Internationally acclaimed dancers take the stage for two nights at the Jamestown Arts Center
The Jamestown Arts Center (JAC) presents DOUBLE TAKES, an interactive dance and video performance,for two nights this summer, Friday & Saturday, August 30 & 31 at 7:00pm. The performance will feature independent dancer, choreographer, and teacher Lance Gries, as well as extraordinary New York dancers, including Jodi Melnick (Melnick has danced with the Twyla Tharp Company, Mikhail Baryshnikov and is one of New York dance’s favorite free-lance performers.) Jeanine Durning (Durning is a truly independent dance and choreographer artist, hugely respected for her fierce physicality and artistic vision.) and K.J. Holmes (Holmes is one of the world’s leading performers and teachers of contact improvisation. Time Out calls her a “legendary improviser.”), who will collaborate in an improvisational dance as they respond to moving images. After the performances there will be a Q&A.
From 1985-1992, Gries was a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company. His work with that company has been honored with a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award and a Princess Grace Foundation Award. Lance Gries performed “Etudes for an Astronaut” as the inaugural dance performance at the Jamestown Arts Center in the summer of 2011. Tickets are $15 general public/$12 JAC Members and $25/$20 for both performances. Sponsor a dancer for $250. If you sponsor a dancer by August 15 you will be invited to a casual dinner with the dancers on Saturday, August 31 at a beautiful home in Jamestown. All sponsors will receive a one-year family membership to the JAC.
Tickets are available for purchase online at www.jamestownartcenter.org and at the door: These shows will sell out – get your tickets early!
As part of Lance’s residency and upcoming performances of “Double Takes,” he will teach two master classes. Easy Moving Contemporary Dance (Ages 13+ and Adults) will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 20 from 6:30pm – 8:00pm and Movement for Young Dancer (Ages 6 – 12) will take place on Thursday, Aug. 29 from 9:00am – 10:15am. Please see JAC’s website for more information regarding these classes. Adult contact improvisation class with K.J. Holmes will be taught at Island Moving Company on Thursday, Aug. 29 time TBD.
Lance Gries is an independent dancer, choreographer and teacher based in New York. Since 1990, he has created and presented solo and group choreography in various venues in New York City such as The Kitchen, Danspace, Judson Church, La MaMa Experimental Theater and The State Theater at Lincoln Center, as well as cities throughout Europe, Australia and South America. His most recent solo evening, “Etudes for an Astronaut” was nominated for a 2011 New York and Performance “Bessie” Award.
Lance is a renowned teacher, having taught workshops and master classes throughout the world. He recently premiered “The FIFTY Project” (recipient of a Princess Grace Special Project Grant) in celebration of his fiftieth birthday this year, and invited fifty dancers from around the world to meet him in a fifty-minute open dance. A video installation of these meetings was presented at La MaMa Experimental Theater in March 2013: “Double Takes” is a continuation of this projects that combines interactive dancing with the video. His next choreographic project will be live performance entitled: “Immanent Field” and will be presented by Danspace in New York City, March 2014.
Jamestown Arts Center
In the winter of 2009 a boat repair shop was purchased with support from local families and public and private foundations. With extensive renovations, donations of funding, time and sweat equity, the Jamestown Arts Center opened for classes and events in July of 2011. Classes, workshops, and camps are offered in painting, drawing, ceramics, printmaking, photography, design, needlepoint, leather crafting and creative movement for all age levels. Events include art openings and presentations, spoken word, dance, music, film and theater.
The mission of the Jamestown Arts Center is to engage, enrich and inspire our community through extraordinary arts experiences.
