. The company is interested in working with presenters to craft programs that will resonate with New England audiences. Fall 2015.

SUBMITTED BY: Aimée Petrin| Portland Ovations | Portland, ME


CANVAS 5x5 and BODY ABANDONED
ARTIST: Mocean Dance

In a timeless world of grace and wonder, Canvas 5x5 is a masterful intertwining of the familiar with the excitingly new. Created by renowned choreographer, Tedd Robinson, Canvas 5x5 combines a traditional maritime soundscape (featuring the music of Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas) with striking contemporary imagery. The juxtaposition of the calming Celtic rhythm and the contagious kinetic movements is interplayed with Robinson’s acclaimed signature use of elegance and beauty.

SUBMITTED BY: Matt Cahoon | Pinkerton Academy | Derry, NH


HEART OF THE MATTER
ARTIST: Prometheus Dance

Heart of the Matter is an evening length work performed by Prometheus Dance, choreographed by Diane Arvanites and Tommy Neblett.  Using eclectic electronic music and projected video, the work unravels layers of personal history to re-write individual stories.  Aiming to return to the source of inherent inclination, Heart of the Matter is a tour-de-force performance which examines personal interactions, self-imposed conflict, and interference, revealing the interconnectedness of us all.

SUBMITTED BY: Diane Arvanites | Prometheus Dance | Cambridge, MA


A HISTORY OF LEVITATION
ARTIST: Candice Salyers

With A History of Levitation, choreographer and performer Candice Salyers is creating and commissioning a total of 100 solos that explore different physical and conceptual perspectives on female sainthood. Through both site and stage work, Salyers and her collaborators investigate what it means to purify the soul and elevate the consciousness through the body’s actions. Redfern Arts Center is scheduled to present a performance of this work in Fall 2015.

SUBMITTED BY: Candice Salyers | Candice Salyers Solo Performance | Northampton, MA


I, YOU WE...ALL BLACK! and NA PISTA
ARTIST: Companhia Urbana de Dança

Companhia Urbana de Dança is a high-energy hip-hop dance company with dramatic and inventive contemporary choreography. This company of virtuosic street dancers from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro blends hip-hop, urban, contemporary, and Brazilian social dance in performances that are equally athletic and poetic-and always delivered with heartfelt spirit. They're terrific at teaching workshops and can reach out to youth in an authentic, warm way. A New England tour is in the works for spring, 2016.

SUBMITTED BY: Margaret Lawrence | Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH


THE ODYSSEY
ARTIST: Sonia Plumb Dance Company

The Odyssey is a contemporary modern dance piece based on Homer’s epic novel The Odyssey integrating choreography by Sonia Plumb, video by Helder Mira and original music by Cory Gabel. The dance focuses on Odysseus’ return home after the Trojan War and his encounters with the Sirens, Lotus Eaters, Hades, the Underworld, Calypso and Poseidon. The performance uses six dancers and video to create a world where loyalty and love are tested. Educational workshops for grades K-12 also included.

SUBMITTED BY: Sonia Plumb | Sonia Plumb Dance Company | West Hartford, CT


THE OPULENCE OF INTEGRITY
ARTIST: Christal Brown/INSPIRIT

The Opulence of Integrity, a multimedia ensemble work inspired by the public life and inner searching of boxing's outspoken superstar, Muhammad Ali.  Inspired by Ali’s career as a boxer and life as a social activist, public martyr, and human being, choreographer Christal Brown deploys her eclectic movement vernacular to illustrate the turmoil of a life infused by divinity yet misinterpreted by humanity. “I came. I saw. I loved.” -Marlies Yearby, Tony-nominated choreographer of Rent on Broadway.

SUBMITTED BY: Christal Brown | INSPIRIT, a dance company, Inc | Middlebury, VT


PERCOLATE
ARTIST: Ali Kenner Brodsky & Co.

Percolate will feature dot, a quirky piece involving four women existing in a confined space, magnification observation, an arresting dance by a quintet with a bench, between and edit, two emotionally charged solos for Kenner Brodsky, and Line (what?), a poignant trio with music by MorganEve Swain, The Huntress (formerly of Brown Bird). Providence band Brown Bird composed original scores for these four works before the death of the duo’s David Lamb in April 2014.

