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Composition & Choreography 

August 10, 5:30PM, 2019, Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall, Department of Music, UCSB 


 

5 original music and dance, 

4 premiere, 

3 live works, 

2 dance films, 

All at 1 place.


 

Celebrating collaboration between composition and choreography: this new, ambitious program features five works of original music and dance. Among them, four are world-premiere, three live dance works are newly-commissioned for this festival, and two films feature dancing in nature, widening the theater experience beyond the stage. Music serves an active and crucial role in this music+dance concert:  from solo and duo to orchestra, from electronics to natural ambiance, audiences will enjoy the diverse visual-soundscape. 


This interdisciplinary, collaborative program was made possible thanks to incredible artists with national and international careers, not only from UCSB but also our own Santa Barbara community:  Tonia Shimin (UCSB dance department professor Emeritus), Robin Bisio (choreographer, filmmaker), Patrick Lindley (UCSB dance department pianist), Zane Atkinson (UCSB dance department student), Meri Takkinen (dancer), Jennifer Deslippe (dancer), Adriane Hill (flutist), Heena Yoon (composer, multi instrumentalist), and State Street Ballet dancers Anna Carnes (choreographer),  Ahna Lipchik, Amber Hirschfield, Chloe Kelley.

This project became possible thanks to the stage manager Anthony Garcia and Connor Long, marketing manager Adriane Hill, lighting designer Tiffany Rizzo Weaver, photographer Rod Rolle, and ushers and organizers behind the stage. 

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1. Of Stones and Water (film) 

 

Meditative, poetic and vibrant, Of Stones and Water traces a dancer’s response and relationship to a labyrinth of stone and to the sea, finding the point of connection where the two worlds come together with his own.

 

Filmed on Site at The Labyrinth,  University of California Santa Barbara and in Santa Barbara

 

Directed  and Produced by: Tonia Shimin

Cinematography and   Editing: Catherine Bennett

Dancer and Improvisation: Sean Nederlof

Music and Cello: Gianna Abondolo

2. Bridge II (revision and dance premiere)  

 

“Bridge II” is  an attempt to explore the possibility of "between," where two different worlds meet each other: not here, not there, but somewhere in between. Musically,the nay from middle-east music and flute from western european music seek to reach each other, despite the difference of tuning, timbre and limits that the instruments have, while preserving each instrument's own beauty and characters.  In dance, two dancers’ co-choreography combines their formal dance training and spiritual practice such as taichi,  aikido, and Qi gong,  reflecting their motherhood and a relationship with their daughter - therefore this piece creates a bridge between sound, movement, and life.   * 2016 Corwin Music Award

 

 

Composition & Nay:  Heena Yoon

Flute: Adriane Hill 

Choreography/dance: Meri Takkinen, Jennifer Harman Deslippe

Backdrop image: Painter Salma Aratsu's “We Witness”

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3. Paper Nautilus (film with live piano music, premiere) 

 

Paper Nautilus is a tribute to the beautiful Pacific and to the shells perfectly formed in its embrace. As waters rise and oceans warm and plastics suffocate turtles and birds and whales,  may we hear the call to save our seas.

 

Dancer: Kaita Lepore Mrazek 

Cinematographer and Editor: Nik Blaskovich 

Choreographer and Director: Robin Bisio

 

Piano composition and performance: Heena Yoon

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4.   Illusionations (premiere) 

 

The piece is about dreams and how your head goes through random events that you can control either letting your mind shape the images.   

 

Music Composition: Patrick Lindley

Choreography/Dance: Zane Atkinson

5. Fountain for Ballet and Wind Orchestra (premiere) 

 

We engrave our pieces of life into a fountain.

Taking a picture around it,

Playing in the water, and

Throwing a coin with a wish……

The fountain records our luminous memories into itself like a festival scene

and spurts water with catharsis.

However,

I step up to the fountain after the brilliant time.

A delicate moonlight in the dark sky,

The calm and sparkling water surface.

The moonlight reflects off the still water I peep into.

The long-lost memories are shimmering in the calm fountain.

 

Music: Heena Yoon

Choreography: Anna Carnes, State Street Ballet 

Dance: Anna Carnes,  Ahna Lipchik, Amber Hirschfield, Chloe Kelley

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