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Prometheus Dance Presents 20th Anniversary Performance

BOSTON, MA: Prometheus Dance presents its 20th Anniversary Performance. Fri.–Sat., May 16-17, 8:00 pm; Sun., May 18, 6:00 pm. Tickets: $30; $20 students/seniors/BDA members. The Boston Conservatory Theatre, 31 Hemenway St., Boston. [Located near the Hynes Convention Center MBTA stop on the Green Line.] For information: 617-617-576-5336, www.prometheusdance.org.  For advance tickets, which go on sale May 12, call The Boston Conservatory Theatre’s box office at 617-912-9222.

Prometheus Dance wraps up its 20th anniversary whirlwind of a season with several Boston premieres, Tabula Rasa and Prelude, along with a revisiting of the critically acclaimed Devil’s Wedding and La Giornata Omicida. Developed through a highly-charged and theatrical choreographic style, the dances of Prometheus (www.prometheusdance.org) are visually beautiful, physically intimate, and emotionally provocative ruminations about social issues and psychological intricacies.

Prometheus Dance is currently an ensemble of eight dancers performing contemporary dance / theatre created by the company's Artistic Directors Diane Arvanites-Noya and Tommy Neblett. Founded in 1987 by Noya, Prometheus Dance has become one of Massachusetts most outstanding and established modern dance companies, contributing quality dance performance, arts education and cultural service to the community.

The company is known for its performances of: the large-scale works Apokalypsis, concerning the world-wide refugee crisis; Dreams, based on Jungian symbolism; Impromptus & Intrigues, a modern setting of a Schubertiade; Anadimioupyia, exploring the beauty of Tourettes Syndrome; Opera Boston’s Nixon In China and The Pearl Fishers; repertory pieces performed to jazz, world and commissioned music; and outreach performances in public schools, homeless shelters and nursing homes.

Often included in the Boston area’s Ten Best in Dance lists, the company performs extensively both nationally and internationally. This spring’s concert will feature the performance work of Andy Taylor-Blenis, Callie Chapman Korn, Nicole Sell Danizio, Megan Schenk, Cristin Fagone, Rachel Bertone, Naoko Brown, and Kara Johnson.

The following performance pieces will be having their Boston premieres:

Tabula Rasa [2007]: (premiered at Joyce SoHo’s INBOUND Festival in January 2008), choreography by Noya, music by Arvo Part:
Commissioned by the Walnut Hill School in Natick. Gives focus to one woman’s desire to collect the fragments of her history in order to gain perspective, acceptance, and eventual freedom from the weight of her past.

Prelude (working title) [2008]: choreography by Noya & Neblett, music by Chopin (ten piano preludes):
The latest creation by Noya & Neblett depicting their lives in constant motion, running to and fro, together and apart, yet ultimately arriving where they were meant to be in the first place.

The following performance pieces will round out the program:

Devil’s Wedding [2006]: choreography by Noya & Neblett, music by Serart & Rajna:
An honest and harrowing look at women’s lives in Islamic fundamentalist societies. Inspired by Azar Nafisi’s book “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” Devil’s Wedding was initially developed in July 2006 while Prometheus Dance was in residence at The Yard Performing Arts Colony on Martha’s Vineyard. Set to music by Serart (rock artist Serge Tankian [System Of A Down] and Armenian avante garde artist Arto Tunc Boyaciya), Devil’s Wedding explores the repression, fear, hope and courage of women who live under male dominated religious governments. The work is an examination of the positive and negative intersections of ancient religious based perceptions and modern cultural beliefs that create evolutionary conflict in the lives of ordinary people. “…their dance has theatrical power that insists on being taken seriously.” (Boston Phoenix)

La Giornata Omicida (The Deadly Day) [1996]: choreography by Neblett, music by Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare:
“Casts five cookie-cutter women in a romping, stomping tour de force that veers between a celebration of girl power and a critique of the ideals of feminine beauty" (The Boston Globe, 1998). "In their slinky red mini-dresses, black boots, and black bobbed wigs, the work's five dancers look like Sydney Bristow in her German punk guise. Sultry struts and vigorous stomp sequences are only briefly tempered by gestures of coy femininity." (Boston Globe, 2006)

Prometheus Dance ( www.prometheusdance.org ) has been produced in New York City by Joyce SoHo, New York University, Downtown Baca, La Mama, at Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors Festival and in Avery Fisher Hall with the Brooklyn Philharmonic; in Boston by the Celebrity Series, Opera Boston, Dance Umbrella, Crash Arts, First Night, the Boston Center for the Arts, Emerson Stage, The Boston Conservatory, the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center and The Yard; and in Connecticut by the New England Artists’ Trust Congress and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. The company has performed internationally in Marseille, France; Santiago, Spain; Valencia, Venezuela; and Quito, Ecuador.

The mission of Prometheus Dance is to create original high quality choreography and dance performance in collaboration with composers and designers; to promote a love for dance throughout the community with dedication and commitment; to continue to create works which inspire audiences and raise human issues vital to the community as they serve as a social awakening mechanism.

As a newly formed second company, The Elders Ensemble is a performing group made up of post-professional dancers ages 60-85. The Elders perform at senior centers, healthcare facilities and community events, as well as with the main company in special choreographic projects. In April 2006, The Elders Ensemble received a Gold Star Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for outstanding and inventive arts programming.