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Live Music and Premiere Works are Highlights of ESDC's Homebase Concert at The Egg
Ellen Sinopoli to Appear in From the Horse's Mouth at Proctor's Theatre
Company to Perform at Hudson Valley Community College
Dance Troupe Showcases Artistic Connections
Company Performs as Part of First Annual WoodFest
Dance Troupe Showcases Artistic Connections
Company Performs as Part of First Annual WoodFest
Year in review 2006 - Dance: Sinopoli provided most striking work
Work sets new bar - Sinopoli dancers brilliant in debut of original piece
'Spill Out!' is rich with visual delights
Sinopoli Show Spans 15 Years
Tell Me a Story
Live Music and Premiere Works are Highlights of ESDC's Homebase Concert at The Egg
(Troy, NY): The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company (ESDC) will offer a unique program of dance, live music and new set design on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 8 pm at its annual home base performance. This concert will feature some of the greater Capital Region’s most talented artists in performance with ESDC’s outstanding dancers. Performers will include flamenco guitarist Maria Zemantauski, cellist Monica Wilson-Roach and percussionist Brian Melick. A new set design by sculptor Jim Lewis, with fabric construction for the set by Jean Krueger, will also be a part of the program. Ellen Sinopoli will join her collaborating artists at 7:15pm for a Prelude Talk.
The evening will feature two choreographic premieres. Compas, is a new work choreographed by Ellen Sinopoli to a musical composition by Maria Zemantauski and performed live by Zemantauski, Wilson-Roach and Melick. The score is based on the compas (rhythm) of five flamenco palos (song forms) – Tango, Siguiriya, Farruca, Rumba and Bulerias – that are enticingly infused with an array of jazz and funk.
The second premiere, Snowblind, is a 25-minute work in several sections that depicts an icy and barren arctic landscape enhanced by two haunting “ice” sculptures by sculptor Jim Lewis and a dramatic lighting design by Jason Sinopoli. Driven by Evelyn Glennie’s provocative percussive soundscape, this world and its inhabitants reveal the enigmatic life that exists there sometimes secretly, yet often explicitly.
Additional works on the program will be from ESDC’s repertory including Falling andSandungera. Falling will feature Zemantauski and Melick playing their musical composition live. Sandungera is set to Latin jazz, Cuban and tango music. The word, “sandungera” encompasses a variety of meanings including groove, sensuality, rhythm, and above all, the splendid movement of a woman’s waist, as she dances to the erotic rhythm. A woman who embodies all of these qualities is called a “sandungera”. The Gazette offers the following quote: “brilliant...the piece simmered with a warm sultriness that was irresistible”.
Tickets for the performance are $24 for adults, $20 for seniors and $12 for children. Student rush tickets are also available one hour before the show. Tickets are available through The Egg’s Box Office at (518) 473-1845 or www.theegg.org.
Jean Krueger (Fabric Construction for Set Design) is an artist who has lived in Troy, NY, since 2001 where she owns and operates Allblues Sewing Service, a tailoring and curio shop. She works with various media including painting, printmaking, collage, fashion design and fabric constructions. Krueger is currently designing and fabricating a set of decorative flags to be displayed outside at the Art Center of the Capital Region on River St. in Troy. She is active in the promotion of her neighborhood, Troy Little Italy, and is a partner in the creation of a new farmers’ market to be held in Little Italy this summer.
Jim Lewis (Set Design) is a sculptor and furniture maker living and working in Troy. His studio, Icarus Furniture, has designed and built for over 75 churches, chapels, synagogues, and sacred spaces, as well as thousands of homes throughout the Capital Region. Lewis’ sculpture is currently on exhibit as a part of Albany, NY’s Sculpture in the Streets and Stockbridge, MA’s Art Now! He has won awards in national and international design competitions and has been featured in regional and national magazines. Lewis was building a throne for a tabernacle at Immaculate Conception Church in Glenville, NY where he started considering how to make doubly curved surfaces from wood. He was working on ideas for bent and twisted plywood when Johannes Goebel asked him to make a “sculptural media room” for EMPAC. Since then, Lewis has designed dozens of explorable architectural sculptures, and built several of them, including “Red Bud”, the sculpture that is the prototype for Sinopoli’s Snowblind.
