(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Interdisciplinary choreographer David Neumann will present an evening of solos in the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA on Saturday, April 26, 2014, at 8pm. A co-presentation by Jacob’s Pillow Dance and MASS MoCA, the retrospective evening spans Neumann’s career from his first choreographic endeavor, DOSE, to his current work-in-progress, I Understand Everything Better. The program, also including tough the tough (redux) (2008) and You Are In Control (2009), captures Neumann’s exploration of lines between theatre and dance, audience and performer, movement and voice, mundane and theatrical.

For this performance, which follows a week-long residency at MASS MoCA, I Understand Everything Better will be presented as a work-in-process featuring the collective efforts of award-winning writer Sibyl Kempson, design by Tei Blow, and Neumann in his first new solo work in nearly ten years. Previously premiered works on the program include DOSE performed to the music of Tom Waits; a solo adaptation of a larger group piece with text by Will Eno, tough the tough (redux); and a solo extracted from You Are In Control set to an original score by Eve Beglarian and text by Karinne Keithley. Following the performance, Jacob’s Pillow Executive and Artistic Director Ella Baff will lead a post-show discussion.

Neumann’s current work-in-process, I Understand Everything Better, premiering at the American Dance Institute in Rockville, Md., in March 2015, is a multi-disciplinary performance piece that explores the impulse to report on calamity, the consciousness of traumatic change, and one’s proximity to dying. A union of theatre and dance-making methodologies, I Understand will incorporate innovative technology, weather reports, and personal narratives all within a framework composed of elements drawn from classical Japanese dance and theatre.

David Neumann comments, “The subject of death looms large in this work, as I recently experienced the deaths of both parents. With I Understand Everything Better, I feel compelled to honor this experience, as difficult at times as it was, as a way to share with others the remarkable journey I understand the process of dying to be.”

As Artistic Director of New York City-based Advanced Beginner Group, David Neumann has presented work at a number of prominent venues, including previous engagements at the Jacob’s Pillow Season Opening Gala and a Jacob’s Pillow world premiere on shared program with choreographer Jodi Melnick, both in 2011. He previously performed in the Berkshires in 2007, at MASS MoCA. In response to Neumann’s work Claudia La Rocco of The New York Times comments, “By now the line on Mr. Neumann is well established: He is the smart joker of dance. What’s not said as often is how deeply felt and deeply moving his work can be.” As both a performer and choreographer, he works in theatre, opera and film, and is a renowned teacher having served on the faculties of NYU, Yale, and Barnard. He is currently a tenured professor at Sarah Lawrence College. In addition to his collaborations with such directors as Hal Hartley, Laurie Anderson, Lee Breuer, and JoAnn Akalaitis, he has created two duets for himself and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Neumann and his company have received four Bessie Awards and a number of grants, including Creative Capital, BUILD, and MAP funds. Most recently, he was awarded a 2011 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award for Dance and a 2013 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Choreography.

The Irene Hunter Fund for Dance
Through the financial support of the Irene Hunter Fund for Dance, Jacob’s Pillow Dance and MASS MoCA continue to co-present performing arts programming, a partnership established before the museum was founded in 1999. The Pillow played a pivotal role in establishing MASS MoCA’s role as a performing arts presenter and sponsored events at the museum site as early as 1995. In the spirit of deep collaboration, this partnership creates opportunities for visual and performing artists by encouraging cross-disciplinary experimentation; cultivates new dance audiences in the Berkshires by presenting innovative, high-quality performances; and expands the public’s understanding of the creative process. Past co-presentations include Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, STREB, MOMIX, DanceBrazil, Stephen Petronio Company, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Armitage Gone! Dance, Cuba’s Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Chunky Move, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, and, most recently, Shen Wei Dance Arts.

 

Performance and Ticket Information

Saturday, April 26 at 8pm; Hunter Center at MASS MoCA

Ticket prices: $20 premium/ $15 general / $10 students

To order tickets: 413.662.2111 or MASS MoCA

MASS MoCA is located at 87 Marshall Street, North Adams, MA 01247.

For additional information on Jacob’s Pillow, visit Jacob’s Pillow Dance

Jacob’s Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America’s longest running international dance festival. The Festival includes more than 50 national and international dance companies and 350 free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, and events. The School at Jacob’s Pillow, one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S., encompasses the diverse disciplines of Ballet, Cultural Traditions, Contemporary, and Jazz/Musical Theatre Dance, as well as an Intern Program in various disciplines of arts administration, design, video, and production. The Pillow’s extensive Archives, open year-round to the public, chronicle more than 80 years of dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audiotapes, and video. Year-round Community Programs enrich the lives of children and adults through public classes, residencies in area schools, and more than 200 free public events. Through Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion®, a nationally recognized program, artist-educators work with Berkshire County teachers and students grades K-12, transforming curricula such as biology, literature, and history into kinesthetic and creative learning experiences. Creative Development Residencies, in which dance companies are invited to live and work at the Pillow and enjoy unlimited studio time; choreography commissions; and the annual $25,000 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award all support visionary dance artists and choreographers. Virtual Pillow is aimed at expanding global audiences for dance and offers the opportunity to experience dance and Jacob’s Pillow from anywhere in the world via online interactive exhibits, global video networks, and social media. As part of the Virtual Pillow initiative, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive is a curated online video collection of dance highlights from 1936 to today. On March 2, 2011, President Obama honored Jacob’s Pillow with a National Medal of Arts, the highest arts award given by the United States Government. Jacob’s Pillow is the first dance presenting organization to receive this prestigious award. For more information, visit Jacob’s Pillow Dance.

MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying the best new art of our time, cross all media: music, art, dance, theater, film, and video. Hundreds of works of visual and performing art have been created on its factory campus during fabrication and rehearsal residencies in North Adams, making MASS MoCA among the most productive sites in the country for the creation and presentation of new art. MASS MoCA strives to bring its audiences art and experiences that are fresh, engaging, and transformative.

MASS MoCA’s galleries are open 11am–5pm every day except Tuesdays. Seasonal exhibitions are open from April 15 to November 15. Gallery hours are often extended on evenings featuring performing arts events. Gallery admission is $15 for adults, $10 for students, $5 for children 6–16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit MASS MoCA.

MASS MoCA is an independent 501(c)(3) whose operations and programming are funded primarily through admissions and commercial lease revenue, corporate and foundation grants, and individual philanthropy. Except for a construction grant from the Commonwealth, and competitive program and operations grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MASS MoCA is privately funded: 90% of MASS MoCA’s annual operating revenues come from earned revenues, membership support, and private gifts and grants.

The Irene Hunter Fund for Dance was established in 2010 with a gift from the estate of Irene Hunter (1918-2008), to enhance MASS MoCA’s capacity to present dance programming of the highest quality, to develop new audiences for dance in the Berkshires, and to encourage continuing collaboration with Jacob’s Pillow, deepening the institutional connections that have existed since the museum’s inception.