WESTFEST 2013 The Annual Dance Festival April 24th – April 28th

Site-specific performances in various spaces within the labryinthian iconic building , and Top Floor performances at the Martha Graham Dance, top floor studio, all by emerging and established dance companies and choreographers.

WestFest April 24th-28th, 2013 Westbeth Artists’ Residence, 55 Bethune, NYC

WESTFEST is an annual dance festival presented in the historic Westbeth Artists’ Residence building. The festival includes site-specific performances animating multiple spaces within the iconic building as well as a series of performances in the legendary top floor studio, which was home to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for many years and now houses the Martha Graham Dance Company. The festival aims to open the Westbeth building to dance artists and audiences and engage the resident artist population of the space with a broader community of artistic stewards of Westbeth and its legacy. This year, this effort takes on particular significance as Westbeth and its artist community were deeply affected by Hurricane Sandy. The 2013 WestFest events are part of the Westbeth community’s rebuilding.

WestFest Top Floor

Wed-Sat April 24-27, 8 PM, four shared evenings of dance in the Martha Graham Studio Theater, 55 Bethune, 11th floor; $20 tickets

WestFest All Over Westbeth

Sun April 28th, 1PM-2:30 PM (tours depart every 15 minutes) a guided walking tour featuring short, site-specific performances of dance and music throughout and all around Westbeth; tours start at Westbeth Courtyard Entrance at 155 Bank Street; last tour departs at 2:30 PM; FREE EVENT

“…the cumulative effect of encountering performance in Westbeth’s idiosyncratic nooks and crannies was marvelous. Bodies animate architecture as much as they are animated by it, and Westbeth’s artistic ghosts provide fertile ground for chance encounters.”

-Claudia LaRocco, The New York Times

WESTFEST TOP FLOOR

Wed-Sat April 24-27, 8 PM, four shared evenings of dance Martha Graham Studio Theater, 55 Bethune, 11th floor

The starlit upper studio of Westbeth hosts two performance programs over four nights: WestFest Top Floor. On Wednesday, April 24, 2013 and Friday, April 26, 2013, WestFest Top Floor will feature performances by SARAH HORNE/A CAN DANCE, SARAH METTIN, CLAIRE PORTER* with SUSAN THOMASSON, JEANETTE STONER, BECKY VALLS, and ANNIE WANG. On Thursday, April 25, 2013 and Saturday, April 27, 2013, WestFest Top Floor will feature performances by BRYN COHN, TINA CROLL, PAULINE SYLVIANE LEGRAS, CAROL NOLTE, AMOS PINHASI, and MEGAN SIPE. Each artist will present 10 minutes or less of original dance, in a shared evening format.
The lighting designer for WestFest Top Floor will be NICK HUNG.

Tickets are $20 for general admission and can be purchased via credit/debit card online at westfest.brownpapertickets.com or with cash at the door. The Box Office will open at 7:30PM each evening.

(*Denotes guest artist)

WESTFEST ALL OVER WESTBETH – free event

Sun April 28th, 1PM-2:30 PM (tours depart every 15 minutes) a guided walking tour featuring short, site-specific performances of dance and music throughout and all around Westbeth; tours start at Westbeth Courtyard Entrance at 155 Bank Street; last tour departs at 2:30 PM.

This walking tour led by Westbeth residents will share a series of short, site-specific live performances of music and dance in Westbeth’s courtyard, gallery, stairwells, hallways, and rooftop. Performances will include dances by CARON EULE, BRENDAN DRAKE, SHANDOAH GOLDMAN, SALLY GROSS, JESSICA LEWIS, THEA LITTLE, AMY MILLER, MARI MEADE DANCE COLLECTIVE, CAROL NOLTE, REJECT DANCE THEATRE, and EMMAGRACE SKOVE-EPES, and live music by CHARLES COLEMAN, EVAN GALLAGHER, JOE GALLANT, ANNETTE HOMANN, JILL JAFFE, and DANIEL PALKOWSKI. The Music Curator for this event is DANIEL BARRETT.

WestFest was created by CAROL NOLTE/DANCE COLLECTIVE and is now curated and produced by Nolte, in collaboration with MEGAN SIPE and SARAH MAXFIELD. The festival has become an annual spring event at Westbeth, serving the West Village and surrounding dance community. The neighborhood is rich in dance history, and has been home to dance choreographers, performers, writers and collaborators since early in the twentieth century.

CAROL NOLTE/DANCE COLLECTIVE

CAROL NOLTE has created over 50 dances for her award-winning company Dance Collective. She has received choreographic fellowships and awards from the New Jersey State Council on The Arts, The Djerassi Foundation, The Kalani Honua Institute, The Puffin Foundation, The Wurlitzer Foundation, The Yellow Springs Fellowship for the Arts, The Field Independent Artists Challenge Program, and White Oak Plantation. Recently, her work has been seen at Merce Cunningham Studio, The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, The 92nd Street Y Fridays at Noon. She has also co-founded and produced three dance festivals: DanceBLITZ, Taos Dance 2000, and, currently WestFest. She is a Westbeth resident.

www.dancecollectiveny.com

SARAH MAXFIELD

SARAH MAXFIELD is a curator, producer, performer, and writer investigating contemporary performance and its history through practice, discussion, and critical theory. She creates live performance and, with equal focus, creates structures for viewing and discussing performance and its context. Maxfield’s work has been presented by The Chocolate Factory Theater, P.S. 122, and the Museum of Arts and Design, among other venues in NYC, as well as Philadelphia Fringe Festival and the Metcalf Experimental Theater in Illinois. Maxfield contributes articles to The Brooklyn Rail and The Performance Club, and she was a Context Notes Writer for Dance Theater Workshop’s final season (2010-2011). Maxfield currently serves on the New York Dance and Performance “Bessies” committee, curates two ongoing performance series in addition to WestFest, and is conducting an oral history of experimental dance and performance in New York, which will be compiled into a book titled Nonlinear Lineage.

www.sarahmaxfield.wordpress.com

MEGAN SIPE

MEGAN SIPE is a choreographer, performer and curator. Megan creates experiences charged by a curiosity of the body, the joy of dancing and sharing the art of moving with others. Under her company Dancing Fish Megan has recently presented work at Saint Marks Church, The Flea Theater, The Drilling Company and Gleason’s Gym. For the past 4 years, Megan has also been the active Dance Director for the International Street Cannibals chamber music ensemble with whom she has helped to produce and curate dance for 16 evening length music concerts.

www.DancingFish.org

FUNDING & SUPPORT

WestFest 2013 is supported by the Westbeth Artisits Residents Council.

WestFest’s site-specific All Over Westbeth free performance is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Past Press:

WESTFEST AT WESTBETH 2012 dance and tour highlights:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCy3RvD5iBU

Dance Review: Square Feet and Human Feet: Making a Building Move to the Music By CLAUDIA LA ROCCO:

www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/arts/dance/westfest-dance-festival-animates-westbeth-review.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

Tickets:

Contact: Carol Nolte
212.627.4275
email: westfestdance@gmail.com
website/purchase tickets : westfestdance.com

Press Info

Megan Sipe
Dancing Fish Productions
e: meganDFP@gmail.com
t: 347.439.1745
w: www.dancingfishproductions.com