SUBMITTED BY: Ali Kenner Brodsky | Ali Kenner & Brodsky & Co. | Dartmouth, MA


PLAY AND PLAY: AN EVENING OF MOVEMENT AND MUSIC
ARTIST: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

With several stellar programs from which to choose, join Ovations in bringing Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to New England in winter/spring 2016. Ovations is focusing on the company's Play and Play program, which involves community dancers and/or musicians. Great residency possibilities.

SUBMITTED BY: Aimée Petrin| Portland Ovations | Portland, ME


TRUCK
ARTIST: Bridgman|Packer Dance

Truck, a new work by Bridgman|Packer Dance, is performed inside a 17-foot U-Haul box truck, bringing performance to non-traditional and unexpected locations. With the audience looking into the back of the truck, film projections and live performance alter the space into a micro-world of visions. Bridgman|Packer's signature integration of live performance & video technology puts an ordinary box truck into new context; a re-imagined space emerges from something utilitarian.

SUBMITTED BY: David White & Alison Manning | The Yard | Chilmark, MA

Music

THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE
ARTIST: Brian McCarthy

A nine-piece chamber jazz ensemble work commissioned by the Vermont Arts Council.  This 60-70 minute concert re-imagines music and events from the American Civil War through the artistic language of jazz, the conflict which set the stage for the development of this great American art form. The completed work will be ready for performances and premieres at Saint Michael's College in fall of 2015.

SUBMITTED BY: Brian McCarthy| Brian McCarthy Jazz | Burlington, VT


CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE TRIO
ARTIST: Christian McBride

Bassist, composer, educator, and administrator, Christian McBride, introduces his latest working group: a trio. Fully embracing his role as standard-bearer and mentor, McBride is joined by pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr.—both younger, emerging artists—to explore the real core foundation is hardcore swingin,’ blues and the American songbook.

SUBMITTED BY: Linda Little| Burlington Discover Jazz Festival | Burlington, VT


A NIGHT IN ANCIENT AND NEW CHINA
ARTIST: Wu Man with the Shanghai Quartet

Virtuosic pipa player Wu Man collaborates with the esteemed Shanghai Quartet for a thrilling multimedia program that includes Tan Dun's Ghost Opera, a new composition by renowned composer Jhao Jiping exploring some of his most acclaimed cinematic scores, new arrangements of Chinese folk songs, and solo pipa works by Wu Man. Spring 2016.

SUBMITTED BY: Aimée Petrin| Portland Ovations | Portland, ME


JUNK MUSIC™ WITH THE JUNKMAN™
ARTIST: Donald Knaack

The Junkman will offer a music selection using his rack of 100 recycled materials and will briefly speak about his touring program, school programs, Junkjams™, multi-media theatre program and his new opera.

SUBMITTED BY: Donald Knaack | The Moo Group, LLC | Manchester Center, VT


A MOVING SOUND FROM TAIWAN - OCTOBER 2015 US TOUR
ARTIST: A Moving Sound

Taipei based world music and dance ensemble A Moving Sound will be on tour the US in October 2015. Past U.S. performances include The Kennedy Center, Grand Performances in Los Angeles, Madison and Chicago world music festivals as well as residencies at The University of Massachusetts, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth and George Washington universities. A Moving Sound is seeking Expeditions Touring partners along with Williams College, Yale and M.I.T.

"A Moving Sound is one of the most original outfits working in the world music arena today" - Tom Pryor, music supervisor for WorldMusic.NationalGeographic.com

"One of the few groups offering truly creative music from Asia". -Marco Werman, BBC Public Radio International

SUBMITTED BY: Scott Prairie | A Moving Sound | Taipei, Taiwan


PATHWAYS TO PEACE
ARTIST: Voci Angelica Trio

Re-imagining the boundaries of traditional folk music, Voci Angelica Trio creates riveting arrangements of global songs from every continent.  Voci's program Pathways to Peace is a collection of songs from places in the world that are currently experiencing conflict.  The trio uses its music to promote social justice, to raise public awareness of diverse cultures, and to educate audiences on the issues humanity faces.

