For Release: Sky Eye @ Danspace Oct 1 2 3

Calendar/Press
For Immediate Release

Publicist: Jim Paul, Manager
Phones: 518 789 4182; 718 768 2746
e-mail: jimpaul1@mindspring.com

Sample Calendar Item:

Dance

Danspace Project - Sky Eye, Douglas Dunn & Dancers. The revival of a work from 1989 upending time, space and culture. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, October 1, 2, 3, 8 pm. With dancers Kira Blazek, Liz Filbrun, Jean Freebury, Paul Singh, Timothy Emmett Lee Ward and Christopher Williams. Danspace Project, St. Mark's Church, 131 East 10th St. NYC, www.danspaceproject.org; call for tickets: 866-811-4111.

Danspace Project presents

Douglas Dunn & Dancers
the revival of a work from 1989
upending time, space and culture

Sky Eye

at Danspace Project
St. Marks Church · 131 East 10th Street · New York, NY 10003
www.danspaceproject.org; call for tickets: 866-811-4111.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday - October 1,2,3, 2009 8 pm

Sky Eye Benefit and Sock Hop, Friday, Oct 2nd

Sky Eye is a 1989 work for six dancers by choreographer Douglas Dunn and his long-established downtown dance company, Douglas Dunn & Dancers. Featuring Kira Blazek, Liz Filbrun, Jean Freebury, Paul Singh, Timothy Emmett Lee Ward and Christopher Williams. The work also features design by Mimi Gross, lighting by Carol Mullins. Its musical accompaniment includes Debussy's ''Nuages,'' religious compositions by medieval and Renaissance composers and African songs and chants.

Jack Anderson, reviewing Sky Eye in its premiere performance in 1989 for The New York Times, called the work "rich in both choreographic invention and thematic implication."

Sky Eye is made possible, in part, by grants from the Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation, Inc., New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

About Danspace Project

Danspace Project was founded by artists in 1974 to provide a venue for independent experimental choreographers. It combines a rich history with an unstinting commitment to that which is contemporary, creative, and cutting-edge. Three defining characteristics have secured its position as a leading advocate for contemporary dance: Commissioning and presenting new dance work from New York, the U.S., and abroad; nurturing independent experimental choreographers at all stages of their careers; and professionally producing dance in uniquely flexible and communal settings like St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery and other remarkable venues throughout New York City.

Bios

Douglas Dunn

A graduate of Princeton University, Dunn began his career performing with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and the groundbreaking improvisatory group Grand Union. Known for his artistic collaborations, Dunn has collaborated on film and video-dances with Charles Atlas and Rudy Burckhardt and has worked with artists (Mimi Gross, David Ireland, Uli Gassmann, Jeffrey Schiff), composers (Joshua Fried, Bill Cole, Eliane Radigue, Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley, Linda Fisher, John Driscoll, Ron Kuivila), poets (Anne Waldman, Reed Bye), playwright Jim Neu and lighting designer Carol Mullins.

Douglas Dunn first presented dancing -- One Thing Leads to Another, a collaboration with Sara Rudner -- in Laura Dean's loft on Crosby Street in Manhattan, in 1971.   Since 1976, Douglas Dunn & Dancers has toured the US and Europe extensively, dancing at Danspace Project, The Kitchen, P.S. 122, the Ailey/Citigroup Theater Dance, New Amsterdam and Dance Theater Workshop in NYC; the Festival d'Automne in Paris; the Talking Dancing Festival in Stockholm; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN; also at Bennington College and the Arts Festival in Atlanta; and in concerts in Lisbon, London, Berlin, Krakow, Geneva, Amsterdam, and Sao Paulo. Dunn has also created specific programs to reach new audiences, such as his recent work, Informations, which the company performed on the Elevated Acre in NYC's Financial District.

Dunn has also been commissioned to create dances for the Groupe de Recherche Choreographique de l'Opera de Paris, the Grand Ballet of Bordeaux, New Dance Ensemble of Minneapolis, Repertory Dance Theater of Salt Lake City, the Ballet Theatre Francais de Nancy, the Walker Art Center, the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston, WGBH-TV, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, and Portland State University, among others. He has been guest artist at major institutions across the United States and abroad and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, and the Creative Arts Public Service Program, among others.

In 2008, the French Government presented Douglas Dunn with the insignia of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, inducting him into the Order as a "Chevalier," who has "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance."   In 1998, Dunn received a New York Dance and Performance Award, a "Bessie." Further information on Douglas Dunn and the company is available on the web at www.douglasdunndance.com.

