Loading Video . . .

Many interesting things have been revealed since my last post. I have spent most of July and August intensively rehearsing and researching. It has truly been a joy to collaborate with performing artists Carol McDowell and Rebeca Hernandez. It has also been a joy to be the Studio Artist in Residence at 1450 Ocean-Camera Obscura. It is sadly so rare that I’ve had the opportunity to come to a work on a daily basis. It has truly deepened my point of view. Below are photos of the studio and our view!

Find the complete progression of the work linked below.

Ruth 1:16-17

Artist in Residence 2015: Christine Suarez Part 3

Christine Suarez

Credits:

Curated by:

Spark & Echo Arts, Artist in Residence 2015

2015

Dance

Primary Scripture

Loading primary passage...

Loading Passage Reference...

Share This Art:

September 7, 2015

We are preparing for a performance on August 29. This manifestation of the work I have designed in part as a site-specific piece and in part as a lecture-demonstration. The actual location and construction of the studio has informed this choice. As you can see from the pictures the studio is mostly windows. Everyone that comes into the building sees us in the studio rehearsing. Also there is a path along the other side of the building where curious folks watch us rehearse from the other side. Throughout the piece I am curious about how we see the performers – our vantage point – and how what we are seeing is framed -literally and figuratively. Since our rehearsal process has been basically “transparent” I wanted the piece to display our process. That is why I am viewing the work in part as a lecture-demonstration. I am narrating the piece: telling the audience the story from the Book of Ruth, sharing our rehearsal process, and talking about our interpretation of the story.

We have continued our physical work with the Ruth and Naomi paintings. We have begun to manipulate the material in interesting ways. We have talked at length about how Naomi and Ruth reconfigured what a family looks like and how a woman is supposed to behave. We have been using that idea of reconfiguring in application to our choreographic material. We have also been playing with patterns in space to represent how these two women navigate the cultural structure, which they lived – how they both continued on with their lives together though with great uncertainty. We have also been experimenting with some improvisation structures to embody different aspects of Naomi and Ruth.

More soon! And please if you have any thoughts or responses, I welcome them! Email me at info@suarezdance.org.

Spark Notes

The Artist's Reflection

Christine Suarez is a Los Angeles-based choreographer, performer and educator. Born in Caracas, Venezuela and raised in Baton Rouge Louisiana, Christine made her first works of choreography to the Grease soundtrack. Since then she has created eleven evening-length dance-theater works, numerous site-specific and community events and close to a dozen dances for the theater and film, along with teaching, creating and performing at school sites all over the U.S. While living in New York City from 1994-2006, her work was presented at various venues including Danspace Project, P.S. 122, HERE, Joyce SoHo and Dixon Place. In 1998 she founded SuarezDanceTheater, a not-for-profit, ensemble of dancers, actors and musicians. SuarezDanceTheater examines the unexpected – creating dance-theater in unexpected places with unexpected people about unexpected subjects. Christine and company were Artists in Residence at Tribeca Performing Arts Center from 2003-2006. Her work has toured nationally and internationally to over 20 cities. Her work happens in theaters, houses, parks, Churches, galleries, sidewalks and beaches. She collaborates with multi-generational performers along with parents, children, veterans, high school students and teen mothers.

Since relocating to Los Angeles, she has been invigorated by making dances in unexpected places. Wet Spots (2008) was a site-specific performance about female orgasm that she created in collaboration with a multi-generational cast of women. The Los Angeles Times called it “ingeniously crafted…poignant…hilarious.” She has organized community dance participatory performances in parks, beaches and classrooms in partnership with city governments, community based organizations and schools. She has also been touring Wet Spots: Solo to Tallinn, Estonia, Movement Research at Judson Church (New York City), The Garage (San Francisco), Emory University (Atlanta, GA), The A.W.A.R.D. Show! (REDCAT). Most recently she premiered her new evening length work MOTHER. at the Motion Pacific at the Santa Cruz Fringe Festival and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA.

As an educator, Christine has worked at public schools all over the New York City and Los Angeles area. She has been a guest teacher/choreographer at California State University San Marcos, California State University Los Angeles, Emory University, Indiana University, Southeastern University of Louisiana and Louisiana State University. She holds an MFA in choreography from UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures Department and a BA in Theater and English Literature from Emory University. She is a government contractor co-creating a dance program for Veterans at The School for Better Living, a psycho-social research initiative a the West Los Angeles VA Hospital. She also works as a teaching artist with the HeArt Project. She has been awarded grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Puffin Foundation, Meet the Composer, the Association for Hispanic Arts, JP Morgan Chase Regrant, the Field and the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center. She is honored to be a Hispanic Scholarship Fund/Cheech Marin Endowed Scholarship Scholar and recipient of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund McNamara Family Creative Arts Projects Grant.

(Photo by CedarBough Saeji) www.suarezdance.org