The Joyce Theater is thrilled to welcome Emio Greco | PC (directed by Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten) back onto its stage for a one-week season from September 29 - October 4. This internationally renowned Netherlands-based company, last seen at The Joyce in 2006, will present the NYC premiere of [purgatorio] POPOPERA, an evening-length work based on Dante's Purgatorio Tickets, starting at $10, can be purchased through JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or via the internet at www.joyce.org. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.
After presenting their highly acclaimed HELL, based on Dante's Inferno, Emio Greco | PC has completed [purgatorio] POPOPERA which will have its NYC premiere at The Joyce Theater. The company takes its inspiration from Dante's literary depiction of a geographical place and feeling of transition that provides the opening for inner transformation. Greco and Scholten have said, "whereas in HELL we let our dancers wander round the same circles each time, in [purgatorio]POPOPERA they break out of them. The will, the need to live and especially the hope for the future are the essential motives. In [purgatorio]POPOPERA we try to show the audience other images than it expects of those overly familiar themes that cling to the concept of purgatory (catharsis, purification through suffering, ...) in order to approach these themes from new angles." The company invites audiences to witness the transformation and synergies between dancers' bodies and the lustrous black electric guitars they carry in this performance that melds dance with rock concert. The piece features original music composed by Bang-on-a-Can founder Michael Gordon, performed live by the dancers and soprano Michaela Riener.
EMIO GRECO | PC'S "DANCE TALKS" AT JOYCE SOHO
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
André Lepecki, curator, writer and Associate Professor of Performance studies at NYU is joined by Ty Boomershine, former Emio Greco | PC dancer, in a video-illustrated examination surrounding Greco's new work. Lepecki is author of Exhausting Dance: performance and the politics of movement and Boomershine was part of the creation process of making [purgatorio] POPOPERA. "Dance Talks" are free and take place at Joyce SoHo (155 Mercer Street, between Houston and Prince). Reservations are required: 646-792-8377.
[purgatorio] POPOPERA is a co-production of MAPP International Productions and Emio Greco|PC; Théâtre del a Ville/Paris; Holland Festival/Amsterdam; Teatro Duse/Bologna; Maison del al Culture/Amiens; and Torino Danza.
World Premiere:
Holland Festival (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), June 2008
Lead commissioning support:
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
The Joyce Theater's Stephen and Cathy Weinroth Fund for New Work
[purgatorio] POPOPERA has received generous support from:
Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
Dutch Fund for the Performing Arts
[purgatorio] POPOPERA was developed during residencies at:
Maison de la Culture d'Amiens (France)
MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA)
Teatro Duse (Bologna, Italy)
Presenters of [purgatorio] POPOPERA include:
Holland Festival (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Festival d'Avignon (Avignon, France)
The Joyce Theater (New York, NY)
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (College Park, MD)
MASS MoCA (North Adams, MA)
Emio Greco | PC
Emio Greco | PC (EG|PC)-founded in 1996-is more than a dance company. The company promotes a broader attitude towards the consciousness of the body. It initiated a series of salons on dance and discourse, established a section devoted to research on recording and notation of body movement and developed an educational program under the name of Accademia Mobile. EG | PC regularly invites artists from their own and other disciplines to take part in a valuable dialogue. Though always maintaining dance as their point of reference, in recent years, Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten have stepped back from making purely dance-centered work to direct their attention to theater, film and opera as well as contemporary music.
Emio Greco & Pieter C. Scholten -Choreographers
Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten have collaborated in their joint search for new dance forms since 1995. They found a strong common interest in the possibility of dance seen as the expression of a visionary body, with the theatrical space as the external influence on that body. In their performances, dance is regarded as autonomous, and capable of creating its own time and space. Dance is never brought into action as a medium for conveying, nor for dressing a theatrical space. Instead, dance is perceived as possessing an inherent logic, by which it is able to express the intelligence of the body without needing the addition of meaning or explication. All the elements of a performance - the space, the lighting, the sound - are applied throughout the working process with a view to eliciting from the body the impulses that are driving its self-examination.
Michael Gordon - Composer
Michael Gordon is, together with composers David Lang and Julia Wolfe, one of the founders of New York based collective Bang on a Can, which is dedicated to commissioning, performing, creating, presenting and recording contemporary music. His compositions demonstrate a deep exploration into the possibilities and nature of rhythm as well as the effect of piling rhythms on top of each other, creating a glorious confusion. Gordon's special interest in adding dimensions to the concert experience has led to frequent collaborations with artists in other media, including a previous collaboration with EG|PC on Rimasto Orfano (2002). In his music, Gordon combines the intensity and force of rock music with more formal aspects of musical composition. In Emio Greco | PC's new creation [purgatorio] POPOPERA, Gordon introduces those rock elements into the joint exploration of the relation between music and dance.
Emio Greco | PC's engagement at The Joyce Theater will run for one week featuring [purgatorio] POPOPERA, from September 29 - October 4, with performances Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. A free post-performance "Dance Chat" dialogue with the choreographers and composer Michael Gordon will follow the Wednesday performance. This performance contains nudity. New this season, The Joyce has updated its pricing structure to help make dance even more accessible to a wider audience with tickets starting at $10 (for the front row). For this performance, tickets range up to $49 (top price for Joyce Members is $37). NOTE: ticket prices are subject to change. Tickets and memberships can be purchased by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or online at www.Joyce.org. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.
For more information about Emio Greco | PC see: www.ickamsterdam.com or www.mappinternational.org
