One Week Until The Capitol Fringe

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here

Capitol Fringe, July 10-17, 2014

Katie here: I am patiently awaiting the 4th of July weekend.  It's the first time I get to camp on the coast of the east since moving here from Chicago.  Half of the anticipation is getting my place ready for my departure because I know when I return to Washington D.C., dancers, much like little art-elves, will have descended upon my apartment from their various corners of the countryside and set up shop.  This traveling, meeting, and making is also a big part of the art of Mountain Empire Performance Collective.

Come join us as we present Everybody Knows This Is Now Here, and watch "The Great American Road Trip" go virtual through contemporary dance during the Capitol Fringe on July 10-17, at the Goethe Institut in Washington DC. 

Tickets and Venue info HERE

See our full summer line-up HERE

Mountain Empire at the Capitol Fringe

Part of the Mountain Empire Performance Collective clan will be descending upon Washington DC (and crashing with DC MEPC member, Katie Sopoci Drake) in mid July.  So get your tickets for DC's Capitol Fringe now and join us for some dance, discussion, and fringe fun!


 
1. Everybody Knows.. from Eliza Larson on Vimeo.


Mountain Empire Performance Collective presents

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here

Developed primarily via Skype, this multimedia performance explores physical and virtual distance through the lens of female friendship and the Great American Road Trip.  Blending dance, film, personal story and song, the performers search for home in the digital age.  

at the Capitol Fringe

Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 7:45pm

Saturday, July 12, 2014 at 6:00pm

Sunday, July 13, 2014 at 1:45pm

Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at 9:45pm

Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 6:00pm

Friday, July 18, 2014 at 4:00pm

Goethe Institut (map)

812 7th St NW

Washington, DC, 20001

Ticket info HERE

Click HERE for the full summer line-up

You Are Happy Opens This Weekend!

You Are Happy, Eliza Larson's "sensual, surreal, and sensorial solo performance" is kicking off our summer line-up at the PortFringe on June 26th and 28th, 2014. 

Mountain Empire Performance Collective presents
You Are Happy
at the PortFringe in Portland, ME
June 26, 10pm
June 28, 4:30pm
SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress St
TICKETS HERE







Want to see You Are Happy, but can't make it this weekend? Come visit Eliza at the Southern Vermont Dance Festival on Sunday, July 20th, 2014 at 11:00am in Brattleboro, VT.   

For our full summer line-up, click HERE

Next Week: You Are Happy

We've got your plans right here!  You know you want to be "Happy" right?  Well, Eliza has got you covered in Portland, Maine.  Then head on down to Washington, D.C. and we'll get you "Home"... digitally at least.  


Mountain Empire Performance Collective presents

You Are Happy at the Port Fringe

This sensual, surreal, and sensorial solo performance is rooted in the physical with an imaginative eye towards the mythical.

Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 10:00pm

Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 4:30pm

SPACE Gallery (map)

538 Congress St

Portland, ME, 04101

United States

Tickets: HERE

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here at the Capitol Fringe 

This multimedia performance explores physical and virtual distance through the lens of female friendship and the Great American Road Trip.

Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 7:45pm

Saturday, July 12, 2014 at 6:00pm

Sunday, July 13, 2014 at 1:45pm

Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at 9:45pm

Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 6:00pm

Friday, July 18, 2014 at 4:00pm

Goethe Institut (map)

812 7th St NW

Washington, DC, 20001

Tickets: HERE

For our full summer line-up, click HERE

Dancing in Southern VT

As always, there is dancing abound this summer with Mountain Empire Performance Collective. 


You Are Happy, Eliza Larson's "sensual, surreal, and sensorial solo performance" is kicking off our summer line-up at the PortFringe on June 26th and 28th, 2014.  But if you can't make it up to beautiful Portland, Maine, then you'll have another shot later this summer:

Come visit Eliza at the Southern Vermont Dance Festival on Sunday, July 20th, 2014 at 11:00am in Brattleboro, VT. 