Bio Mimi Gross (Design)

Mimi Gross has been active as a painter, set designer, costume designer and a teacher. Working in many media, she has exhibited internationally and her art is in numerous significant public and private collections. Her diverse output includes collaborations with many artists and designers, including Charles Bernstein on the book Some of These Daze (on-site drawings, 9/11 and after), published by Granary Books in 2005; and with Red Grooms on Ruckus installations and films, (including RuckusManhattan). She has collaborated with Douglas Dunn since 1978 on sets and costumes for such dances as Sky Eye, Matches, Pulcinella, Rubble Dance, Spell for the Opening of the Mouth of N, and Cocca Mocca.   Recently returned to work with Creative Time, Dreamland, the Coney Island Project, 2005, executing a large-scale outdoor mural at Coney Island. She is currently at work on several projects, including art work for a Brooklyn neighborhood playground with an anatomical theme.

Carol Mullins (Lighting)

Carol Mullins has designed lighting for many of Douglas Dunn's dances, including, among others, Landing at DTW and at the Hebbel in Berlin, Sky Eye in Paris and a park in Lisbon, Stucco Moon all over the place and Caracole in his New York Studio. She has lit several of Mimi Gross's installations and has worked with her often on Douglas Dunn's productions. In 2003, she collaborated with Douglas Dunn and Charlie Atlas on Muscle Shoals in Paris and in New York. Recently she designed the lighting for a new dance that Clay Taliaferro choreographed for the Limon Company and for Steve Paxton and Lisa Nelson in Spain. Carol has received three BESSIE's (New York Dance and Performance Awards) for her lighting.

Jim Paul (Manager)

Jim Paul manages Douglas Dunn & Dancers, handling publicity, marketing, fundraising, booking and technical production. He is also House Manager of the Ancram Opera House, in Ancram, NY. Paul has worked with dance companies including Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group. As a poet and writer, Paul is author of several books, including Catapult and Medieval in LA. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry and elsewhere. A Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford and a Guggenheim Fellow, Paul has taught at Williams College and the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference; he currently teaches poetry at Hunter College in New York.

The Dancers

Kira Blazek trained at the Houston Ballet Academy, then earned her BFA from Oklahoma University. Kira is making her third appearance with Douglas Dunn & Dancers. She also danced with Hedwig Dances, Hubbard Street 2, and for Bill Young in the LIT Showcase. She has also danced for Hedwig Dances, Hubbard Street 2, Bill Young, and Anouk van Dijk.

Liz Filbrun loves to dance. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. She currently dances for Douglas Dunn and has had the pleasure of working with Risa Jaroslow, Sally Silvers, Sara Rudner, and the oh-so-lovely Paul Singh.

Jean Freebury danced with Merce Cunningham from 1992-2003. She teaches his technique at his studio and at SUNY/Purchase. Jean began performing with Douglas Dunn and Dancers in 2007 and is very happy to be here at St. Mark's. She also dances with Glen Rumsey, Kota Yamazaki, Elke Rindfleisch and studies ballet with Christine Wright. Thank you Douglas, thank you Katy and thank you Merce, wherever you are, for everything.

Paul Singh earned his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign. He is currently dancing for Gerald Casel, Erica Essner, Risa Jaroslow, Douglas Dunn, and Christopher Williams. He has had his work presented at the Judson Church, Dance Theater Workshop, Joe's Pub, Dixon Place, La Mama E.T.C, and in 2004 his solo piece Stutter was presented at the Kennedy Center. While in NYC, Paul hopes to continue dancing and choreographing for his little company, Singh & Dance, until his feet fall off.

Timothy Emmett Lee Ward was born in Abita Springs, La. He graduated high school at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, then earned his BFA in dance from the Juilliard School. Since his graduation in May, 2008, Timothy has travelled to the Philippines for a dance outreach project and performed in the Wave Rising Series with Gallim Dance.

Christopher Williams is a dancer, choreographer, and puppeteer. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He has since danced for Tere O'Connor, John Kelly, Yoshiko Chuma, Yvonne Meier, and Rebecca Lazier, among others, and has performed for puppetry artists Basil Twist and Dan Hurlin. His own works have been presented in many New York City venues, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and internationally in Bogotá, Colombia. In 2005, he received a New York Dance & Performance "Bessie" Award for his work Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. He has had the pleasure of dancing with Douglas Dunn & Dancers since the year 2000.