Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Former TRDA guest artist luciana achugar 2010 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

I write you at the close of what has been an unforgettable year for me both personally and artistically. From the presentation of Franny & Zooey (2007) at the American Realness Festival last January 2010 at Abrons Arts Center to the premiere of a new work commissioned by the Zenon Dance Company at The Southern Theater in Minneapolis this Fall, this year has been filled with many significant opportunities for me to continue my work.

Most importantly, this year, we premiered PURO DESEO at The Kitchen in April; a duet by luciana achugar and Michael Mahalchick with lighting design by Madeline Best and Costumes by Walter Dundervill. We are so excited by the amazing reception this work received and, we are thrilled to announce that PURO DESEO and its whole collaborative team, received a 2010 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award “for casting a spell on the audience and taking them into the dark, dark mysteries of the body and all its desires”.

“She wants, I think, to mesmerize us, which she does, and I don’t think she’d mind scaring the hell out of us. If I were to cede my ability to construct a sentence and moan my way down the page in syllables, I might better convey the visceral response this work induces. [...] PURO DESEO isn’t what people usually mean when they call something a dance. All the movement is guttural; gestures spew up from some dark, inner place.” Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice.

We are very excited that we will get to perform PURO DESEO again in its entirety this January during APAP; and we invite you to experience this Bessie Award winning show again or for the first time in the amazing Abrons Arts Center Playhouse Theater as part of the American Realness Festival on January 7th & 9th!

For info and tickets click here:

http://www.henrystreet.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AAC_PERF_luciana_achugar_puro_deseo

During 2010 I was also very grateful and proud to be the recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants for Artists Award, receive support from the Jerome Foundation, make new commissioned work on 8 dancers for the Zenon Dance Company of Minneapolis and to be selected for a second year Residency at BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange as a Research Fellow, where I am doing research on teaching dance technique as I begin working on my next project tentatively titled Feeling Form.

2011 is already shaping up to be a fruitful year. I will be working with 16 students from the New School to make a new work to be premiered during their April Concert at the Alvin Ailey CitiGroup Theater, I will continue my research Residency at BAX and begin development for my next work to be premiered in the WInter of 2012. I will also be traveling to Montevideo, Uruguay during the summer to perform PURO DESEO and to make new work with Uruguayan dancers as a way to continue my commitment to remain in communication with the dance community there.

Last, but not least, I would like to share with you that I will be featured in Dance Magazine's January 2011 "25 to Watch" article. I feel very grateful for this honorable mention and I was particularly moved by what Noemi Lafrance, who nominated me for this, had to say about my work..:

"luciana is doing something that has an edge, but it's also very clean, concise, together. I feel like her work,while experimental, is also accessible. You could see it if you hadn't been exposed to dance and still be moved. It has a touch of being universal.

As a performer, she's powerful without being arrogant; her power is very pure. She's a very down-to-earth human being- generous and natural.

Her last show, PURO DESEO, really brings you on a journey. It takes a little while to evolve. You hear this humming, this singing, and she goes into this very repetitive back-and-forth. But you feel as though the room is starting to get haunted. There's some kind of shamanic quality; the air is getting a little bit thicker. When artists are able to do that, they transcend the space with what they are doing.
I'm curious to see what she does next. She definitely has more intriguing work up her sleeve."
Noemi Lafrance for "25 to Watch", Dance Magazine.

____________

I am so grateful for the support of friends, collaborators and donors thus far! The success of my work is completely reliant upon your generosity.

As you plan your year-end charitable donations, we hope that you will consider making a contribution to luciana achugar dance. By giving a tax deductible donation to luciana achugar, you are helping to provide our company with the opportunity to grow creatively and financially. We hope you will consider donating before January 1st and lowering your tax burden for 2010.

I look forward to welcoming you to the re-mounted version of PURO DESEO at Abrons Arts Center as part of the American Realness Festival!

http://tbspmgmt.com/AMERICAN_REALNESS_.html

Happy New Year!!!!

Sincerely,

luciana achugar
41 Withers St. #6
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Cell # 646.872.4192
www.lachugar.org

Friday, December 10, 2010

Voice and Character Performance Final

Please come to the Voice and Character Performance Final

A staging of excerpts from the poetic novel VANISHING POINT, by Australian writer Jeri Kroll

on Thursday, Dec. 16th, at 7 p.m. in Studio XX

All are welcome!!!!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company: America’s Cloud

Join acclaimed choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess and his contemporary dance company as they debut their site-specific dance piece, “America’s Cloud”. more>