For our full summer line-up, click HERE

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here. 7/10-7/17

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here. 

Developed primarily via Skype, this multimedia performance explores physical and virtual distance through the lens of female friendship and the Great American Road Trip.  Blending dance, film, personal story and song, the performers search for home in the digital age.  

Mountain Empire Performance Collective presents

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here

at the Capitol Fringe 

Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 7:45pm

Saturday, July 12, 2014 at 6:00pm

Sunday, July 13, 2014 at 1:45pm

Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at 9:45pm

Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 6:00pm

Friday, July 18, 2014 at 4:00pm

Goethe Institut (map)

812 7th St NW

Washington, DC, 20001

Ticket info HERE

We'd love to see you in D.C. this summer!

You Are Happy: In Only 2 Weeks!

You Are Happy, "a multi-media solo performance rooted in the physical with an imaginative eye towards the mythical", is kicking off Mountain Empire's summer line-up and is only 2 weeks away.  

Get a little snapshot of You Are Happy on the PortFringe blog! 
"the movement in this piece brings in a lot of different inspirations - a little butoh, a lot of gesture work, some post-modern improvisation and some classical contemporary technique."
Read more HERE









Meet Eliza Larson in Portland, Maine on June 26 & 28th for a host of PortFringe shows and beautiful landscapes. Then be sure to talk to Eliza about what Siren inspirations she mined from the world of Homer.  


Mountain Empire Performance Collective presents
You Are Happy
at the PortFringe in Portland, ME
June 26, 10pm
June 28, 4:30pm
SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress St
TICKETS HERE

About the Artists: You Are Happy

You Are Happy (premiering at the PortFringe, 6/26 & 6/28) is not only a "sensorial solo performance", it is a new collaboration between Choreographer Eliza Larson and Composer Benjamin Chakoian. Read all about them here!

 

Benjamin Chakoian Jones is a composer, bassist, and violist currently living in Nashville, TN. Born in Des Moines, IA, Benjamin was raised on American Folk music such as Simon and Garfunkel and Mamas and the Papas, as well as a wide range of Classical music. Following high school in Ohio, Benjamin moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University. There, he continued his education in a variety of styles and began his career as a composer, arranger, and player. Still rooted in Nashville, Benjamin has spent recent years touring with the Americana band, Humming House, of which he is a founding member. When home, he makes a living as a bassist and arranger for recording sessions as well as continuing his work in original composition.

Deriving inspiration from many styles of music, Benjamin writes first from an American Classical perspective. Setting his roots in the music of Aaron Copland, Alan Hovhaness, and Bill Evans, Benjamin enjoys pushing his palette by taking elements of music ranging from Early Modern Russian composers and French Romanticism to indie rock bands, traditional Irish music, and abstract sound. Writing music that is sonically, harmonically, and rhythmically experimental, Jones also writes music that can be enjoyed by a broad general audience.

 

Eliza Larson is an independent artist based in Northampton, MA (USA).  In addition to performing as a soloist, Eliza currently dances with the Mountain Empire Performance Collective.  She holds an MFA in Dance from Smith College where she was a Gretchen Moran Teaching Fellow in the Five College Dance Department.   As a choreographer, Eliza strives to create work that is both entertaining and thought provoking, quirky and beautiful, and accessible to the general public and dance enthusiasts alike.  

 

Her choreography has been presented around the country, including at PortFringe in Portland, Maine, the Capital Fringe Festival and the H Street Theater in Washington, DC, Conduit Dance Center and the Pacific NW College of Art in Portland, OR, and the OK Hotel Gallery and Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, WA.  Earthdance in Plainfield, MA; and the Southern VT Dance Festival in Brattleboro, VT.  Eliza has performed in works by Ohad Naharin, Colleen Thomas, Angie Hauser, Paul Matteson, Chris Aiken, Cathy Nicoli, Ming Yang, Mark Haim, Deb Wolf, KT Niehoff, Jan Erkert, Adele Myers, and Kristin Hapke among others, and was an original member of the Weaving Dance Company from 2006-2008.  

