Monthly Archives: May 2020

An exploration of our symbiotic relationship with honeybees through music and dance

Cincy Fringe Festival: A Fringe Festival for the Social Distancing Age
May 29 – June 13, 2020
Tickets: An All-Access Pass www.cincyfringe.com

(Houston, TX) PSOPHONIA Dance Company is excited to return to 2020 Cincy Fringe Festival as part of the Digital Primary Lineup. It has been eight years since PDC last appeared in the Cincy Fringe and while we had hoped to present a live program in Cincinnati, we are thrilled to virtually share our most recent collaboration, COLONY. Created in collaboration with the University of Houston’s AURA Contemporary Ensemble, COLONY explores our symbiotic relationship with honeybees through music and dance.

Humans and honeybees have an interdependent relationship – if bees didn’t exist, neither would we. These tiny creatures help cultivate one-third of our global food supply but are dying at an unprecedented rate. Through a thoroughly intertwined performance of music and dance, COLONY seeks to inspire appreciation, wonderment, support, caring and protection for honeybees.

COLONY marks the fourth collaboration between PSOPHONIA and AURA and their second evening length work. One of the primary goals behind these collaborations has been to cultivate a substantive integration of music and dance. Through the process of integrating their disciplines, the ensembles have created their own symbiotic relationship, one that continues to deepen with each subsequent collaboration.

A year in the making, COLONY began with an interest in creating a project that would involve the music of Stacy Garrop, who was to be in residence at the University of Houston in Spring 2019. Stacy’s work Postcards from Wyoming captured Torres’s imagination, conjuring up images of bees actively moving and shifting within a hive. Building on this concept, the ensembles designed this multidisciplinary program that draws audiences into the imperiled world of honeybees.

The partnership between PSOPHONIA and AURA artistically stretched its directors and performers, which has been extremely inspiring and rewarding. Through Cincy Fringe Streaming platform, PDC and AURA are pleased to have another opportunity to share COLONY with audiences.

ARTISTS:

• Sophia Torres, choreography
• Rob Smith, music direction
• Keith Epperson, set design
• Edgar Guajardo, lighting design
• Pin Lim, photography
• Afshin Farzadfar, videographer

FEATURED MUSIC:

• Silver Threads (2011) – Jacob Cooper (b.1980)
• Wax and Wire (2014) – Viet Cuong (b.1990)
• Postcards from Wyoming (2017) – Stacy Garrop (b.1970)
• Un Lieu Verdoyant (1999) – Philippe Leroux (b.1959)
• Tight Sweater (2005) – Marc Mellits (b.1966)
• Fractured Mirrors (2005) – Nicholas Scherzinger (b.1968)

AURA is: Andrea Benabent (piano), Ed Harper (cello), Paul Kasperitis (percussion), Jeremy Larson (piano), Shannon Murray (soprano), Claire Niederberger (violin), Ellie Parker (saxophones), Jason Russo (clarinets), & Katherine Velasquez (flutes).

PSOPHONIA is: Ashley Boykin, Adam Castaneda, Vi Dieu, Melissa Juneau, Tory Pierce, Lysette Portano Marmolejo, Arielle Tesia Rojas, Jessica Figueroa, Allyson Loving, Elyssa Vega, & Lizzy Woodson.

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