SUBMITTED BY: Jodi Hitzhusen| Voci Angelica Trio | Jamaica Plain, MA


PREHISTORIC JAZZ
ARTIST: Eric Hofbauer Quintet

Prehistoric Jazz is a concert program featuring Hofbauer’s jazz arrangements of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The concept was inspired by footage of Bernstein rehearsing The Rite where he instructs the timpanist to play like “prehistoric jazz.” Hofbauer synthesizes memorable melodic and rhythmic elements from the original scores with jazz improvisation. Past engagements: Longy, BC, Governor’s Academy. 

SUBMITTED BY: Eric Hofbauer | Boston, MA


THE LASZLO GARDONY ALL-STAR SEXTET IN CONCERT
ARTIST: Laszlo Gardony All-Star Sextet

Featuring an all-star lineup, this group performs originals and imaginative arrangements of jazz standards and traditional folk music. Bandleader Laszlo Gardony has recorded ten albums - seven of them released on the prestigious Sunnyside label. He was a First Prize winner in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition. The sextet features saxophone icon Bill Pierce (Art Blakey Jazz Messenger), saxophonist Don Braden (Wynton Marsalis), Stan Strickland (vocals, reeds), John Lockwood (bass), and Yoron Israel (drums).

SUBMITTED BY: Laszlo Gardony| LG Jazz | Boston, MA


TITLE TBA
ARTIST: ICE Ensemble

The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), one of the most accomplished and adventurous groups in new music, reshapes how music is created and experienced. With forces ranging from solos to large ensembles, ICE functions as advances the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement. The Hop anchors a residency October 18-25, 2015, celebrating composer Christian Wolff.

SUBMITTED BY: Margaret Lawrence | Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH


TITLE TBD (NEW COMMISSION)
ARTIST: Maria Schneider Orchestra

The ever-acclaimed Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra -- who is "entrenched among the ranks of America's leading composers" (DownBeat), presents a new work, commissioned by The Flynn, The Hop and Penn State. Details on the work and a NE tour are being put together with a NEFA-funded Planning Grant this fall.

SUBMITTED BY: Steve MacQueen | Flynn Center for the Performing Arts| Burlington, VT


YAMATO: THE DRUMMERS OF JAPAN
ARTIST: Yamato

Taiko drumming group Yamato was founded in Japan’s Nara Prefecture in 1993 and has given over 2,500 performances. Audiences around the world await their arrival every year in growing numbers, sustaining and encouraging their efforts. Touring and performing around the world, whether in concerts, classrooms, school assemblies or workshops, Yamato cherishes and upholds the spirit of Japan. "A genuinely theatrical experience, delivered with balletic grace and infectious humour." --Times Online (UK)

SUBMITTED BY: Margaret Lawrence | Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH

Puppetry

FUGITIVE TIME
ARTIST: Janie Geiser

Fugitive Time, conceived and directed by Janie Geiser and developed with an ensemble of Los Angeles performers and designers, is a multidisciplinary performance inspired by the dual histories of illness and health in early 20th Century Los Angeles.  Promoted as the land of eternal sunshine, LA became a have destination for sufferers of tuberculosis. The work merges puppetry, miniature landscapes, film, live-feed video, and music/sound to create an immersive, elliptical meditation on the body, illness, nature, and time.

SUBMITTED BY: Kathleen Pletcher | FirstWorks | Providence, RI

Theater

DOUBLE EDGE THEATRE SPECTACLE TOUR 2016-17
ARTIST: Double Edge Theatre

Double Edge Theatre creates imaginative performances known as the Summer Spectacle that take place on the grounds of their Farm Center. The 2016 Spectacle Tour will bring this work to urban green spaces and rural populations throughout New England to engage each community in the creation and production locally. Amherst College presented the Spectacle in September 2014 to an enthusiastic crowd of 700, including local artists, students, and area families. 2015 projects include Spectacles in Norway and Argentina.

SUBMITTED BY: Jennifer Johnson | Charlestown Working Theater| Charlestown, MA


THE HISTORY OF YOUR (MILL) TOWN
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company

In response to a request for a new play with music last spring about the history of Colrain, MA, Piti Theatre created a dramatic framework and original songs that can be adapted to any New England mill town. The new script, DVD of the performance and town-specific songs become resources for local schools, historical societies and museums. This residency format is designed for a mixed ages cast drawn from the community and/or schools who perform with Piti's two actors and musician.

