upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

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Philadelphia Dance Projects presents niv Acosta

Philadelphia Dance Projects will present niv Acosta (ACG '10) in DISCOTROPIC: Ep. 1 train dance. A special open participatory rehearsal, where the audience can choose to participate in the performance of the work, "DISCOTROPIC: Ep. 1 train dance". (run time 30-40mins). An artist/audience conversation with the artist will follow moderated by local choreographer Gregory Holt. In his new serial performance work DISCOTROPIC (2015), New York based dance/performance artist niv Acosta explores the relationship between 'science fiction, disco, astrophysics, and the black American experience.' Saturday, July 18 at 7:30pmat SEI Innovation Studio, Kimmel Center.  Tickets at $10 each are available at kimmelcenter.org or by calling 215-893-1999.

In his new serial performance work DISCOTROPIC, New York based dance/performance artist niv Acosta explores the relationship between science fiction, disco, astrophysics, and the black American experience. DISCOTROPIC is inspired by the role of black women in sci-fi history and film. Acosta’s DISCOTROPIC reconsiders past futures, like those in Star Wars, while claiming a fantastical site of possibility through a cast whose imaginative engagement with science fiction rewrites its dominant narratives. Assembled by Acosta on the basis of shared interests in queer politics and Afrofuturism, the performers include Monstah Black and André Singleton.

“During this open and participatory rehearsal niv Acosta will talk about the development of the work which will reflect input from audience members who want to participate.  This is an unusual opportunity not only to see how this rising new dance artist creates work,  but also to have a role in that process,” said Terry Fox, Director of Philadelphia Dance Projects.

“Researching intersections of race and performance is a unifying thread throughout my body of work.   In DISCOTROPIC we envision our own fantastical world via dance that seeks to fashion a space for people of a marginalized experience,” explained Acosta.  “This project, like other projects I have directed, attempts to create a platform accessible to audiences of diverse paths of life. My work has historically been autobiographical, centered around my experiences as a transexual queer person of color. By interrogating my daily life, I have found the questions and challenges I face to be, in essence, universal and therefore largely accessible.   More specifically, I hope this project will make visible the experiences of a subversive community of queer, transgender, and people-of-color creators.”

DISCOTROPIC is a special PDP presentation in partnership with the William Way Center and their current exhibition “Speak Out For Equality at the National Constitution Center, June 5, 2015 through January 3, 2016.

Philadelphia Dance Projects’ mission is to support contemporary dance through projects that encourage artists and audiences to more fully participate and engage in the experience and pursuit of dance as an evolving form.  Throughout it almost 20 year history PDP has presented workshops, performances, films, educational school residencies, teaching artists groups, and sponsored dance artists exchanges nationally and internationally.  Its current projects include The Local Dance History Project, an online archive of Philadelphia dance history in partnership with the Special Collections Research Center Temple University.

Philadelphia Dance Projects’ 2015-16 programming is made possible through generous support from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Trust for Mutual Understanding, DanceUSA, Samuel S. Fels Fund, Henrietta Tower Wurts Memorial. Bartol Foundation, and Vanguard Foundation.

For further information, please call 215-546-2552.

 

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