Brian Melick (Musician) is active as a performer, recording artist and educator. He has been performing since the age of thirteen and is featured on over 200 commercial recordings including his solo release entitled PERCUSSIVE VOICES, which debut at #23 on the world music charts. He has two Sound Libraries: Perpetual Motion & The Art of Udu released by Gene Michael Productions. They continue to be used on the Discover and the Learning Channel and have been placed with all the major networks as well as motion picture organizations. Melick has two educational bodies of work: The “How To” of Udu and Making Percussion Instruments Out of Found Objects. Most recently he has created a 15-week course curriculum offered through Community Learning entitled Playing with Percussion which is being sold throughout North America. His educational offerings run the gamut—from toddler-age children to senior citizens, from day camps, schools, universities, community-based programs to working with professional music therapists and educators.
Monica Wilson-Roach (Musician) has been playing cello and bass for over twenty-five years. She was on faculty at the Juilliard School and has performed in the Texaco New York Jazz Festival, the Documenta X in Kessel, Germany, the Jazz and Bluesfest - Live from Wolftrap, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music performances of Donald Byrd's Jazztrain with Grammy Award winning artist Vernon Reid. The list of venues includes: the Knitting Factory, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center out-of-doors. Currently, she conducts string ensembles and plays with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra.
Maria Zemantauski (Composer and Musician)is one of the world’s few heralded female flamenco guitarists, and one of even fewer female flamenco composers. She has performed in Spain, Italy and across the continental United States to great acclaim. Her albums, Mrs.Laughinghouse (1997), Seeing Red (2000) and Under the Lemon Tree (2005), have received stellar reviews from Flamenco Connection, Dirty Linen and music critics around the world. Voted the "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in the Capital Region, Metroland Newsweekly states, "she is unmatched for both chops and the power to telegraph emotion that all art aspires to. " With a Masters Degree in Cultural Anthropology, she is highly regarded for combining both performance and sociocultural analysis. She is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities nationwide, including the University of San Francisco, University of California at Santa Cruz, Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College School of Music, St. Lawrence University, California State University at San Marcos and The University of Kentucky at Lexington. She is also one of the featured performers in the award-winning documentary, "Radical Harmonies," an historical perspective of Women’s Music Festivals. As the Coordinator of Cultural Affairs at Hudson Valley Community College, she is committed to promoting the arts as a vital educational component and an integral part of society. Zemantauski is represented by The Central New York Showcase Entertainment Agency. For booking and more information visit www.thecnyshowcase.com or call Bill Dustin, President and Owner, at 315.427.3199.
Ellen Sinopoli to Appear in From the Horse's Mouth at Proctor's Theatre
On May 10, 2008, From the Horse’s Mouth will be presented at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady. Ellen Sinopoli has been selected as one of the 34 dancers from the Capital Region to participate in this celebratory dance/theater production that has received rave reviews from critics around the US. Premiered in 1998 at Joyce Soho in NYC, subsequent productions have featured dances of African, Flamenco, East Indian, Irish, Japanese, clogging, hip-hop, tango, jazz, tap, ballet and Broadway styles, to name a few. Join us on May 10th at 7 PM for a very unique and exciting evening! http://www.partnersindance.org
Company to Perform at Hudson Valley Community College
(Troy, NY): In honor of Women’s History Month and in celebration of choreographer Ellen Sinopoli’s 17 years as its artistic director, the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company will perform “Twists & Turns: The Road to a Modern Dance Company”, a retrospective program at Hudson Valley Community College’s Maureen Stapleton Theatre at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 8 th. Admission is $15. (518) 629-4TIX.
On Tuesday March 4th at 11 a.m. in Hudson Valley Community College’s Bulmer Telecommunications Center Auditorium, Ellen Sinopoli reflects on her dance and career as choreographer and founder of the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company, the resident company of The Egg. Extracting inspiration from some of the Capital Region’s most accomplished artists, Sinopoli surrounds herself with the creative energies of her artistic colleagues to develop provocative and richly imagined choreography that celebrates the rhythm, energy and musicality of modern dance. Admission is free. (518) 629-4TIX.
On display in the windows of the Maureen Stapleton Theatre are several large photographs by Gary Gold of ESDC dancers.
The concert on March 8th will features dances from Sinopoli’s choreography that span its 17 years. These include:
Selchie (1995), loosely based on the ancient Celtic myth of the seal people and set to selections of infectious Irish music;
Pierre ’s Words (1997), an abstract and expressionistic work with dancers, musicians and a poet responding to and guided by the electronic orchestration of composer Joel Chadabe;
Rising Low (2004), a poignant tale of loss and loneliness to music by Otis Taylor (blues) and Iris DeMent (country);
Vooz-é-la (2006), a gorgeous and juicy dance that propels the dancers into the acrobatic female voices of Zap Mama.
