Performance Works NorthWest presents

Alembic #8:  over_here: now
Curated by Lucy Yim
Choreographed & directed by Richard Decker

an interactive performance designed by dance artist Richard Decker in collaboration with photographer Chelsea Petrakis and lighting designer Dora Nicole Gaskill.

March 12 & 13 @ 8pm
Performance Works NorthWest
4625 NE 67th Ave, Portland, OR

Tickets: $10 – $15
Reserve at 503-777-1907 or purchase tickets at hulahub.com

Performed by Richard Decker and special guests Jen Violi and others.

ALEMBIC is an ongoing series of performative events at Performance Works NorthWest curated by guest artists from the worlds of dance, theater, visual and media arts. The series is supported in part by the Multnomah County Cultural Coation/Oregon Cultural Trust

In over_here: now, an interactive performance in collaboration with photographer Chelsea Petrakis and lighting designer Dora Nicole Gaskill, Richard Decker sculpts a transformative, ritual space with latex tubing and intense physicality, blurring the lines between dance and installation art. With philosophical and spiritual questions in mind, over_here: now utilizes lighting, still image and video technology to explore the connection between performer and audience, humans and their environment.

evening concept: richard decker
movement collaborator: erin munoz
words collaborator: jen violi
lighting design: dora nicole gaskill
still images/documentation: chelsea petrakis
poster design: sara decker
curator for eve: lucy yim

BIOS

Richard Decker enjoys various formats for exploration. His fascination with the world led first to science culminating in a bachelor of chemical engineering degree. Along the way, he was drawn to performance as a thruway to sense. He has studied on scholarship at Merce Cunningham studio, become a Pilates guide incorporating deep physical awareness influenced by ideas of M. Feldenkrais and Irene Dowd, and explored with ’emerging’ choreographers in New York City. He began making dance works while in residence at the Yard (on Martha’s Vineyard), which led him to leap… He now resides in Portland. Now he draws, makes jam, ‘digs’ paintings by Lucien Freud & J. Stillwell, and continues his explorations of cognitive extension, motion and recognizing and expressing just how connected we energies are.

Chelsea Petrakis is a photographer and performer interested in explorations of ‘being’, both in the space of now and in the alternate worlds of photo and video. A graduate of Pacific Northwest College of Art, she most recently co-created the performance group Source Lab. She is excited to collaborate and connect with other artists in interdisciplinary projects and to be a partner and support in Richard’s movement work.

Lucy Yim is a dancer/teacher with a background in somatic movement practices and improvisation. While in Portland, Lucy has had the opportunity to develop her own work as well as work with Cydney Wilkes, Linda Austin and Theory:1. Check out lucyyim.wordpress.com for more info. Lucy is a teacher of Gyrotonic®/Gyrokinesis at The Seed Center and is currently thinking about a gallery show involving many tv’s displaying dance on film.

With reverence for stories as healing tools, Jen Violi, M.A., M.F.A., facilitates individual and group workshops and retreats on writing, ritual, and personal transformation.  Jen also creates and delivers Love Notes and day retreats—inspiration, affirmation, and tools for reflection via old-fashioned mail. In 2011, Hyperion Books will publish Jen’s first novel, Putting Makeup on Dead People.  Sign up for one of Jen’s upcoming workshops (Writes of Spring on March 21 or Story Alchemy on March 23), or learn more at  http://www.jenvioli.com.

Erin is passionate about moving.  She studied acting and dance in high school and college and worked in theatre and film for several years in NYC.  She performed in tours, regional theatre and with a few local NYC companies including Lincoln Center Theatre Institute and Roundabout Theatre Ensemble.  She is a member of Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild.  After 13 years in NYC she headed westward.  Here in Portland, Erin teaches Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis, an amazing movement system, which she was introduced to thru her roommate and kindred spirit Echo in 1995.  As Erin continually works to free her body thru movement she has discovered that she can also free her mind and spirit.  It is in that space of freedom and presence that she likes to reside, and subtly encourage others to do so as well.  Erin teaches next to Richard, who she adores and is inspired by.

Thanks Richard, for trusting me and holding my hand and walking with me back to the stage.

Dora recently moved to Portland after completing her MFA in choreography in the United Kingdom.  She has been lighting dance for five years running.  In addition to lighting design and installation, Dora is interested in creating and performing works of non-narrative storytelling which integrate movement and language.