Less than two weeks out and things are rolling right along. I strongly believe this will be the most prolific Chop Shop yet...and I am excited to see the work live and happening! And have you seen the master class line up? I expect to be turning people away!

Thank you to Gabrielle Nomura for her kindness and support:

http://thebellevuescene.com/the-bold-rebellious-art-of-modern-dance/3267/

StoneDance Productions and The Theatre At Meydenbauer

Present

Master Classes for Dancers

Chop Shop: Bodies of Work

A Contemporary Dance Festival

February 12th and 13th, 2011

As a part of the Chop Shop: Bodies of Work Dance Festival, Master Classes are being offered by the Artistic Directors of the performing companies. All classes are held onstage at Meydenbauer Theatre. Classes are open to Advanced-Beginning to Advanced level dancers ages 12 and up. Spaces are limited! Reservations must be made for all participants. To reserve your place, please call 206.799.6004. (Drop-ins may attend on the day, but will not be guaranteed a spot.)

Saturday, February 12^th:

11:00 to 12:30 Int/Adv Modern with Catherine Cabeen, Artistic Director, Catherine Cabeen and Company

1:00 to 2:30 Dancemaking/Improv with Tonya Lockyer, Choreographer

3:30 to 5:00 Int/Adv Modern with Sonia Dawkins, Artistic Director, SD/Prism Dance Theatre

Sunday, February 13th:

10:00 to 11:30 Int/Adv Modern with Michael Rioux, Choreographer

11:30 to 1:00 Int/Adv Contemporary with Kelly Ann Barton, Spectrum Dance Theater

1:00 to 2:00 Reading Dance* Hosted by Eva Stone, The Stone Dance Collective and Guests

*Reading Dance: This lecture/demonstration deconstructs and demystifies the creative process of making a contemporary dance piece. Learn how dance is choreographed and discover the how concepts of imagery and meaning in movement are utilized in this unique art form. (This is a FREE event, no registration necessary.)

Cost: Classes are $18.00 each, any three for $45.00 or all five for $50.00

Call 206.799.6004 or email stonedancecollective@hotmail.com to reserve your place!

*Payment due prior to class. Sorry, no checks. Cash only, please.

StoneDance Productions and The Theatre at Meydenbauer

Present

Chop Shop: Bodies of Work

A Contemporary Dance Festival

At The Theatre at Meydenbauer

Saturday, February 12th, 7:30 pm

Sunday, February 13th, 3:00pm

2011

Bellevue, WA – November 30, 2010 - StoneDance Productions and The Theater At Meydenbauer present 'Chop Shop: Bodies of Work', the Eastside's only Contemporary Dance Festival. Returning for its fourth year, this unique festival is a rare opportunity to explore the truly original talents of Seattle-based and Eastside - based artists in two special performances. This is the BEST of the Seattle/Eastside dance community in ONE festival. Chop Shop highlights local contemporary choreography with a focus on dance work that is innovative, accessible and thought provoking. Each of these prolific choreographers has presented work to numerous critical successes throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Though each company/artist presented possesses their own individual voice, they are all unified in the contemporary language of dance and its power to stir the senses through the visceral moving image.

This is an event not to be missed! Last year’s sold out performances established Chop Shop as one of the most highly anticipated dance events in the greater Seattle/Eastside area.

A RARE OPPORTUNITY

“Reading Dance”: A FREE lecture on Sunday February 13th at 1:00. Experience a “behind the scenes” look at how contemporary dances are formed. Learn about meaning and imagery behind the choreographer’s unique movement language and how the creative process is developed and refined.

Master Classes (2/12 and 2/13) by the Artistic Directors of the performing companies will be held during daytime hours of the festival in the Theater (Saturday and Sunday starting at 10:00 am.) Please call (206) 799-6004 for schedule and reservations. Classes are $18.00 each, three for $45.00 or five for $50.00.

See our promo: www.chopshopdance.org

Tickets are on sale now. Go to www.brownpapertickets.com or call 1-800-838-3006.

Adults: $25.00

Students and Seniors: $20.00

Discounted Tickets for groups of 10 or more.