SUBMITTED BY: Aranka Matolscy | Mahoosuc Arts Council| Bethel, ME


INNOCENZO* 
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company

Innocenzo* blends live music, humor and magic to tell the tale of a clown who falls sick. After visiting many doctors and healers unable to explain his bewildering symptoms, he finally understands his illness is being caused by electromagnetic pollution and begins to heal. Joyous, poetic and for all ages, the story is inspired by co-creator Godeliève Richard's experience of becoming electro-hypersensitive. Jonathan Mirin (Innocenzo) "is a performer with energy to burn." - nytheatre.com

SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Mirin | Piti Theatre Company| Shelburne, MA


JIMMY AND LORRAINE
ARTIST: HartBeat Ensemble

Jimmy and Lorraine by playwright Talvin Wilks, devised with HartBeat Ensemble, is a meditation on the American political climate of the late 50’s and early 60’s through the lens of two significant artists of the time, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry. Following their careers as artists and activists, their lives give us an opportunity to look at this rich period of political and social upheaval that has resonance 50 years later.

SUBMITTED BY: Steven Raider-Ginsburg | HartBeat Ensemble| Hartford, CT


ICARUS
ARTIST: Liars & Believers

See Minnie Minoseczeck's Menagerie of Marvels, a show of amazements and abominations, rising up from the dustbowl of the Great Depression! See Passionate Penny fly through the air! Experience the genius of the great inventor! Face the Monster’s Maze. Hear the mellifluous music of Icarus! Watch them try to escape monsters and machinations of all kinds and see it all come crashing down! ICARUS features the fantastical puppetry by Faye Dupras and an original Americana score by Nathan Leigh.

SUBMITTED BY: Jason Slavick | Liars & Believers| Cambridge, MA


NATHAN THE WISE
ARTIST: Sandglass Theater

A 2016 tour of Nathan the Wise is an artistic collaboration between Sandglass Theater & Teatro Luis Poma, El Salvador performed by seven actors in Spanish, with English subtitles. The play using both actors & puppets, is a deconstruction of an 18th century German epic about religious intolerance, set in Jerusalem during the crusades. Nathan’s characters cope with the disturbing reality of rescuing their enemies. It tours with eight people from Luis Poma and a production team of four from Sandglass.

SUBMITTED BY: Jana Zeller | Sandglass Theater | Putney, VT


RODNEY KING
ARTIST: Roger Guenveur Smith

Rodney King by Roger Guenveur Smith is a rhythm-driven mix of improvised movement and theatre, spoken word poetry, and as Roger himself describes, a “post-mortem interview with the man himself.” Nestled between excerpts from Willie D’s “F**k Rodney King” and King’s memorable May 1, 1992, “Can we all get along?” speech, the piece is an exploration of the legacy of an icon of American history besieged by racial violence. Rodney King captures the story of a flawed, good-hearted everyman.

SUBMITTED BY: Shannon Mayers | Redfern Arts Center | Keene, NH


TAROT SHOW
ARTIST: National Theater of Opera Nouveau

Opera Nouveau is developing a new interactive opera centered around the idea of a live fortune-telling reading. Tarot Show employs an original score of orchestral music, a deck of tarot cards, audience participation and a company of expert improvisational theater performers. The piece explores themes of structure and chaos, shamans vs. showmen, and strives to bring people closer to themselves and their communities through ritual theater. This piece will tour New England in summer 2015.

SUBMITTED BY: Heather Fisch| National Theater of Opera Nouveau| Great Barrington, MA

Multidisciplinary

A 24-DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC
ARTIST: Taylor Mac

Theater/cabaret/music artist Taylor Mac is a bedazzled creature who builds a community by singing the last 24 decades of popular music. Ultimately all decades will be stitched together in a 24-hour long extravaganza. Touring options include the Decade Concert, a single decade, selected to fit the theme of your program; or the Thematic Concert, for example a show of political music from the last 24 decades. Arts & Ideas will commission music from the 1990s to celebrate our 20th anniversary.

