Next Stops: Virginia and North Carolina!

Hey friends,

It's been an exciting few months, and We've been keeping busy despite the insane winter weather.  The Telephone Dance Project has been all over the place in 2014! Last weekend we performed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC; this Friday we're heading to Blacksburg, VA; and on Saturday we'll be coming back to my old stomping ground as featured performers at the Black Mountain College {RE}Happening.

The entire event looks like it's going to be awesome, with site-specific performance and visual art pieces installed all over the Camp Rockmont property.  The evening will hearken back to the postmodern "happenings" that used to occur when Rockmont was the site of Black Mountain College, the experimental art school that hosted some of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

The {RE}Happening will take place from 7:30 pm-midnight on Saturday, April 5th at Camp Rockmont.  The Telephone Dance Project will be performing at 8 and 9:30 in the gymnasium, and at 10:15 in the dining hall.  

The Asheville Citizen-Times just ran a great article about the event: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20140323/LIVING/303230031/ReHappening-returns-5th-year-Black-Mountain

Here's the website with ticket information: http://rehappening.com/?page_id=2420

$30 gets you in to the evening's festivities from 7:30 on, includes two drink tickets and all the performance art you can handle.  

Many of you donated to the Telephone Dance Project's indiegogo campaign and we were overwhelmed by the generous response we received!  If you were thinking about donating but didn't get a chance, I'd like to encourage you to check out one of the patron level tickets: by adding $50 to your purchase, you have the opportunity to sponsor an artist of your choice (we hope you'll pick us!)  Bringing four dance artists on tour to five locations has been incredibly rewarding but not cheap, and every bit of your support is gratefully appreciated.  

Also, if this sounds interesting but you find that ticket prices are cost prohibitive, think about volunteering!  For more information and to sign up: rehappeningvolunteers@gmail.com

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions about this weekend's festivities!  Feel free to pass this info along to any friends who might be interested!

Much love to you all-- hope to see you this weekend!

- Rachel

What is the Telephone Dance Project?

Do you remember the "telephone" game? One person whispers a phrase to another, which is passed down a line of people until the phrase becomes increasingly distorted and the original meaning is lost.  Hilarity inevitably ensues.

The Telephone Dance Project turns the classic game of "telephone" into a long-distance collaboration tool. Over the past several months our four collaborators, spread over 4 different states, have been creating choreographic material inspired by their own geographical location, transcribing it, sending it to each other via snail mail, and letting each recipient reinterpret it as they pass it down the line.  With each reinterpretation, the movement changes until finally it barely resembles the original phrase.  These phrases are then used to create an improvisational score, directed by each participant in their own home state, that bring each location and inspiration together.  The dance will change with each performance and each new location.

Performances of the Telephone Project will happen across the East Coast, starting in Northampton, MA, traveling through Philadelphia, Washington DC, and ending in Asheville, NC.   Each performance will be quite different from the next: a concert of improvisational dance; a salon; a performance at the zoo!  The dance emerges anew each time it is performed: duration, sound/music and creative choices depend on the specific place and time occupied by the participants. 

Travel with us in person or on this blog as we reinterpret what it means to dance across the country.