Meydenbauer Theater is located at 11100 NE 6th St., Bellevue, WA 98104

Chop Shop: Bodies of Work is funded in part by a generous grant and sponsorship from 4Culture, Seattle Weekly and The City of Bellevue Arts Program.

StoneDance Productions is an associated program of Shunpike.

Shunpike is a 501(c)(3) non-profit art service organization whose mission is to strengthen the Seattle arts community by partnering with small and mid-size arts groups to develop the business tools they need to succeed. Working in close partnership with these groups, Shunpike helps solve problems quickly and impart vital skills in finance, organizational management and arts administration.

The Performing Artists:

Spectrum Dance Theater, established in 1982, is the largest professional contemporary dance company in Washington, presenting work by Artistic Director Donald Byrd and guest artists, with a focus on Northwest choreographers. Its mission is to produce and present contemporary dance that challenges expectations and calls forth strong emotions, deep feelings and thoughtful responses. Donald Byrd became Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater in December 2002. From 1978 – 2002, he was Artistic Director of Donald Byrd/The Group a critically acclaimed contemporary dance company, founded in Los Angeles and later based in New York, that toured extensively, both nationally and internationally. Byrd created over 80 works for modern dance companies, for his own group, Spectrum, and the Ailey Company as well as for Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco). He has choreographed for classical companies, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Aterballetto, MaggioDanza diFirenze and Oregon Ballet Theater. Spectrum Dance Theater will be presenting Longing, a work exploring the themes of desire, longing and loss.

Wade Madsen is a Seattle based choreographer and has received choreographic fellowships from the NEA, King County, and Artist Trust. Wade has also received grants from Seattle Arts and Washington State Arts commissions, along with Art Matters and Bossak/Heilbron foundation. Wade is currently teaching for the 27th year at Cornish College of the Arts, where he is Professor of Dance. Madsen’s work has been commissioned by Co Motion, Spectrum, and d-9 dance companies and most recently with Seattle Dance Project. Wade Madsen and Dancers has been producing and performing in Seattle since 1979. Madsen premiered Leaving at Chop Shop in 2009, a tribute in response to his father's passing.

Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre is a Seattle-based modern dance company driven to create works of dance that captivate, connect emotionally and intrigue through unique and unusual choreographic structure. Artistic Director David Lorence Schleiffers draws inspiration from his experience in musical theater, historic modern dance and contemporary dance. Through this company, he continually creates theatrical pieces which tells stories through movement. It is his artistic goal to present work that is both artistically intelligent and entertaining. Quark will be presenting Once and Never Again, which toys with organized dance structures as a means of highlighting moments of complete destruction and desolation.

Michael Rioux, Artistic Director of The Sho, is your favorite artists’ favorite artist. He seriously insists that since everything is so damn serious that nothing should be taken seriously. He recently got into a Facebook argument about the existence of time. Returning by popular demand, The Sho will be performing site-specific work, People Believe Themselves, in the lobby and various locations throughout The Theatre at Meydenbauer pre-show and at intermission.

Tonya Lockyer has worked internationally as a dancer, choreographer and educator. After dancing professionally in Canada, New York and Boston she founded VIA, a Seattle dance-theater company generating inter-cultural collaborations with artists from the Middle East, Russia, Europe and North America. Lockyer's choreography has been awarded more than thirty-five commissions by companies, festivals and universities in the US and abroad. In 2008, her evening-length solo “Consumed” was commissioned by On The Boards for their main season. She was appointed Visiting Artist at Mimar Sinan University Istanbul, Brigham Young University, The University of Calgary and The University of Maryland. Currently, she serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts where she is also coordinator of the Merce Cunningham minEvent Project. Lockyer presents A tiny ship in a vast outer space where the air is quiet and transparent, taking inspiration from Edvard Greig’s music for Ibsen’s Peer Gynt and excerpts from Mishima’s The Decay of the Angel, this meditation on memory and loss transforms the theater into a vast exterior winter scene animated by the magical fantasies of childhood.