Eliza is also the author and illustrator of Terpsichore’s Deck, a set of choreographic cards to use in dance making and choreography, published in 2013.  Her writing has appeared in Contact Quarterly and Kinebago, and her research on gender in dance was recently presented at the Congress on Research in Dance/Society of Dance History Scholars joint conference in November 2013.

 

 

 

Show Information:

 

Mountain Empire presents

You Are Happy

At the

Port Fringe  

Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 10:00pm

Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 4:30pm

 

SPACE Gallery (map)

538 Congress St

Portland, ME, 04101

United States

Tickets: HERE

 

 

Don't be shy!  Check out all the PortFringe shows RIGHT HERE

You Are Happy At The Port Fringe

You Are Happy is a sensual, surreal, and sensorial solo performance.  Rooted in the physical with an imaginative eye towards the mythical, dancer Eliza Larson draws the world of Homer’s Sirens anew in this interdisciplinary solo.  Imbued with memories, physical residue, and the essence of emotion, the performance moves between dance and performance art, abstract and literal film imagery, and includes movement, image, text, sound, and costume.  Featuring an original sound score by Benjamin Chakoian Jones and Stephen Turney.

Port Fringe  

Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 10:00pm

Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 4:30pm

SPACE Gallery (map)

538 Congress St

Portland, ME, 04101

United States

Tickets: HERE

Eliza Larson is an independent artist based in Northampton, MA (USA).  In addition to performing as a soloist, Eliza currently dances with the Mountain Empire Performance Collective.  She holds an MFA in Dance from Smith College where she was a Gretchen Moran Teaching Fellow in the Five College Dance Department.   As a choreographer, Eliza strives to create work that is both entertaining and thought provoking, quirky and beautiful, and accessible to the general public and dance enthusiasts alike.  

2014 Mountain Empire Summer Line-Up

It's Summertime, which means Fringe Festivals! Mountain Empire is doing it's fair share of traveling and soaking up the art, and we're happy to share some our latest shows.  

Without further ado, here is Mountain Empire Performance Collective's 2014 Summer Line-Up.

Port Fringe

Presenting: You Are Happy

Eliza Larson reinterprets the world of Homer’s Sirens in this interdisciplinary solo

When:  
Thursday, June 26, 2014 at 10:00pm

Saturday, June 28, 2014 at 4:30pm

Where:
SPACE Gallery (map)

538 Congress St

Portland, ME, 04101

United States

Tickets: HERE

Capitol Fringe

Presenting: Everybody Knows This Is Now Here

The Great American Road Trip goes virtual through contemporary dance

When:
Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 7:45pm

Saturday, July 12, 2014 at 6:00pm

Sunday, July 13, 2014 at 1:45pm

Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at 9:45pm

Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 6:00pm

Friday, July 18, 2014 at 4:00pm

Where:
Goethe Institut (map)

812 7th St NW

Washington, DC, 20001

United States

Tickets: HERE

Southern Vermont Dance Festival

Presenting: You Are Happy

Eliza Larson reinterprets the world of Homer’s Sirens in this interdisciplinary solo

When:
Sunday, July 20, 2014 at 11:00am

Where:
Southern Vermont Dance Festival (map)

Brattleboro, VT

USA

Tickets: HERE

Philly Recap and What's To Come

Hi Friends,
We had a great time in Philadelphia and are looking forward to this Summer's activities!  We are currently organizing all sorts of Google "Hangout" sessions to plan next season and the next steps for our broader collaboration plan.  We can't wait to see each other again for Fringe season where we will be dividing and conquering to get our butts all over the country to represent Mountain Empire.

As always, please come join the fun on
June 26-28, 2014 PortFringe, Portland, ME
July 10-17, 2014, Capitol Fringe, Washington D.C.
July 18-20, 2014 Southern VT Dance Festival, Brattleboro, VT

While you wait for the fun to begin, here are some pictures from our Philadelphia foray by the always generous Jen Kertis-Veit.