13.12 @ 20:00

Lisa Bufano (USA)
The One Breath is an Ocean for a Wooden Heart, 2007 and
Five Open Mouths, 2006

One Breath is an Ocean for a Wooden Heart premiering in Zagreb is an unusual modern dance duet for a disabled dancer and an able-bodied dancer that continues to examine the relationship between physical transformation and identity. In this performance, the dancers wear 28" wooden stilts secured to their arms and legs. The stilts are constructed from familiar, every-day objects to create illusion and are a visually compelling tool of transformation. The queen-Anne style table legs enable the dancers to create a basic illusion of table and chair shape. In 2006, a Boston producer brought together Lisa Bufano and New York Choreographer Heidi Latsky. The resulting work, Five Open Mouths, is the product of an extensive and life-changing artistic relationship between these two creative spirits. The title refers to Lisa's experience of unwrapping her bandages and seeing her hands after surgery - a difficult, yet cathartic experience. In their first week working together, Latsky asked Bufano to write a personal story and to embody movement to tell that story. From this exercise, Bufano created an 'unraveling' gesture by varying the momentum of small circling with her hand at the wrist while creating a larger revolution around the axis of her elbow. Latsky refined and incorporated this gesture into the final section of the piece. Themes of unraveling and revealing and sleep and sleeplessness resonate throughout Bufano's performance. Set in five tableaux, Five Open Mouths is defined by Bufano's physical transformations through the character of her movement, the use or lack of leg prosthetics, and silence juxtaposed with music.

Biographies:

Lisa Bufano is an interdisciplinary artist from Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Lisa was a competitive gymnast as a kid. After a bacteria infection led to the amputation of both her feet and fingers when she was 21, Lisa pursued animation and sculpture at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. After a 15-year career as primarily a visual artist, Lisa is finding dancing to be challenging and engaging work. Lisa would like to thank Peter Couture, prosthetist at Next Step O & P, for 13 years of encouragement and friendship. Next Step fits Lisa's prosthetics and cheetah (running) legs.

Sonsherée Giles is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana and now resides in Oakland, California. She is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and costume designer. She moved to the Bay Area to attend Mills College where she received her MFA in dance performance/choreography. Since 2001, she has been collaborating with Jerry Smith.

Jerry Smith is an interdisciplinary artist/composer. He has a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA in painting from Boston University. He lives in Oakland, California. Most of his recent artistic work has been music composition and sound design, video, stage and costume design for dance in collaboration with his wife, Sonsherée Giles. He has also recently created music for peck peck dance ensemble in San Francisco and video work in collaboration with performance artist Leyna Papach for a piece performed in Amsterdam, NL and Prague, CZ. Recently he has done sound design for AXIS Dance Company in Oakland, CA.

Heidi Latsky is an acclaimed choreographer, performer and educator. As the Founder/Artistic Director of the New York-based modern dance company, Heidi Latsky Dance, Latsky is dedicated to creating provocative, highly technical and physically adventurous dance. Latsky initially received recognition as a celebrated principal dancer for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance (1987-1993). Latsky's distinct philosophy, educational approach and personal experience working with people with an illness or a disability has resulted in innovative movement productions. Latsky and Bufano's collaboration was featured on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

Alliger Arts is a producing entity created by Executive Producer Jeremy Alliger dedicated to presenting and promoting artistic endeavors that push boundaries and challenge perceptions,

Projects include the creation, touring and presentation of unique artistic events and producing landmark festivals, (including Aerial, Hip Hop, Jazz Tap and Wheelchair). Alliger has received the prestigious Massachusettes Commonwealth Award, the Disability Rights Advocates Eagle Award, and Emerson College's Alumni Achievement Award.

AXIS Dance Company creates and performs high quality contemporary dance by people with and without disabilities. AXIS performs their award-winning repertory locally and on tour throughout the United States. AXIS also maintains an extensive community education/outreach program, Dance Access and its youth component Dance Access KIDS! which offer ongoing classes, workshops, assemblies and presentations for adults and youth of all abilities.