SD/Prism Dance Theatre is a multicultural dance company that explores new ways of artistically expressing the beauty of diversity. Artistic Director Sonia Dawkins is a graduate from University of the Arts (M.A.) and is currently on the faculty of Pacific Northwest Ballet. Professionally, she has performed with The National of Company of Jamaica and with independent choreographers and companies in New York. In addition to her own choreographic works, Dawkins has been commissioned to create for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre Spring Performance, PNB, Nevada Ballet Theatre and various theatre companies in the Seattle area such as Seattle Repertory and Broadway Bound. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, grants and scholarships for her choreography and recently participated in the 13th Annual Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival. Dawkins will premier a new work for this year's Chop Shop Dance Festival.

zoe | juniper: As a visual artist and choreographer, Juniper Shuey and Zoe Scofield are drawn together as collaborators by our respect for and subverted use of classical form, aesthetic clarity and the desire to create a sense of heightened reality. As a choreographer, Zoe is interested in using the self-command and physical distortion of classical ballet technique: i.e. turned out legs that display pointed feet, placement, and disciplined physical articulation. The deconstruction and reassembly of movement takes place through an investigation into the skeletal structure of form. Converted in this way, movement becomes a clear palate for emotion, intention and the viewer’s perception. For his part, Juniper composes the visual and emotional elements of design with simple lines and a spatial clarity to create and highlight an exaggerated or elevated reality. It is within this synergistic space that the performance- and the viewer’s perception of it – happens. Zoe and Juniper both seek a distilled clarity of technique in their discipline so as to offer an unfettered vehicle through which the audience can experience the piece with its own history, desire, and emotion. Scofield will present and excerpt from A Crack in Everything,

Catherine Cabeen and Company (CCC) is a project based, contemporary dance company dedicated to interdisciplinary conversations and collaborations. CCC was founded in 2009 as a forum for investigating both the creative processes and the artistic products that result when artists of different mediums collide. Anchored in the choreographic work of Catherine Cabeen, CCC creates dynamic performances that engage the body as an intersection for ideas. In the last year CCC has engaged 11 interdisciplinary collaborators and presented work in Seattle, New York, Santa Fe, and Dar es Salaam. CCC is currently working on Into the Void, an evening length work that premiers at On the Boards April 28-30, 2011. Cabeen will present Distances, set to original, live music. This complex duet is about finding ways to support individuality within a relationship.

Bellingham Repertory Dance (BRD) is a dancer-driven repertory company based in Bellingham, WA. Established in 2006, BRD aims to provide the community with high-quality production and presentation of contemporary dance. BRD is presenting Trap Door Party by Canadian choreographer Josh Beamish, Artistic Director of Move: The Company, who's work has been presented throughout Canada and also at The Joyce SoHo in New York. Trap Door Party recently premiered in October of 2010 at WORLD EXPO in Shanghai, China presented by Cirque du Soleil at the Cultural Finale of the Canadian Pavilion.

The Stone Dance Collective originated in London, England in 1993 and became a permanent part of the Seattle dance community in 1995. Artistic Director Eva Stone has a unique approach to her choreographic work with its intent based in humor, human connection and emotion. Her work has been presented throughout the Northwest, the United States and Europe. Stone will present Readymade, a work examining the periodic table in relationship to the basic physical and emotional elements that make us human.

A Sweet Addition...

Lucky us....Michael Rioux is a "never too late" addition to the already stunning Chop Shop 2011 line up. Michael will create site work pre and mid show in various areas throughout the Theatre at Meydenbauer. Don't miss him...he is a true local original.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwQuyFbAk7A

Until next year, SnoCo...

Well, Chop Shop: Northside! is a wrap and what an exhausting experience. I will say this to any other dance artists considering presenting work in Snohomish County....bring your best smile and a ton of patients. Trying to stir up local interest was very challenging and taught me a thing or two about promotion. I was down to handing out fliers in my local grocery store...I kid you not.

I was very pleased with the overall turn out and feel confident the audience was well taken care of. The work was wonderful and the dancers gave their all. Feedback so far gave a strong thumbs up for the whole show, particularly to Whidbey Island Dance Theatre (as many could not believe the average age of the dancers was about 17) and SD/Prism. I am quite sure nothing of this caliber (on a local level) has ever been presented in this neck of the woods and I am honored to have been in such great company. Thank you to all who danced or came to see great dancing.

