Salome, and the anatomy of invisible corners

AN INTIMATE, SITE-SPECIFIC DANCE THEATER PRODUCTION BURIED IN THE GUTS OF AN ABANDONED POOL ON GOVERNORS ISLAND'S SOUTH BATTERY, CONTEMPLATING OBEDIENCE, RITUAL AND THE RITUAL BODY.

•      WORLD PREMIERE      •      NEW YORK CITY      •      JUNE 18 19 & 25, 2016

CHOREOGRAPHY & DIRECTION    DANIELLE RUSSO

PERFORMANCE    JASON COLLINS, INGRID KAPTEYN

SET DESIGN    JOANNA DEFELICE

COSTUME DESIGN    JENNY LAI

TECHNICAL CREW    TOMMY D’AGOSTINO, SHAY BARES

Music by Vladislav Delay, Lawrence English, Robert Henke, Machinefabriek, Danielle Russo, Nicholas Slonimsky & Eric Whitacre

Salome... is a two-part project in collaboration with filmmaker Luke Ohlson. In addition to its live public performances, time spent on site will be documented into a full-length film for screening and projection mapping into vacant pool spaces. All rehearsals and performances in residence will be free and accessible to the public. OpenHouseGI is made possible by The Trust for Governors Island. Salome... was created courtesy of the 2015 - 16 LEIMAY Fellowship at CAVE.

DANIELLE RUSSO PERFORMANCE PROJECT is a network of movement-based artists that design conceptual performances for unconventional formats and spaces. Although its primary medium is dance, the result is always multi-disciplinary and non-conformist. Its productions breathe between public spaces with the intent of engaging an evolving, indiscriminate audience. 

DANIELLE creates magnified, immersive environments that feed off sensory stimulation and its awakening of the familiar. She has installed intimate performances in surreal environmental conditions either amplified or augmented by her own doing: parlors flooded by 450000 white roses, cement pillars suspending bodies with industrial cellophane, foyers recarpeted in inexhaustible bubble wrap, the spoon-feeding of German chocolate cake to a string of strangers, and now a vacant pool with over 5000 pounds of dry soil.

ABOUT THE PROCESS

"The partial, imbalanced and imperfect state of one body is integral to the existence of its Other. Research that fed into my process included traditions of ritual purification and ritual burial, alike; subtle choreographies of prayer and prayer etiquette; recurring posture, gaze and gesture in both Classical and Renaissance depictions of religious martyrdom; architecture and mathematics of worship compared to the Golden Ratio; gendered ceremony, or rather role play and performativity; the three distinct legends of Salome as a representation of archetypical femininity regarding 1) the submissive, 2) the sinful, 3) the second body. Next, I layered studies in behavioral symptoms of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as the disorganization of symmetrical music. " (DR)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Danielle Russo has been presented nationally at the American Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow, The Yard and Los Angeles' No)One. Art House; and internationally in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Spain and Sweden. Working residencies have included Chez Bushwick (NYC), Nadine Laboratory for the Contemporary Arts (Belgium), Independent Artists Initiative WUK (Austria), PA-F Performing Arts Forum (France), SILO (NYC, PA) and Springboard Danse Montréal (Canada). In 2012, she was a grant recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts to present at the 80th Anniversary Season of Jacob's Pillow and selected to represent the United States alongside John Jasperse at the inaugural PRISMA Festival de Danza Contemporanea in Panama. In 2013, she was invited to present her multimedia solo work with artist Jin-Wen Yu at the World Dance Alliance Assembly in British Columbia. Most recently, she was selected as a LEIMAY Fellow for 2015 - 2016. Local highlights have included the Ace Hotel, American Dance Guild, Armory Arts, Julian Schnabel's Casa del Popolo, Center for Performance Research, Gowanus Art + Production, HERE Art Center, La MaMa, SPRING/BREAK Art Show and (un)SCENE Art Show, to name a few. Presently, she teaches choreography at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She is a recipient of a BFA in Dance and a BA in Anthropology from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a MFA in Dance from the Hollins University/American Dance Festival partnership where she attended on fellowship. Outside of her own creative endeavors, she performs with The Metropolitan Opera. 

Jason Collins currently works with Pam Tanowitz Dance, Ryan McNamara, Danielle Russo Performance Project, Dylan Crossman/Crossman Dans(c)e, and has additionally worked with The Bang Group, Wally Cardona & Jennifer Lacey, Opera Omaha, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Christopher Williams and Zack Winokur. Additionally, he is co-founder of the HEWMAN collective based in New York City. Jason holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School. 

Ingrid Kapteyn currently works with Brian Brooks Moving Company and Danielle Russo Performance Project, and has additionally worked with Wally Cardona, The Metropolitan Opera, Punchdrunk NYC’s Sleep No More and MacArthur Fellow Martha Clarke and Pulitzer Prize-winner Alfred Uhry’s Angel Reapers. Additionally, she is co-founder of the HEWMAN collective based in New York City. Ingrid holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School.

Joanna DeFelice mainly works in the medium of industrial art. She has worked with 13 designs, a studio which produces events for clients such as Travel and Leisure and Target. She has explored all types of design and build, realizing that nothing is impossible to execute. Also a professional dancer, she finds this philosophy congruent with the principles in dance and expression that have shaped her life. Her The Tire Chair has been sold at ABC Carpet and Home and used for multiple press events throughout the city. She has been commissioned as a set and technical designer for various performance artists and companies.

Under the label 'NOT', designer Jenny Lai creates ready-to-wear collections, custom performance-wear for musicians and dancers, and collaborative projects around the world as a mobile studio. The brand was founded with the goal of making the physical experience of dressing a surprising and playful experience within itself. Transformation and movement is built into the design, engaging the wearer in the creative process.  Jenny is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design and has worked around the world from Amsterdam to Mexico City to South Africa. 

Luke Ohlson is a filmmaker and community organizer working out of New York City. He creates narrative documentary and experimental films using both film and digital platforms. Luke first crossed paths with Danielle at New York University, where he earned degrees in both Cinema Studies and Politics. He is founder of 7Cinema.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Alexandra Albrecht

Ashley Browne

Whitney Browne Photography

Julia Campanelli

City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation

Alexis Convento

Thomas DeFrantz

Anita Dispenziere

Fana Fraser

Colin Fuller

Ximena Garnica

Amanda Hameline

Rachel Helling

LEIMAY home of CAVE

Shige Moriya

Aubree Mullally

David Norsworthy

Maya Orchin

Gisele & Jim Russo

Ellen Shadle

Lucy Simard

Kristin Swiat

The Trust for Governors Island

Elizabeth Velez

Molly Williams

7Cinema