ESDC is pleased to announce the addition of two new dancers to its roster. This will be their premiere performance with the company.
Whitney Hoke is a BFA graduate in dance from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. While at Tisch, Whitney performed in choreography by Ulysess Dove, Larry Keigwin and Kyle Abraham, and worked with Mazasumi Chaya, Associate Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company. Whitney has performed with Danielle Russo Dance Company, Ashley Brown/Kinetic Project and Nicole Wolcott, performing in numerous venues and festivals throughout the NYC area including The Skirball Center, Dance Theater Workshop, The Mulberry Street Theater and the Triskelion Arts Center WAXworks.
Jennifer Yackel is originally from the Eastern Shore of Maryland where she received her early training. During this time, she participated in the Kennedy Center Master Class Series for promising young dancers and received a medal at the Youth American Grand Prix. She trained with the Richmond Ballet, performing with the company and was a company member with Ballet Theatre of Maryland, dancing in many principal roles. In her final year at BTM, she had the privilege of choreographing on the company. Jennifer currently studies in NYC training at the Limón Institute and performs with Neville Dance Theatre and Stephanie Harris Dance Collective.
Presented by the Cultural Affairs Program at Hudson Valley Community College.
Dance Troupe Showcases Artistic Connections
ALBANY -- Guest artists outnumbered company members at Saturday evening's performance of the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company at Th e Egg. Along with the troupe's five dancers, the program featured live musicians, a guest choreographer, a flamenco dancer and a wooden set piece by sculptor Jim Lewis. The combined effect was a rich and varied celebration of the connections and collaborations between regional artists.
Plenty of Sinopoli's work was also on tap, beginning with "Clusters," one of her earliest pieces, choreographed with Rob Kitsos. Dressed in gauzy white, the five dancers move like birds or plants in the wind, legs sweeping or outstretched in balances. Small groups form and reform as the dancers exit and enter the stage, creating ever-changing compositions. Building gradually to a fast-paced section and then slowing down again, the 16-year-old "Clusters," set to a sound score by Franghiz Ali Zaheh, has the flowing, organic feel that has characterized much of Sinopoli's work since.
Wearing bright red and orange, Laura Teeter ate up the scenery, so to speak, in Sinopoli's solo "Ream," with live music by guitarist Maria Zemantauski. Zemantauski also performed her soulful flamenco guitar in "Music Suite," alongside cellist Monica Wilson-Roach, and accompanied the expressive flamenco dancer Lisa Martinez, whose feet and skirts flashed almost as quickly as Zemantauski's fingers on the guitar strings. The musicians returned for "Compas," which melds Sinopoli's curving choreography with the bold, dramatic movement of flamenco. Turns, kicks, slides, circling hips, staccato rhythm and lots of attitude gave the piece heat and punch; the fluid unison sections for the four dancers (Teeter, Melissa George, Claire Jacob-Zysman and Audrey Burns) were particularly striking.
The program also included "Khoreia," choreographed by former company member Sarah Pingel and accompanied on clarinet by her sister, Johanna Pingel, who also gave a textured, powerful performance of Miklow Rosza's "Sonatina for Clarinet Solo" earlier in the evening.
The company's newest dancers, Burns and Jessica Higgins (who both fit seamlessly into the troupe), performed a short section of Sinopoli's work-in-progress, "Snowblind." The duet was actually performed by a trio, if you count Lewis' 10-foot-tall wooden sculpture, a cross between a shell and a cave, which vibrated ever so slightly as the dancers ran around it, embraced it, disappeared inside it and balanced against it.
Tresca Weinstein, a local freelance writer, is a regular contributor to the Times Union.
Company Performs as Part of First Annual WoodFest
( Troy, NY): The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company (ESDC) will perform on Tuesday, August 28 at 8pm as part of WOODFEST, a week long celebration of performances produced by the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls. The program features a striking collection of five dance works by Artistic Director Ellen Sinopoli and guest artist/swing dancer Adrian Warnock-Graham.
