Take Root Presents: David Appel and Catey Ott Dance Collective

November 16th and 17th

8pm
Advance sale tickets: $17 online at www.GreenSpaceStudio.org
Tickets purchased at door: $20 cash, $22 credit card

About the Work

Catey Ott Dance Collective’s concert entitled "Effervescence" embodies the spirit of positive energy within an external world of chaos. The show includes a solo for Catey Ott Thompson called ORGAN-ized to a piece written by Louis Vierne in 1914, a trio to a contemporary fugue played on a 250 year-old organ, and a full-bodied dancing quartet to modern music by Brooklyn-based composer Randall Woolf. These dance pieces are inspired by works of art in the permanent collection at Marquette University's Haggerty Museum of Art with a set design by Milwaukee-based artist Meghan McKale.  The underlying themes are inspired by Zen Buddhism and the writings of author Brene' Brown on vulnerability and love, which also paired with Woolf's music as inspiration for McKale's artwork.  Catey Ott Thompson's movement vocabulary is contemporary yet technical and is filled with spirals, quick weight-shifts, and a myriad of emotional drives that tell the story of finding positive forces within a turbulent world. The Milwaukee dancers include Catey Ott Thompson, Danielle Allen, Julia Y. Edwards, and Natasha Posey.  It is an honor and delight to share this body of work with NYC at Green Space in LIC. Collaborators:  Visual artist Meghan McKale and composer Randall Woolf.

In David Appel’s new, as yet untitled piece, the existence and activity of three people in a space brings unique and particular qualities to how that area can be filled, charged, re-configured, and perceived. Yet we live in the world, things happen, and it does affect how we organize ourselves to move together. We start with three articulate individuals repeatedly engaging each other, primarily through their dancing. At the same time, members of a second group come and go, shadowing them and offering support, commentary, bits and pieces culled from our everyday goings-on, and sheer nonsense. As in the rest of our lives, there are known signposts, and the prospect of the unexpected; here, we play off the preconceived and the improvised. Over extended time, simple encounters or strategies set in motion intriguing chains of events, and the cooking pot reveals a cornucopia of delectable morsels. The work will be performed by Jenni Hong, Ava Heller, Randy Burd, Allison Knuth, Efrén Sánchez, Kelley Donovan, and David Appel.

Photo credits: Maureen Jenson Heintz (Catey Ott Dance Collective) // Stephanie Crousillat (David Appel)