The “annual” Motion State Dance Festival finally returns! With live performances, dance films, artist/audience interactions and our headliner: celebrated choreographer Edisa Weeks (NY).
The second Motion State Dance Festival is a multi-day event celebrating contemporary performance, and includes:
March 11 & 12 (WaterFire): A work-in-progress solo performance of Edisa Weeks’ 3 RITES: Liberty before it tours nationally. Amidst a community-made set installation of hundreds of paper and twine roots hanging from above, Weeks alternates between Black face, White face, storytelling and visceral dance to dig into the pathologizing of African-Americans and the foundations of liberty in America. The piece addresses the uneven ways our country has met its promise of liberty and justice for all.
March 10 (WaterFire): Small Moves, Big Picture, a spunky mix of live dance performances on a small stage juxtaposed with dance films on a big screen. Featuring performances from Shura Baryshnikov (RI), Olivier Besson (MA), Ali Kenner Brodsky & Andy Russ (RI), Assitan Coulibaly (RI), David Dorfman (CT) and Joshua Tuason (RI). With dance films from Kate Corby (WI), Tori Lawrence (MA), Annabella Lenzu (NY), Katie Beard and Naomi Turner (UK), and Esther Dganit Zimmerman (Tel Aviv).
March 9 (WaterFire): Air Stream, a one-time-only ensemble of experts in the art of improvisational dance performance. Using the entire 15,000 square foot Main Hall, unbound to a traditional proscenium stage, the dancers explore and enliven the space following both predetermined and spontaneous rules of engagement—as the audience is invited to follow along, literally and figuratively. Conceived by Lila Hurwitz and Andy Russ, with Rhode Island dance artists Shura Baryshnikov, Heidi Henderson, Cathy Nicoli, Michelle Struckholz and Stephanie Turner, with a live sound score by Russ.
March 5 (Southside Cultural Center): Roots Party, a free public gathering at which community members create the 3 RITES: Liberty set elements (the paper and twine roots), share food, and discuss issues around justice reform with guest facilitators Haus of Glitter.