Wave Hill Hosts Spring Dances & Workshop on Earth Day Weekend
Award-winning choreographer Merián Soto continues her residency at Wave Hill with an Earth Day performance of Branch Dances at Wave Hill on Sunday, April 22. Soto’s work dovetails with Wave Hill’s mission to explore human connections to the natural world through the arts, and furthers its rich history in presenting adventurous, mission-related outdoor performances. This spring-themed performance will connect perfectly with the Earth Day festivities hosted through the weekend. Soto also offers a workshop on Saturday, April 21, to introduce various movement techniques designed to open up the senses and connect with nature. The workshop is open to adults and young people that are ages 12 and up. Visit www.wavehill.org/arts for a full description of both events.
Soto uses both choreographed and improvised movement to transform everyday life experience, memory and history into innovative works that create a heightened awareness of emotion, expression and consciousness. Branch Dances at Wave Hill performances are slow and meditative, yet powerfully communicative. Soto works with her team of dancers―Beau Hancock, Jumatatu Poe, Olive Prince and Marion Ramirez―and percussionist Harold Smith, to connect body, mind, place and elements to stillness. Soto selects locations that respond to seasonal aspects of the landscape, taking advantage of Wave Hill’s sweeping vistas and sculptural trees. Audiences are invited to slow down and enter a state of heightened receptivity to nature. Soto’s project is Wave Hill’s 2011–2012 generated@wavehill commission, a program that provides artists the opportunity to create temporal work for the grounds. This is the third of four seasonal performances. The final one takes place on June 23.
Branch Dances is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by The Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Matching funds have been provided by The Harkness Foundation for Dance and The Stephen and Cathy Weinroth Charitable Trust. This project is supported with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties. Sustaining support for Wave Hill is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
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What: Spring Branch Dances & Workshop at Wave Hill
Date and Time:
• Saturday, April 21, 2PM / Opening Up the Senses/Partnering with Nature: A Workshop with Merián Soto
• Sunday, April 22, 3:30PM / Branch Dances at Wave Hill
Fees:
Program and admission to Wave Hill is free all day Sunday, thanks to the generous support of Target! The April 21 workshop is free with admission; registration is required, online at www.wavehill.org, by calling 718.549.3200 x305 or at the Perkins Visitor Center.
Contact: Mary Weitzman at 718.549.3200 x320 or maryw@wavehill.org
Martha Gellens at 718.549.3200 x232 or marthag@wavehill.org
Location: Wave Hill at West 249 Street and Independence Avenue in the Bronx, New York
Hours: Open all year, Tuesday–Sunday and many major holidays: 9am–5:30pm
Admission: $8 adults, $4 students & seniors 65+, $2 children 6–18. Free Tuesday, . Free to Members, children under 6. FreeSaturday until noon all day Sunday, April 22, thanks to the generous support of Target. Free all day Sunday, thanks to the generous support of Target
Directions: Getting here is easy! Located only 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan, Wave Hill’s free shuttle van transports you to and from our front gate, Metro-North’s Riverdale station, the W. 242 St. stop on the #1 subway line, and our free offsite parking lot. Limited onsite parking; $8 per vehicle. Complete directions, shuttle schedule at www.wavehill.org.
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