Update Series: What's Next?

Hello Friends! 

In this last segment of the Update Series, the members of Mountain Empire share what's to come in the new year:

As the new year approaches, we find Eliza tucked away in her new Portlandia abode, Barbara sussing out the difference between big-city living and little-city living in Blacksburg, Rachel & mended hubby exploring their new house in B-burg, and Katie dance-puttering around our nation's capitol.  In their own little enclaves, the members of MEPC are busy writing a new little project based on what we'd like to see on stage. 

Scribbling away (or click-clacking on the keyboard), each collaborator is writing a solo for another dancer filled with outsourced written material.  Perhaps a bit of prose from an Akram Kahn review, a description of a scene from preview of a far-off and unheard-of company, each solo will be constructed out of strange and beautiful bits of material from elsewhere.  What a way to get out of one's own head... or waaaay into it.  MEPC will then reconvene, decide which lucky dancers will get the new solos, and then... stay tuned in for manifestation!  Little bits of this piece will pop up intermittently in each of our communities as we work out the kinks.  Check back with us often or like our FB page for updates on when these will be so you can be a part of the feedback.  

Update Series: Eliza Larson

Hi friends!
Since Fall is turning into Winter, for the next few days, each of us will be writing to give you an update on what we have been up to since our summer adventures! First up is Eliza Larson!

What has Eliza been up to? Take it away, Eliza:

This summer was expansive and exhilarating and exhausting.  After driving 7000 miles, performing 

at PortFringe in Portland, Maine; the Capital Fringe Festival in DC, and the Southern Vermont Dance Festival in Brattleboro, I attended the Bates Dance Festival where I was able to relish being a student again.  Despite some minor injuries, the spring, summer, and fall has had me dancing and teaching constantly.  

The sea of movement  has parted though, and I’ve just come back West, to regain some equilibrium in my former home of Portland, Or.  New projects on the horizon include diving into the dance scene in the Pacific NW, continuing to study Piso Movil with Omar Carrum whenever possible, and exploring the ever growing  physical and creative territory of Mountain Empire as  we expand to be a bi-coastal company.

Eliza (orange) and Rachel (green) dance at the Mascher Co-op for MEPC's  2014 show in Philadelphia
Photo credit: Jen Kertis-Veit

"You Are Happy" In The Morning!

There's one last chance to see You Are Happy, Eliza Larson's hypnotic siren-tale:

11:00 at the Southern Vermont Dance Festival in Brattleboro, VT.

http://www.southernvermontdancefestival.com


I recently was able to see Eliza's solo for the first time when she and Rachel were camping out in my living room for their successful run of Capitol Fringe shows.  The 30 minute solo is mesmerizing, and Eliza weaves stories, Shakespeare, images shot on the shoreline and movement that ranges from intense to flowing.  You won't want to miss it, it is definitely full of images that you will ponder well into the afternoon.

-Katie

Mountain Empire Performing This Week In D.C.

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here opens this week in Washington D.C. at the Capital Fringe

The Capital Fringe opens this week and Mountain Empire has convened in the capitol to premier the evening length work 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.  

There are multiple shows, so gather your friends, get your fringe tickets and see what unfolds each night in this constantly shifting performance.  Each night will be slightly different, just like every cross country sojourn back home or to your favorite haunt.  

Everybody Knows This Is Now Here

at the Capital 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

Capital Fringe Tickets

Join our Facebook Event and get all the details

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

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.  

Next Stop for TDP: Philadelphia!

The TDP 2013-2014 season is wrapping up with a stop in Philadelphia, PA and it'll be a full weekend May 8-10. There are so many dance opportunities to take advantage of that weekend, from taking class to partying to taking in one of the performances.  

Without further ado, here are the TDP-Approved activities:


TDP's Salon-Style Show
Drinks, snacks, dancing, performances, and more, featuring Joy Davis, Loren Groenendaal/Vervet Dance, Antonia Z Brown, and the Telephone Dance Project! 

When: Friday, May 9, 2014
           Doors open at 8:00 p.m. - performances will happen throughout the evening. 
Where: Mascher Space Co-op, 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave. Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $5-$10 sliding scale

Join our FB Event!


H-O-T Series at Mascher
This monthly series features improvisational dance, music, and other experimental performance from local and touring artists curated by Loren Groenendaal and flandrew fleisenberg.  TDP will perform an origibal improvisational score with accompaniment by local experimental musicians.

When: Saturday, May 10, 2014, time: sometime around 8?  
Where: Mascher Space Co-op, 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave. Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $5 or $10 dance pass
Join the FB Event!

4 Countertechnique Classes with Joy Davis

• Thursday, May 8, 2014 from 6-8p at Mascher Space Co-op, 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave. 

• Friday, May 9, 2014 from 9a-11a at fidget space, 1714 N. Mascher. 

• Saturday, May 10, 2014 from 10a-12p at Mascher Space Co-op

• Sunday, May 11, 2014 from 10a-12p at Mascher Space Co-op

Joy Davis is a dance-artist and certified Countertechnique® Teacher. Originally from Nashville, she has spent the last ten years between Knoxville, Chicago, and Amsterdam creating, performing, and studying contemporary dance and improvisation. Joy received her BA in Performing Arts through the College Scholars Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She then served as interim Artistic Director of Circle Modern Dance, taught and choreographed as adjunct faculty at the University of Tennessee, and presented many works independently. While in Chicago, she received the Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF) Greenhouse Grant for emerging choreographers; danced with Erica Mott, Redmoon Theatre, and Striding Lion Performance Group. Joy also collaborated extensively with Meg Anderson to produce four original evening-length works and jump-started frequent gatherings for artists to share information. She had the honor of receiving her yoga teacher training from renowned center for yoga in Chicago, yogaview. Joy continues to train and study Countertechnique® with Anouk van Dijk. After completing the 2012 Countertechnique Teacher Training®, as only one of 14 teachers worldwide, she teaches classes and workshops all over the US. Joy is now a MFA Teaching Fellow at Smith College in the Department of Dance.

Meet the Dancers: Eliza Larson

Eliza Larson is an independent dancer, choreographer, artist, writer, teacher, scholar, and administrator based in Northampton, MA.  She is one half of the collaborative duo Mountain Empire, and she currently performs with the Telephone Dance Project, Safi Harriott, and Troy Mercier’s Intimacy Project.  

She holds an MFA in Dance from Smith College where she was a Gretchen Moran Teaching Fellow in the Five College Dance Department.  Eliza graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN) with majors in Dance and English before moving to the Pacific Northwest.  

Her choreography has been presented around the country, including at the H Street Theater in Washington, DC; Conduit Dance Center and the Pacific NW College of Art in Portland, OR; the OK Hotel Gallery and Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, WA; Earthdance in Plainfield, MA; and the Southern VT Dance Festival in Brattleboro, VT.  

She has performed in works by Kathleen Hermesdorf, 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.  

This past summer, Eliza was an inaugural member of CREAP - Creative Engaged Artists of Ponderosa, an artist residency program in Stolzenhagen Germany.  Eliza is also a writer and scholar.  She is the author and illustrator of Terpsichore’s Deck, a set of 52 choreographic cards to use in dancemaking and performance.  

In fall 2013, Eliza presented her research on gender in dance at the Congress on Research in Dance/Society of Dance History Scholars joint conference at UC Riverside.