Spring 2015 Emerging Artists: Empowerment, communication and transformation

The ASU School of Film, Dance and Theatre’s Emerging Artists II and Emerging Artists Resite will offer audiences a number of conceptually lush performances this spring: personal experiences of the link between empowerment and movement; sensations based on our shared memories, habits and perspectives; and a journey of physical and mental rigor and intimacy.

It’s a lot to pack into a single performance, but these up-and-coming choreographers are up to the challenge.

Emerging Artists is a biannual series featuring choreography from the graduating MFA students in dance. These thesis projects are the accumulation of several years of study, exploring a variety of issues through movement, interactive media and performance.

This particular iteration of Emerging Artists II will showcase the work of Chareka Daniel and Fumihiro Kikuchi, while Emerging Artists Resite will feature In Kyung Lee’s site-specific piece.

Daniel and Kikuchi will each be presenting a 40-minute-long dance in the Margaret Gisolo Dance Studio for Emerging Artists II.

Daniel’s work, “Linked Together,” is layered: The performance includes nine ASU dancers as well as nine children from the Boys and Girls Club.

“’Linked Together’ is a choreographic project inspired by working with at-risk youth and their ability to learn, grow and express themselves through dance,” says Daniel. “The lessons learned through dance flow seamlessly into the non-dance world, encouraging people to live authentically, make empowered decisions, take ownership over their work, think creatively and collaborate with others regardless of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion or anything else.”

Kikuchi’s piece, “Purple World,” which features three dancers, including Kikuchi himself, is a bit more abstract.

Kikuchi say he “sees the moments between the past and present, and interprets the moments with collaborators in present to move on to the next inquiry.” He calls “Purple World” an “interactive communication through body language and sensations.”

For Emerging Artists Resite, which is a separate performance, Lee decided to present her piece at the ASU Art Museum, so that she could work with a non-traditional space.

“I was looking for a non-theatrical space in order to create more intimacy between the performers and the viewers,” she says. “The museum space was perfect, because the way the sound travels in the room really creates that intimacy. Also, the audience and the performers are positioned very close without any divide, so we all directly share that space and energy.”

Her piece, “waiting for a passenger/ ship to go to sea,” is an exercise in movement poetics. As description, she offers: “Gradually, we hear the sea, although we are in the middle of the desert. Our shining sweat of quiet intensity breaks us apart – we become your babies.”

See “Linked Together” and “Purple World” in Emerging Artists II at the Margaret Gisolo Dance Studio PEBE 132, on ASU’s Tempe Campus:

Jan. 30 at 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.

See “waiting for a passenger/ ship to go to sea” in Emerging Artists Resite at the ASU Art Museum, on ASU’s Tempe Campus:

Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 24 at 2 p.m.
Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m.

Emerging Artists II ticket prices are:
$16–General; $12–ASU Faculty, Staff + Alumni; $12–Senior; $8–Student
Purchase tickets online or call 480.965.6447.

Emerging Artists Resite is free to the public.

Media Contact:
Katrina Montgomery
Editor Assistant
480.727.4433
Katrina.Montgomery@asu.edu