Full steam ahead for February!

Chop Shop: Northside! is just a few days away and I am thrilled to be brining this event to my neck of the woods. I would be lying if I didn't say the Snohomish County is a slow breathing animal (as far as publicity and support is concerned) but I think we will have a strong turn out. I am confident the work being presented is some of the best that has ever happened in this area...so lets just hope the locals jump on board. (This has definitely tested my promotional skills...)

On to other news, Chop Shop: Bodies of Work (now in our fourth year!) has been curated and here is the line up:

Bellingham Repertory Dance

Spectrum Dance Theater

Tonya Lockyer

Wade Madsen

The Stone Dance Collective

Zoe Scofield

Catherine Cabeen

SD/Prism Dance Theatre

Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre

and check THIS out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwQuyFbAk7A

(more beautiful work by Gabe Bienczycki)

It's going to be an amazing event! Stay tuned!

Chop Shop: NORTHSIDE!

StoneDance Productions and The Black Box Theatre

Present

Chop Shop: NORTHSIDE

A Contemporary Dance Festival

At The The Black Box Theater

Edmonds Community College

Saturday, October 30^th, 7:30 pm

2010

Edmonds, WA – August 5, 2010 - StoneDance Productions and The Black Box Theatre present 'Chop Shop: NORTHSIDE', A Contemporary Dance Festival. Now, for the first time, this amazing dance event comes to Snohomish County! Chop Shop: Northside will have its debut run at The Black Box Theatre at Edmonds Community College specifically for Northside residents. This unique festival is a rare opportunity to explore the truly original talents of world renown Seattle-based and Eastside-based artists in one special evening performance. This is the BEST of the Seattle/Eastside dance community in ONE festival. Each of these prolific choreographers has presented work to numerous critical successes throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Though each company/artist presented possesses their own individual voice, they are all unified in the contemporary language of dance and its power to stir the senses through the visceral moving image.

This is an event not to be missed! Past sold out performances have established Chop Shop as one of the most highly anticipated dance events in the greater Seattle/Eastside area.

"...already one of Seattle’s most talked about and important outlets for dance." - Dean Speer, Critical Dance

A RARE OPPORTUNITY:

“Reading Dance”: A FREE lecture on Saturday, October 30th, 2010, 6:00 pm (prior to the performance.) Experience a “behind the scenes” look at how contemporary dances are formed. Learn about meaning and imagery behind the choreographer’s unique movement language and how the creative process is developed and refined. Hosted by Eva Stone and presented at The Black Box Theatre, open to all ages.

Free "Introduction to Modern Dance" class with Eva Stone, Artistic Director of The Stone Dance Collective. This class is open to ages 10+ to adult who would like to experience modern dance. No experience necessary! Wednesday, Oct. 27th, 2010. Black Box Theatre, 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Please call 206-700-6004 to reserve a spot.

Master Classes (10/30) by the Artistic Directors of the performing companies will be held during daytime hours of the festival in the Theater (Saturday 12:00pm and 2:00pm) Please call (206) 799-6004 for schedule and reservations. Classes are $12.00 each (discounted prices are offered with purchase of show ticket.)

Visit www.chopshopdance.org for promo and more information.

Tickets are on sale now. Go to www.theatreedmond.org. or call 1-800-838-3006.

For information please call 425-640-1448.

Adults: $20.00
Students and Seniors: $14.00

The Black Box Theatre is located on campus of Edmond Community College: 20310 68th Ave. West, Lynnwood, WA 98036

Chop Shop: Northside is funded in part by the Arts, Culture, and Civic Engagement Programs

StoneDance Productions is an associated program of Shunpike.

Shunpike is a 501(c)(3) non-profit art service organization whose mission is to strengthen the Seattle arts community by partnering with small and mid-size arts groups to develop the business tools they need to succeed. Working in close partnership with these groups, Shunpike helps solve problems quickly and impart vital skills in finance, organizational management and arts administration.

