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Dance Up Close to Pam Tanowitz
By Erin Bomboy
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Published on February 1, 2014
Pam Tanowitz Dance at The Joyce Theater
February 4 and 5 at 7:30 p.m. and February 6 at 8 p.m. The Joyce Theater
175 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10011
Tickets: $10-25 To purchase tickets, go to The Joyce Theater
Choreography by Pam Tanowitz
Dance Performers by Pam Tanowitz Dance
Music by John Zorn and Conlon Nancarrow
Music Performance by Pauline Kim Harris and The FLUX Quartet
Choreographer Pam Tanowitz makes her long-awaited The Joyce Theater debut the first weekend in February. Showcasing two premieres, Tanowitz investigates the relationship between dance and music. In the first piece, “Passagen,” a duet for performers Maggie Cloud and Bessie-nominated performer Melissa Toogood, she collapses older choreographies into a 15-minute retrospective. She situates vivacious violinist Pauline Kim Harris, playing a score by John Zorn, amongst the dancers, which adds a casual, human dynamic to the immaculately designed abstract movement. In the second, unnamed work for eight dancers, Tanowitz utilizes composer Conlon Nancarrow’s “String Quartets 1 & 3” that will be rendered live by The FLUX Quartet. While she allows that there is nothing new about creating a dance to music, Tanowitz both adheres to and disregards the music’s structure, fashioning a singular exchange between the notes and the movements.
Pam Tanowitz On The Role Of Music In Her Works
Tanowitz often draws comparisons to Merce Cunningham and George Balanchine. A self-professed ballet lover, she discovered an influential mentor in Viola Farber, a founding member of the Cunningham Company, while pursuing her MFA at Sarah Lawrence College. Although Tanowitz had been making dances since her days as a student at Ohio State University, this introduction to Farber galvanized her choreography. She treats dance steps like time-honored objects that have the capacity to reflect contemporary concerns; she likes to “dust them off’ and reinvent them in witty ways.
Pam Tanowitz On Her Path To Become A Choreographer
Pam Tanowitz Dance, founded in 2000, has accrued a roster of distinguished achievements, including commissions and residencies at Danspace Project, Guggenheim’s Works & Processes, New York Live Arts, and Baryshnikov Arts Center. She has set her work on dance majors at The Juilliard School and Ohio State University in addition to working with Purchase Dance Corp, Oregon Ballet Theater, and dancers from American Ballet Theater. American Dance Festival and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival have presented Pam Tanowitz’s work.
