"Rounds” and other new works An evening of dance theater by EmmaGrace Skove-Epes November 17, 2011

Spoke the Hub Dancing Presents:

"Rounds” and other new works

An evening of dance theater by

EmmaGrace Skove-Epes

Winner of Spoke the Hub's Local Produce Winter Follies Showcase 2011

Brooklyn, New York - Spoke the Hub is presenting three performances that showcase the recent work of dancer/choreographer EmmaGrace Skove-Epes, including the premier of "Rounds”, a new evening length piece created during her residency at Spoke the Hub's studio theater in the Gowanus Arts Building.

Performances will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 17, 18, and 19, 7:30pm, at 295 Douglass Street, Brooklyn. Adult admission is $15 in advance, $20 at the door; $10/kids/seniors. For advance ticket purchases, visit www.spokethehub.org

"Rounds" is a piece for eight women who dance while accompanying themselves by playing melodies on glass bottles filled with water. Exploring the necessity, difficulty, and sanctity of expressing a personal need for change while surrounded by a community of others, the piece unfolds as a series of solos, a crafting of individualized rituals that are surrounded, supported, and swallowed by a moving, witnessing, and music-making group. As the performers execute their notes and movements in rounds, so they exchange roles in rounds; each is alternately a soloist then a witness, an instigator then a mediator, a dancer then a musician.

In addition, three other works by Skove-Epes will be presented alongside “Rounds”. “A Lesson in French”, a comical piece for three untrained male performers, looks at French ballet terminology and raises questions of interpretation, translation, oral tradition, canon, and ownership. “Ablutions: Bathtime” (premier), a solo danced by Skove-Epes in a plastic bin filled with water, is a tribute to quirky sensory driven acts of childlike play that become means for creative expression and spiritual engagement. “Run On” (premier) is a comical ramble on the difficulties involved in conveying meaning through movement and “being oneself” while on stage.

Skove-Epes has assembled a new group of performers and collaborators for this show. The dancer-musicians include Sunder Ashni, Karesia Batan, Daniel Bieber, Dasha Chapman, Joel Clark, Rachel Goldstein, Gyrchel Moore, Rhiannon Murphy, Jesse Phillips-Fein, Ian Turner, and Nadia Tykulsker. Original costume designs by Ronnie Yoked and lighting design by Diana Bayne.

EmmaGrace Skove-Epes was voted the winner of Spoke the Hub's Winter Follies performance showcase in January 2011. That award gave her the opportunity to create and present this debut evening-length concert. Skove-Epes, originally from Brooklyn, NY, graduated from Bard College with a dual degree in Dance and Religion. Past choreography has been performed at the Blithewood Pool, HERE Arts Center, Judson Memorial Church, the Paradise Theater, Spoke the Hub’s Gowanus Arts building, and Triskelion Arts. In addition to performing her own work, Skove-Epes has performed in numerous festivals and concerts with choreographers Martha Bowers, Noemie LaFrance, Sondra Loring, Meredith Monk, Susan Osberg, Jesse Phillips-Fein, Dana Salisbury, Maria Simpson, Allie Avital Tsypin and Nadia Tykulsker/Spark(edit) Arts. She has also performed as a vocalist with bands SCHOOL, Shenandoah and the Night, and Zion Judah and the Deep Theta 7.