The Performing Artists:

Spectrum Dance Theater: Led by Artistic Director Donald Byrd, Spectrum Dance Theater stands at the forefront of contemporary dance as one of the most daring and innovative cultural assets in the region. The Company has established a full season of performances presented at the Moore Theatre where Spectrum is the official Resident Dance Company and continues to expand its reach with national and international touring engagements. Mr. Byrd regularly teaches around the country and was a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. He has been awarded the Bessie, and was a 2006 Tony nominee for his choreography of the Broadway musical, THE COLOR PURPLE. Spectrum will be presenting Duet from Drastic Cuts, a piece in which Byrd describes as "the lattices of the lines (in the body) acting as a restraint, imprisoning the volatile feelings in a structural containment."

The Stone Dance Collective is a modern dance company that originated in London, England in 1993 but has been part of the Seattle/Eastside dance scene for more than 12 years. Artistic Director and choreographer Eva Stone never fails to amuse and provoke audiences through her humor, detail and unexpected approach to contemporary dance. Having learned the art of dance backwards (choreography before technique), Stone has developed a movement language that is uniquely her own. Her choreography has been presented in New York, Geneva, London and St. Petersburg, Russia. Locally, she has been commissioned by numerous companies throughout Washington and most recently as part of a collaborative effort (alongside Olivier Wevers and Wade Madsen) on Project Orpheus with Seattle Dance Project. Stone will be presenting The End of A Year, a poignant and unaffected examination of beginnings and endings.

Mark Haim is a world-renowned performer/choreographer and former UW Senior Artist in Residence. He has created works for Nederlands Dans Theatre, Ballet Frankfurt and the Jose Limon Dance Company, to name only a few. Haim’s critically acclaimed 'The Goldberg Variations' has been presented at American Dance Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center and other venues in Europe, the US and Asia. Haim will present Buoyant Despite Slump, a piece about “the window of opportunity created in a quiet moment of profound sadness and abandonment,” performed by the much-in-demand contemporary dancer Jim Kent.

Khambatta Dance Company fuses complex athletic partnering and daring lifts with a keen theatrical sensibility, revealing human nature through the lens of intimate relationships and the everyday experience. Artistic Director Cyrus Khambatta has presented work in twelve US states, throughout Europe as well as in Russia and Latin America. He has received awards and grants from numerous foundations to support the presentation of work both in the U.S. and abroad. He is also the curator of the long running dance Seattle festival Beyond the Threshold.

Whidbey Island Dance Theatre was founded in 1993 to provide pre-professional experience for promising young dancers and to promote dance as a significant cultural resource for Whidbey Island and surrounding communities. Under the artistic direction of Charlene Brown and Susan Campbell Sandri, WIDT has provided dancers with opportunities for both personal and artistic growth. WIDT will present press/release, choreographed by Eva Stone and which premiered at Regional Dance America/Pacific at the annual festival. This work looks at human relationships and the pressures of societal constructs.

Coriolis Dance Collective is an immersive and openly experimental contemporary dance company led by Natascha Greenwalt Murphy and Christin Call. Formed in 2008, as a venue to push themselves as artists and peers, the vision of Coriolis is to create new, highly collaborative works with artists of all disciplines while maintaining an atmosphere of camaraderie and open feedback. Coriolis will be presenting the work of Venezuelan choreographer Gillmer Duran in a piece that explores the reaction of vibration within the body and how that impulse can inform function and line within ones own body while affecting change upon a group. The result is an organic yet vibrant quartet for two women and two men set to a melodic yet minimal score by BoiledJar.

SD/Prism Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company founded by Artistic Director Sonia Dawkins, who has been in the Seattle area for the past 10 years and is also a part of the faculty at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Dawkins’ focus as a choreographer is drawn from the artistry, athleticism and “poetry” from within each dancer. Critics have said her works possess “athletic edge and artistic depth.” Dawkins is presenting Linkage, a study on the demise of national and social constructs in a “monetary context.”

Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre is a fresh new company created in 2009 by David Lorence Schleiffers, recently completing a dance degree in the UW Dance Program. This company aims to create and perform unique and thought provoking work, which focuses on the individuality of each dancer. In The Kids' Table, Schleiffers takes us on a subtle journey subtle journey through the growing process and uses simple movement themes to highlight complex aspects of adulthood.