Dance Review: Hot-Off-the-Press Dance, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

iDANZ Today — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:57:00 +0000

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre is a hot-off-the press dance company with choreographer, Samar Haddad King, creating dances about the pervading issues and conflicts of today’s world. King looks at the controversy that arises amongst groups with varying belief systems and what happens when these systems collide. According to Ms. King, her goal is to “collaborate with artists across disciplines, cultural geographies, and physical borders with the intent to forge stimulating and transformative experiences for both audience and performer.” The combination of the dramatic subject matter and the technical ability and experience of his dancers makes for an undeniable explosive combination.

The compelling and passionate duet, Al Bikr Adaptation (The firstborn), brings the audience into the world of Samar Haddad King. Instead of her other works of the night which attempt to bridge cultural/religious gaps, this creation does not need to cross any boundaries. The piece is about the universal tragedy of losing a child. Dancers Josiah Guitian and Stephanie Sutherland passionately depict anguish and longing for their stillborn child. They appear dependent on each other, but desperately want this painful period in their lives to be over. Guitian and Sutherland are excellent partners, complementing each other’s athletic prowess with their acting skills. The dancers are able to portray how a couple’s lack of communication ultimately leads to their downfall.

Kristen Osler portrays Penelope in this beautifully constructed solo with text by Samar Haddad King. This is a narrative about regrets and wanting to change the past. Penelope is the second piece of the evening that transcends cultural boundaries. Everyone feels regrets about their past no matter where you come from. Ms. Osler’s movements are so smooth that she appears to dance every single thought from the text. The stream of consciousness fits perfectly with Osler’s languid movements. Throughout the piece she is constantly taking on and off her shirt as a sort of symbolic way of exposing and hiding her soul. Penelope is an intimate and dynamic glimpse in the mind of a woman coping with regrets.

Frozen Belief II closes out the night with performers Yukari Osaka, Kristen Osler, and Kathryn Baer Schetlick bearing all in this piece about individual faith and the interaction between different faiths. The three women begin the piece with their backs to the audience. T hey are topless, kneeling in what appears to be sand. They start throwing sand into the air from their baskets, creating a mesmerizing and almost mystical atmosphere. They are each alone in their own faiths and belief systems, unaware of any other system. The piece begins to progress as each dancer dons white flowing tunics and realizes that there are two other dancers next to her. This realization is symbolic to the issues that arise when different belief systems come into contact with each other and how people deal with these differences. The carefully crafted text interspersed throughout the piece is read in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. The choice to use these languages helps create an effect of diverse cultural groups coming together and trying to reconcile differences.

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre is a intriguingly provocative and sincere dance force with a admirable goal of using dance to bridge cultural and religious divides.

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Amanda Keller
Performance: Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

Venue: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, NY
Performance Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009
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Announcement: YAA Samar! Dance Theatre at LPAC

iDANZ Today — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:51:00 +0000

YAA SAMAR! DANCE THEATRE TO OPEN SEASON AT LAGUARDIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
SEPTEMBER 25th-26th at 7pm: “THE JOURNEY CONTINUES”
YSDT presents Al-Bikr, Frozen Belief II and selected excerpts from last year’s The Store.

After the success of her residency last year at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Samar Haddad King and her company Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre have been invited back to open this year’s performance series alongside Mad About Dance and Dance Entropy on the prestigious main stage.

Featuring the evolution of the visually stunning piece Frozen Belief II– premiered in October 2006 at Joyce SoHo- which uses flour as a metaphor for faith; here King explores the relationship of three individuals’ to their own beliefs as well as how they perceive and relate to one another’s. Each character and their narrative is introduced through an intimate scene of solitary devotion, wherein the flour is used to other-worldly and mesmerizing effect. Though initially oblivious to one another’s presence, the dancers eventually come into contact with one another and with the flour that surrounds them, exploring the possibilities of what happens when different belief systems collide, and ultimately discovering their own true motivations for faith. Frozen Belief II is set to the music of Ayub Ogada and Mercan Dede. The text, written by Samar Haddad King, is read in English, Arabic and Hebrew.

Emblematic of King’s signature style that combines fierce technical and athletic ability with thought-provoking and emotionally dramatic subject matter, Al-Bikr Adaptation (adapted from a longer duet) tells the story of a couple following the stillborn birth of their child. This tragic event initiates the unraveling of a relationship where apathy, anger, love and compassion culminate in the inability to communicate. Premiered in April 2009 at E-moves as an Evolving Artist, the creation of this work was supported in part by the Department of Cultural Affair’s Manhattan Community Arts Fund administered through Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Penelope, excerpted from the evening length production The Store that premiered in April 2009 at Teatro La TEA, is a solo performed to original text written by Samar Haddad King. Offering a glimpse into the mind of a young woman coping with tragedy, Penelope is intimate, tangential, stream-of-conscious, light-hearted and revealing; a range which could only be offered by a gifted storyteller as well as dance-maker. Music by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and Modest Mouse. The creation of this work was supported in part by the Department of Cultural Affair’s Manhattan Community Arts Fund administered through Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.

Founded in 2005 by choreographer Samar Haddad King, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company based in New York City. YSDT combines a rich and ever-changing movement vocabulary with diverse musical choices, technology, innovative costuming and set design to tell stories both linear and abstract. Inspired by world events as well as personal histories. King’s mission is to connect audience and performer through compelling, absorbing and transformative dances that express the countless faces of humanity.

For further information on the company, please visit our website at www.yaasamardance.com.

TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets ($15 Advance, $20 at the door, $10 Students) are on sale through LaGuardia Performing Arts Center’s box office at:

https://www.choicesecure01.net/mainapp/eventschedule.aspx?clientid=laguardia
or 718.482.5151

GETTING TO LPAC: The LaGuardia Performing Arts Center is located at 31-10 Thompson Avenue ten minutes from Grand Central Station. Take the 7 train to 33rd Street and walk two blocks westbound to Thompson Avenue and Van Dam Street. You can also take the Via E, V & R Trains and get off at Queens Plaza Station. Exit the station at Jackson Avenue and Queens Boulevard exit and walk over the Queens Boulevard Bridge (over the Sunnyside train yards) until you reach the corner of Van Dam Street and Thomson Avenue.