Adrian Warnock-Graham began dancing at raves, blues clubs and juke joints before he fell in love with swing. He is originally from Toledo, Ohio and has studied with many top instructors including Steven Mitchell, Virginie Jensen, Dawn Hampton, Paul Overton & Sharon Ashe, Dog Stilton, Carol & Tony Fraser, Bill Borgida and Johnny Lloyd. Adrian has performed at concerts by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Indigo Swing and the Camaros , George Gee and the Jump Jivin’ Wailers as well as performing regularly with Doc Scanlan’s Rhythm Boys and Reggie’s Red Hot Feet Warmers. Adrian will perform with ESDC’s dancers in Jammin’ with music by Manhattan Transfer’s Laurel Massé.
The performance also features a return to her hometown for company veteran dancer Melissa George who was born and raised in Glens Falls. She began her dance training at The Dance Center of Queensbury under Barbara Tebeau. Melissa received her BFA in Dance Performance from the Boston Conservatory, performing works by Lar Lubovitch, José Limon and Martha Graham. She has been with ESDC for four years. As part of the program, Melissa will perform The Walk, a solo created for her earlier this year to music by Cornelius Duffalo of the string quartet Ethel.
Also on the program will be Oh My... , Sinopoli’s whimsical suite of mood swinging dances; Rising Low, a powerful and poignant tale of loss and loneliness; and Vooz-é-la, a funky finale set to music by Zap Mama.
Ellen Sinopoli will hold an informal talk about the program with audience members starting at 7:15pm. Tickets for the performance are $20 and are available through the Wood Theater Box Office at (518) 798-WOOD x21. More information on the WOODFEST can be obtained at www.woodtheater.org.
Before the show, ESDC will be holding a benefit cocktail hour at Wallabee’s Jazz Bar, across the street from the Wood Theater. Admission is $50 per person which includes a ticket to the performance. More information and invitations may be obtained by calling ESDC at (518) 408-1341.
Dance troupe showcases artistic connections
Author: TRESCA WEINSTEIN, Special to the Times Union
Date: October 22, 2007
ALBANY -- Guest artists outnumbered company members at Saturday evening's performance of the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company at The Egg. Along with the troupe's five dancers, the program featured live musicians, a guest choreographer, a flamenco dancer and a wooden set piece by sculptor Jim Lewis. The combined effect was a rich and varied celebration of the connections and collaborations between regional artists.
Plenty of Sinopoli's work was also on tap, beginning with "Clusters," one of her earliest pieces, choreographed with Rob Kitsos. Dressed in gauzy white, the five dancers move like birds or plants in the wind, legs sweeping or outstretched in balances. Small groups form and reform as the dancers exit and enter the stage, creating ever-changing compositions. Building gradually to a fast-paced section and then slowing down again, the 16-year-old "Clusters," set to a sound score by Franghiz Ali Zaheh, has the flowing, organic feel that has characterized much of Sinopoli's work since.
Wearing bright red and orange, Laura Teeter ate up the scenery, so to speak, in Sinopoli's solo "Ream," with live music by guitarist Maria Zemantauski. Zemantauski also performed her soulful flamenco guitar in "Music Suite," alongside cellist Monica Wilson-Roach, and accompanied the expressive flamenco dancer Lisa Martinez, whose feet and skirts flashed almost as quickly as Zemantauski's fingers on the guitar strings. The musicians returned for "Compas," which melds Sinopoli's curving choreography with the bold, dramatic movement of flamenco. Turns, kicks, slides, circling hips, staccato rhythm and lots of attitude gave the piece heat and punch; the fluid unison sections for the four dancers (Teeter, Melissa George, Claire Jacob-Zysman and Audrey Burns) were particularly striking.
The program also included "Khoreia," choreographed by former company member Sarah Pingel and accompanied on clarinet by her sister, Johanna Pingel, who also gave a textured, powerful performance of Miklow Rosza's "Sonatina for Clarinet Solo" earlier in the evening.
The company's newest dancers, Burns and Jessica Higgins (who both fit seamlessly into the troupe), performed a short section of Sinopoli's work-in-progress, "Snowblind." The duet was actually performed by a trio, if you count Lewis' 10-foot-tall wooden sculpture, a cross between a shell and a cave, which vibrated ever so slightly as the dancers ran around it, embraced it, disappeared inside it and balanced against it.
Tresca Weinstein, a local freelance writer, is a regular contributor to the Times Union.
