2024 Festival Schedule & TICKETS

WILBURY THEATRE GROUP
475 Valley Street, Providence, RI

Stay for nightly post-show talks & gatherings!

SCHEDULE SUMMARY:

  • Wednesday, February 28, 7:30pm: Air Stream 2024—Ensemble Improvisational Performance & Opening Night Party

  • Thursday, February 29, 7:30pm: Small Moves, Big Picture—Live Performances & Dance Films

  • Friday & Saturday, March 1 & 2, 7:30pm: Double Bill—Kimberly Bartosik’s The Encounter: Providence, and Shura Baryshnikov & Adrienne Taylor, Two

SCHEDULE DETAILS:

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 7:30pm
AIR STREAM 2024

An ensemble of experts in the art of improvisational dance performance create instant choreography, following both predetermined and spontaneous rules of engagement.

Rachel Boggia (CT) . Heidi Henderson (RI) . Lila Hurwitz (RI) . Michelle Struckholz (RI) . Stephanie Turner (CT)
With sounds by Andy Russ (RI)

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 7:30pm
SMALL MOVES, BIG PICTURE

A spunky mix of live dance performances on a small stage juxtaposed with dance films on a big screen.

Performances by Baye & Asa (NYC) . Rose Woods Dance Collaborative (MA) . Lauren Horn // Subira vs. Movement (CT) . Dennis "TRXCK" Leggett (RI) . Katie Moorhead (RI) . Michael Sakamoto (MA)

Films by Paulo Accioly (Brazil) . Alexander Ekman (Sweden) . Ben Kadie/JA Collective (CA) . Andy & Dionne Noble (TX) . Sophie Flannery Prune Vergères (Switzerland)

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MARCH 1 & 2, 7:30pm
LIVE PERFORMANCES

The Encounter: Providence
Choreographed & Directed by Kimberly Bartosik/daela

Performed by local community members Diana Duffy . Adam Kotin . nikki lee . Emma Lee Malbon . Lily Mathews . Reka Moscarelli . Robert John Pike . Gary Potvin . Sophia Pray . Anna Slate . Joshua Tuason . Alexis Von Maluski

An expansive performance project exploring an intergenerational, cross-geographic, global conversation about the ferocious power of the body as a form of communication. The work is an encounter with oneself, pulling from what people currently carry in their bodies—grief, hope, fear, desire, newfound power—pulsing through and between generations.

“The Encounter is exactly what its title suggests: an encounter between distinct people, and one that could only happen between these people in this place in the way that it does the specific time it happens. The Encounter is a chance made alive." —Cast member, The Encounter: Buffalo

Two
Created & Performed by Shura Baryshnikov & Adrienne Taylor

An intimate conversation between musician and dancer. Through an unfolding chapter structure in one act, dance artist Baryshnikov and cellist Taylor explore a rich landscape of both improvised and through-composed material in service of a deeply felt and palpable depth of listening, communication and play.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 11:30AM–5PM

COMMUNITY CLASSES

Open to all levels. Class size limited; register to reserve your spot.
$20/class; $35/two classes; $50/three classes

11:30am–1pm CLASS: KATIE MOORHEAD—GYROKINESIS®
We’ll articulate the joints and work the entire body through six natural elements of spinal movement. Working with standing, sitting and floor movements, one's entire system is awakened and brought into greater balance. Focus on the breath stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, resulting in a sense of calm, well-being and mental clarity. Move your body in ways that feel wonderful while reaping some pretty incredible benefits. Any one posture will not be held for long periods of time; instead, they are smoothly and harmoniously connected through the use of breath, making exercises appear and feel more like a dance or swimming. In addition to increasing mobility and building a strong musculoskeletal system, the movements stimulate the body's internal organs, fluids, glands, muscles and bones.

1:30–3pm CLASS: SHURA BARYSHNIKOV—CONTEMPORARY DANCE TECHNIQUE
 In this exploratory space, we’ll spend time in both set and improvisatory frameworks—expanding into the solo body before opening to dancing with others. We’ll build safe and efficient patterning from the floor to standing, challenging our habits and endeavoring towards a fully dimensional sense of the body in space. Driving powerfully with the spine, we’ll utilize all of our available surfaces, the use of our hands and feet, inversions that take up lots of space, and powerful, mid-level travel. This play will support increasing speeds, and surprising pathways, unleashing the kinesthetic drive that will bring us through moments of surprise and play in our dancing. If we accept that the body is always falling, we begin to understand that our task is only to guide it safely from up to down and then ride our momentum and structural organization from down to up again. With live accompaniment by cellist Adrienne Taylor.

3:30–5pm CLASS: MICHAEL SAKAMOTO—BODY/MIND/FUNK/TIME
Butoh and American street dance each grew out of conditions of socio-economic crisis in the post-World War Two era in Japan and the U.S. With elements inspired by both movement practices, Michael leads students through vocabulary and exercises to demonstrate a unique blend of intercultural dance theater embodiment.