Motion State Arts presents

heidi henderson / elephant jane dance
untitled sad piece

November 7, 2024 . 7pm
united skates of america . rumford, RI

A contemporary dance work, performed in a roller skating rink, set to songs by the 1970s super duo The Carpenters.

Examining the sensation of a sinking heart, featuring quiet solos, touching duets, and a wild burst of galumphing, dancers respond to the deep sadness in the grain of Karen Carpenter’s voice, initiate from the dancers’ hearts, and find tenderness. The cast includes phenomenal dance artists Sara Gibbons (NY), Tristan Koepke (ME), Edward Rice (NY), Christina Jane Robson (DC) and Henderson.

This very special performance will occur at United Skates of America, a beloved skating rink minutes from downtown Providence. You're encouraged to dress in 1970s-era clothing and stay after the show to skate!

Doors open: 6:30pm
Performance: 7:00pm
Skating Session: 8:00pm (optional; add'l fee; 18+)

Motion State Arts is thrilled to present the only Rhode Island performance of this piece.

I make dances that are humanist and minimalist, visceral and thoughtful, emotional and highly structured. I am interested in these as contradictions, as opposing ideas that meet and negotiate. I work at the place where the neatness of abstract art meets the messiness of life. These dances are meant to be seen close, the performers touch, sweat, see into each other's eyes. These dances are real, messy, single minded, fluid, quiet, virtuosic. —Heidi Henderson

ARTIST BIOS

Heidi Henderson lives and makes work in RI, is a Professor at Connecticut College, and danced in NYC (in the companies of Bebe Miller, Nina Wiener, Peter Schmitz, Sondra Loring, Colleen Thomas, Paula Josa-Jones, etc.) Her pickup company, elephant JANE dance, performs mostly in New England. She has received, five times, the Fellowship in Choreography from the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. She was a frequent contributing editor for Contact Quarterly. Her process is made slightly more clear in a gracious interview by Sara Smith for Kinebago, republished in Critical Correspondence by Movement Research.

Sara Gibbons is a New York-based performer and choreographer with a Masters in Clinical Nutrition. In the last few years she's worked as the Assistant Director on Sarah Ruhl's Becky Nurse of Salem (Lincoln Center), as the Associate Choreographer on the Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Huntington Theater (Boston), Ahmanson Theatre (Los Angeles), and Menier Chocolate Factory (London) productions of Indecent, and as a performer for Heidi Henderson, among others.

Tristan Koepke is a dancer, educator, choreographer, and Rolfer®. He holds an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland, College Park, and is Associate Director of the Young Dancers Workshop at the Bates Dance Festival. He has performed in contemporary and experimental dance works by Chris Schlichting, Vanessa Anspaugh, luciana achugar, Cally Spooner, Doug Varone, Kendra Portier, Heidi Henderson, and was a member of Zenon Dance Company from 2011–2019. His current areas of research include somatic phenomenology in dance performance, hauntology and semio-capitalism, historicizing bodies and somatic practices within multidisciplinary fields of inquiry, and situating liberation work within the fields of dance and somatic education.

Edward Rice is a performer, arts administrator, and teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. Edward has danced with Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects, Laura Peterson Choreography, elephant JANE dance, Alexandra Beller/Dances, Sleep No More, NYC, Third Rail Projects, among others. He studied Dance Performance at Illinois State University (B.S) and the University of Iowa (MFA).

Christina Robson has enjoyed dancing with Heidi Henderson, elephant JANE dance since 2011! Christina has performed for a number of choreographers over the last decade, such as Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, David Dorfman, Sean Curran, BandPortier, Third Rail Projects, PearsonWidrig and Monica Bill Barnes. She is an Assistant Professor at George Mason University.

Motion State Arts thanks many generous individual donors for their support of this project.

Image: Jonathan Tsu