New Kerouac-Inspired Zvidance Program at MASS MoCA

ZviDance (photo Stephan de las Heras)

ZviDance (photo Stephan de las Heras)

(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – New York City-based contemporary dance company ZviDance will present in a work-in-progress showing of “On The Road” in the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA on Saturday, April 23, at 8pm. Inspired by Beat author Jack Kerouac’s novel by the same title, “On the Road” is an evening-length, multimedia dance piece that contemplates the general upheaval of the 1960s and the Beat generation’s startling notions of social rebellion. The program is a co-presentation by Jacob’s Pillow and MASS MoCA.

In “On the Road,” Gotheiner entwines the thrills of freedom, the sounds of jazz, and the perplexity of youthful American voices discovering their closeted and social selves. Set to an original score by frequent collaborator and composer Scott Killian, the soundscape is a commentary on Kerouac’s novel and an homage to the Beat poets. Couched in a mash-up of Beat Generation jazz and original dance music, the piece conveys a modern tone in utilizing the voices of young, urban contemporary spoken word artists. Along with the cast of eight dancers, the artistic team also includes ZviDance Resident Lightning Designer Mark London and Brooklyn-based Set/Visual Designer Josh Higgason.

The MASS MoCA evening will invite the audience into Zvi’s process as he creates his newest work “On the Road.” Then in July, ZviDance’s week-long run at Jacob’s Pillow will showcase his acclaimed “Escher/Bacon/Rothko,” a finished, evening-length work. Both promise to maintain Gotheiner’s signature innovative style and his fascinating melding of artistic mediums — in this case, dance and literature.

 

“Zvi’s ‘On The Road’ is part of the secret sub-series we’ve had this season about the 1960s,” notes MASS MoCA director Joseph Thompson. “Alloy Orchestra’s scored Jimi Hendrix-Grateful Dead concert video, Mikael Jorgensen’s Trimbin band performed a concert of music they composed for lost Fred Engleberg films, and now we wrap it up with Zvi choreographing for Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road.’ Our co-presentations with Jacob’s Pillow are often highlights of the season. We’re looking forward to this one — a journey with the Beats.”
Dubbed “as much sociologist as dance-maker” by Alastair Macaulay, chief dance critic of the New York Times, Israeli-born ZviDance artistic director Zvi Gotheiner is praised for creating “a sensual, organic world of movement, language, and images where one is pulled along by currents unseen and inevitable” (Naomi Abrahami, Dance Magazine). Founded in 1991, his company melds movement genres and design to create interdisciplinary works dedicated to relationships and community in the modern age.

 

Born and raised in a kibbutz in northern Israel, Zvi Gotheiner began his artistic career as a violinist with the Young Kibbutzim Orchestra, where he attained the rank of soloist and concertmaster at age 15. He began dancing at 17, and soon after, formed his first performance group.

Gotheiner arrived in New York in 1978 on a dance scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and danced with the Joyce Trisler Danscompany and Feld Ballets/NY and toured with Batsheva Dance Company. After directing Tamar Ramle and the Jerusalem Tamar Dance Companies in Israel and the Israeli Chamber Dance Company in New York, he founded ZviDance in 1991.
Founded in 1991, ZviDance exists to share the choreographic vision and unique movement vocabulary of Artistic Director, Zvi Gotheiner. A collaborative alliance of artists, the company celebrates diversity by melding movement genres into works that refuse to be bound to specific thematic or aesthetic dogma. ZviDance is shaped by a collaborative model of creation, involving the ensemble and designers from the initial research phase, so as to constantly push the methodology of a creation process within an interdisciplinary format.

 

The works of ZviDance have been met with critical acclaim, and held a spot on the prestigious “Best Performances of 2013” list in the New York Times. The company has performed at esteemed New York venues including the Joyce Theater, New York Live Arts, and Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and abroad to Germany, Poland, Russia, Israel, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Japan. ZviDance made its Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival debut in 2004 in the Doris Duke Theatre. The company will return to the Pillow this year for “Escher/Bacon/Rothko” in the Doris Duke Theatre, July 20-24.

Gotheiner is the recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts Choreography Fellowships and The National Arts Club Weiselberg Award. He has been commissioned by companies including Zurich Tanz Theater, Utah’s Repertory Dance Theater, Colloquium Contemporary Dance Exchange, the Joyce Theater’s Altogether Different series, Diversion The Dance Company of Wales, and Groundworks in Cleveland, among others.

 

 

Performance and Ticket Information:

 

Saturday, April 23 at 8pm; Hunter Center at MASS MoCA.

 

Ticket prices: $12 advance, $18 day of, $8 students, $22 preferred

 

To order tickets, call 413.662.2111 or visit MASS MoCA.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.