SUBMITTED BY: Cathy Edwards & Missy Huber | International Festival of Arts & Ideas | New Haven, CT


ANTHOLOGY OF THE GUITAR: HISTORY AND STYLES
ARTIST: Charles Baroody

This presentation will cover the historical growth from the 1900's to the present, significant tunes and styles and the major players. Audio and video will be employed as well as a discussion and demonstration of styles. The program will be adapted to the age of the audience and be 45 minutes in duration. For example, elementary students the focus will on children's song and adapted with different material for the upper grades and adults.

SUBMITTED BY: Charles R. Baroody | Portsmouth, NH


BEE WEEK: YOUR TOWN
ARTIST: Piti Theatre Company

Bee Weeks are a unique blend of pollinator-inspired arts, science, education and community-building launched in collaboration with more than 20 organizations in four Massachusetts cities and towns last spring. To Bee or Not to Bee combines gardening, documentaries, workshops, and panels designed to help your town help pollinators - and itself. Mahoosuc Arts Council hosted the first Bee Week in 2012.

SUBMITTED BY: Jonathan Mirin| Piti Theatre Company | Shelburne, MA


THE DANCING DOYLES
ARTIST: Kevin Doyle

2014 National Heritage Fellow Kevin Doyle (RI) creates a work based on the Irish immigration experience in New England. Traditional Irish dance, compelling music, elements of vaudeville and tap-dance are woven with song and story that brings us home to New England.

SUBMITTED BY: Kevin Doyle | Providence, RI


DORA
ARTIST: Wendy Woodson & Present Company Inc.

How do Freud’s Dora, ecology and a story of love and resistance fighters come together? Wendy Woodson’s new full-length multi-media piece Dora dives in and takes us for a ride where we lose and find ourselves – repeatedly.  Using a resonant combination of interactive text, movement, sound and video the new work for two performers creates surprising relationships between memory, love, war and environment. The work will premiere in June 2015 in Australia and then be ready for touring.

SUBMITTED BY:  Wendy Woodson| Wendy Woodson & Present Company Inc. | Amherst, MA


DOS HOMBRES
ARTIST: Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion

Dos Hombres is one and first in a series of uniquely paired male duets. Nino de los Reyes, a flamenco dancer and Elver Ariza Silva, an actor/dancer and adult survivor of polio have collaborated with Peter DiMuro to create a dance/theatre work that speaks in Spanish, English, in movement around themes of Latino male image, dis/abilities and male affection.

SUBMITTED BY: Peter DiMuro | Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion | Boston, MA


FREEDOM PROJECT (working title)
ARTIST: Everett Company

FREEDOM PROJECT will share stories that are dramatic, gripping, sometimes tragic, and sometimes hilarious. They convey fraught situations such as when a family is torn apart, or how a split second decision can change the trajectory of a life. The show will portray a compelling cast of characters culled from our many interview subjects: former convicts, family members, prison personnel at all levels, teachers, public defenders, prosecutors, judges, police officers, activists, politicians, etc.

SUBMITTED BY: Aaron Jungels | Everett Company | Providence, RI


IN SEARCH OF AIR: GROWING UP DYSLEXIC
ARTIST: Lida Winfield

In this dance/theater performance based on her experience growing up with a learning disability, Vermont dancer, choreographer and spoken word artist Lida Winfield shares the gifts and heartache that accompanied her struggle to learn to read — which did not occur until her early twenties. Funny, sad and ironic moments, all true, are woven into a captivating tapestry that inspire hope, perseverance, and understanding in audiences of all ages.

SUBMITTED BY: Lida Winfield | Burlington, VT


LISTEN, LITTLE MAN!
ARTIST: Complicated, Inc.

Listen, Little Man! is a multidisciplinary theatrical circus presenting the life and teachings of Wilhelm Reich. The show is being workshopped throughout 2014/2015, with an eye towards a Fall 2015 work-in-progress premiere, in advance of a January 2016 premiere. The play is a co-production of Complicated, Inc. and the Denmark Arts Center.

SUBMITTED BY: Jamie Hook | Denmark Arts Center | Denmark, ME


LITTLE FICTIONS, RAGGED MEMOIRS
ARTIST: 
Paula Josa-Jones/Performance Works

Little Fictions, Ragged Memoirs is a theatrical solo program of three dances – Speak, The Traveler and Beast - conceived, choreographed and performed by Paula Josa-Jones. In collaboration with a strong design team, each dance integrates set design, music, digital media and real-time interactivity to create visual/sensory environments that both set and disrupt a sense of place and time, drawing the audience more deeply into the physical and emotional words of the dance. 

