geo geller

the modern dance awareness society

presents

disPLACEment

disPLACEment by TMDAS a dance experiential offering and a plea!

[the modern dance awareness society
filmed
by

geo geller

Conceived and directed by passTRESpass: Despina Sophia Stamos and Irene Siegel in collaboration with the dancers of City Plaza Hotel, featuring Rahin Salimi, Mahmadullah Muhammadi , Benyamin Ahmadi, with NYC dancers @BiancaFalco, @IreneSiegel, @WenShuanYang, @MaryCatherineDonnely @SierraNikole and guest artists , Maria Juliana Byck

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Nov 19, 2016 i came at 1pm to Anita’s Way on 132 West 42nd st NYC to film and fotograph the day’s performance which was a ritual procession through Times Square, in which we will carry the stories of our Athens cast and invite visitors to join us for the dance performance at Anita’s Way.

the modern dance awareness society transforms environments by turning up the kinesthetic volume, highlighting aspects of the physical space and actively engaging audiences. This interaction allows the audience to influence and shape the final composition with the performers.

the modern dance awareness society brings dance to the public in unexpected ways. In 1998, Despina Stamos and Wen-Shuan Yang began searching for different contexts and environments to dance. Ms. Stamos and Ms. Yang noticed that most people that they met outside of the insular world of the theater had little idea of what modern dance was or could be and that for many, it was an outdated form that had little relevance to their lives. Ms. Stamos and Ms. Yang decided to take up that challenge and create work that transpires in places that people inhabit in a more open way.

At a moment when more bodies are pouring across borders in search of refuge than ever before, the modern dance awareness society // passTRESpass 2016 offers dis*place*ment, an immersive, participatory installation linking communities in New York, Athens, and other sites where refuge and dislocation collide.

disPLACEment is the culmination of intensive community workshops at a collectively governed refugee-squat in Athens. Amidst rupture and dislocation, we ask: how can dance physicalize new conceptions of community? How can we insinuate excluded narratives into unwelcoming spaces? How can art make space for displaced bodies?

We invite you to witness and participate in this experimental dialogue in movement and physicalized narrative between passTRESpass members here and abroad, live-streamed through a porous, unbounded performance space in the bustling heart of Times Square.

* The performance space is outdoors but protected from the elements! Mostly standing-room only — audience is free to walk around. Feel free to bring seating! *

Conceived and directed by passTRESpass: Despina Sophia Stamos and Irene Siegel in collaboration with the dancers of City Plaza Hotel, featuring Rahin Salimi, Mahmadullah Muhammadi , Benyamin Ahmadi, with NYC dancers @BiancaFalco, @IreneSiegel, @WenShuanYang, @MaryCatherineDonnely @SierraNikole and guest artists , Maria Juliana Byck

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