September 9 & 10, 2022 The Performance Garage, Philadelphia
The Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble returns to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival this September. We’re joining Dancefusion to present ENVISIONS, an evening-length program of dances by Anna Sokolow and Pauline Koner together with contemporary choreographer Rachel Kantra Beal.
ST/DE will perform excerpts from two masterworks through which Anna Sokolow enters an artistic dialogue with beloved painters. (See the paintings.) In Magritte, Magritte (1970), Sokolow creates a surrealist dance-theater piece that carries Rene Magritte’s haunting images into motion, challenging us to see the irony and humor in his classic work. Guest artist of extraordinary range, Clarence Brooks, will join us as the Threatened Assassin.
Frida (1997) is an intimate portrait based on Sokolow’s personal relationship with Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. At 87, Sokolow created a multimedia homage to her friend’s internal life and public persona. The incomparable Christine Dakin, the Martha Graham Company’s esteemed soloist and former Artistic Director, will dance Frida.
Dancefusion (artistic director, Gwendolyn Bye) will perform two masterpieces by Pauline Koner (1912-2001), a visionary dancer, choreographer, and pioneering maverick of modern dance.
[Pauline Koner was] “one of the eclectic individualists of contemporary American dance”
Concertino (1955) is set to music by Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. The dance uses the flavor of court dances to depict three facets of a woman’s life. The second work is an excerpt from Koner’s monumental solo The Farewell (1962). Dedicated to Doris Humphrey, it is set to Gustav Mahler’s “The Song of the Earth” and danced by Janet Pilla Marini.
Dancefusion will also perform Rachel Kantra Beal’s innovative and fun work Forces in G: Ode to a Ball, to J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto.
ENVISIONS Friday, Sept 9, 2022 at 7 pm Saturday, Sept 10 at 3 pm and 7 pm
Adults $30 FringeArts Box Office: 215-413-1318 Student and group rates available. Contact Mary@gbyedance.org or call 215-222-7633.
Performance Garage 1515 Brandywine St. Philadelphia, PA 19103
(Mask and proof of vaccination required for admission.)