SUBMITTED BY: Paula Josa-Jones | Paula Josa-Jones/Performance Works | Sharon, CT


OF HEAVEN & EARTH
ARTIST: Aaron Larget-Caplan & Ayako Kato

An exploration of Japanese myth and culture using contemporary music by Japanese and American composers performed by guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan and choreography and dance by Ayako Kato.  Juxtaposing Far East aesthetics of space, time and colors with the Western classical music and contemporary dance traditions of harmony, timbre and colors, the ensemble highlights the finest part of the cultures. Trio with Shakuhachi master Elizabeth Reian Bennett, Grand Master on the instrument (Japanese bamboo flute).

SUBMITTED BY: Aaron Larget-Caplan | ALC Music | Boston, MA


PARKOUR PERCUSSION
ARTIST: Street Beat

This exciting troupe is based in Los Angeles. They do both indoor full-stage performances and smaller outdoor versions all of which include a fun mix of hip-hop dance techniques and history and high-energy music - mostly on found (and accessible) objects. We hope to present the outdoor Parkour Percussion for our 5th Annual Arts Fest, September, 2015 and would link the work with the art of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquait. The company has curriculum guides for grades 3-12.

SUBMITTED BY: Leslee Asch | Silvermine Arts Center | New Canaan, CT


PASSION FOR BACH AND COLTRANE
ARTIST: Imani Winds and guests

Passion for Bach and Coltrane is a work for wind quintet, string quartet, jazz trio and orator. It was inspired by the poetry of A.B. Spellman from his book of poems, Things I Must Have Known. The poetry speaks to the musical mastery of J.S. Bach, John Coltrane as well as religion and mortality. The Harlem String Quartet and A.B. Spellman join Imani Winds for the concert performance. This is a 45 minute, seven movement work by Jeff Scott with libretto by A.B. Spellman.

SUBMITTED BY: Cathy Edwards & Missy Huber | International Festival of Arts & Ideas | New Haven, CT


PROMENADE MOBILE
ARTIST: Projet In Situ

Promenade Mobile is a 90-minute experimental site work created by Projet In Situ (French choreographers Martial Chazallon and Martin Chaput) that combines movement, media technology, theatricality, music, visual installation and community involvement. It is an unconventional performance experience where audiences arrive and, rather than enter a theater, are guided by a smartphone via audio and text instructions and go on a choreographed journey of a neighborhood or city center.

SUBMITTED BY: Sara Coffey | Vermont Performance Lab | Guilford, VT


SCHWANZE-BEAST
ARTIST: Carmelita Tropicana

Schwanze-Beast is an evening length work with video projections and an art installation by performance artist Carmelita Tropicana and filmmaker Ela Troyano. Schwanze-Beast mixes the psychological sci-fi thriller with the performative scientific lecture to pose the question: "what separates human from beast?"  Schwanze-Beast is hybrid in form, mixing languages, English, German and Spanish, to address civil rights of the animal species, delving into biotech and bio-politics in a minimal expressionistic performance style.

SUBMITTED BY: Sara Coffey | Vermont Performance Lab | Guilford, VT


SPIRIT OF INDIA 
ARTIST: The Masala Orchestra of India

The Masala Orchestra and Dancers of India showcases an authentic rendition of the rich and exciting traditions of gypsy culture with a twist of  contemporary music drawn from the deserts of Rajasthan to the Bollywood city of Mumbai in India.  This 17 member troupe will feature special dances, brass instruments, percussion and stunning costumes. Ideal stage:  44 wide x 40 deep, wood floor, risers, standard light plot and PA system. Need to provide Halal food. One day load in, non- yellow card.

SUBMITTED BY: Ranjanaa Devi | UMass Amherst, Asian Arts & Culture Program | Amherst, MA


XFEST 2015
ARTIST: XFest 2015

XFest is a festival of improvised music, visuals and movement. The format of the festival is simple yet challenging: on Friday and Saturday nights 24+ visiting artists and 72+ local artists perform in 20 half-hour sets, 10 sets per night.

SUBMITTED BY: Walter Wright | 119 Gallery | Lowell, MA

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