Company Performs as Part of First Annual WoodFest
( Troy, NY): The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company (ESDC) will perform on Tuesday, August 28 at 8pm as part of WOODFEST, a week long celebration of performances produced by the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls. The program features a striking collection of five dance works by Artistic Director Ellen Sinopoli and guest artist/swing dancer Adrian Warnock-Graham.
Adrian Warnock-Graham began dancing at raves, blues clubs and juke joints before he fell in love with swing. He is originally from Toledo, Ohio and has studied with many top instructors including Steven Mitchell, Virginie Jensen, Dawn Hampton, Paul Overton & Sharon Ashe, Dog Stilton, Carol & Tony Fraser, Bill Borgida and Johnny Lloyd. Adrian has performed at concerts by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Indigo Swing and the Camaros, George Gee and the Jump Jivin’ Wailers as well as performing regularly with Doc Scanlan’s Rhythm Boys and Reggie’s Red Hot Feet Warmers. Adrian will perform with ESDC’s dancers in Jammin’ with music by Manhattan Transfer’s Laurel Massé.
The performance also features a return to her hometown for company veteran dancer Melissa George who was born and raised in Glens Falls. She began her dance training at The Dance Center of Queensbury under Barbara Tebeau. Melissa received her BFA in Dance Performance from the Boston Conservatory, performing works by Lar Lubovitch, José Limon and Martha Graham. She has been with ESDC for four years. As part of the program, Melissa will perform The Walk, a solo created for her earlier this year to music by Cornelius Duffalo of the string quartet Ethel.
Also on the program will be Oh My... , Sinopoli’s whimsical suite of mood swinging dances; Rising Low, a powerful and poignant tale of loss and loneliness; and Vooz-é-la, a funky finale set to music by Zap Mama.
Ellen Sinopoli will hold an informal talk about the program with audience members starting at 7:15pm. Tickets for the performance are $20 and are available through the Wood Theater Box Office at (518) 798-WOOD x21. More information on the WOODFEST can be obtained at www.woodtheater.org.
Before the show, ESDC will be holding a benefit cocktail hour at Wallabee’s Jazz Bar, across the street from the Wood Theater. Admission is $50 per person which includes a ticket to the performance.
More information and invitations may be obtained by calling ESDC at (518) 408-1341.
“A performance of immediacy and beauty . . .” ~ Woodstock Times
Year in review 2006
Dance: Sinopoli provided most striking work
Author: Wendy Liberatore, Gazette reporterDate: December 31, 2006
Lovers of dance often look to big-name artists for their fix. And though plenty of internationally known companies swung through the Capital Region these past 12 months, it was one of our local choreographers who provided the most intriguing events of 2006.
Choreographer Ellen Sinopoli, with architectural designer Frances Bronet, created “Spill Out!,” a test of architecture’s effect on movement. Their last collaboration, “Beating a Path,” which was performed in a Troy storefront, explored the same theme. But “Spill Out!” created a buzz unusual here. It’s not often that dance ticket buyers have to be turned away at the door.
The excitement was well-deserved. The work, which more than 2,500 people saw, essentially plunked five dancers into a lighted spandex box, created by Bronet and her University at Oregon students. (Think fireflies captured and darting around in an enclosed container.) The piece created a mesmerizing environment in the circular, vaulted Gasholder Building. The portable dance went on to further success, with a totally different feel, in the gym at Skidmore College and the proscenium stage at the Performing Arts Center at the University at Albany.
Top 10 shows
Here are the year’s top 10 dance concerts of 2006:
1.) |
Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company in “Spill Out!” at the Gasholder Building on Sept. 8 – One of the best dance events here since 1999 when choreographer Ellen Sinopoli and architectural designer Frances Bronet collaborated on “Beating a Path.” |
2.) |
New York City Ballet’s Gala program at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 22 – An exclusive program of premieres that unleashed the dancers’ usually muted passions. |
3.) |
Ten Foot Five at The Egg on Oct. 21 – An unpretentious, freewheeling tap extravaganza. |
4.) |
Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theater in “Swan Lake” at the Palace Theatre on March 19 – A mysterious and grand rendering of the warhorse. |
5.) |
New York City Ballet in “Swan Lake” at SPAC on July 6 – Sofiane Sylve was a force of nature as Odile. |
6.) |
Battleworks at Skidmore College on Feb. 10 – Human quirks depicted in a raw, violent and engrossing manner. |
7.) |
Limon Dance Company at The Egg on June 9 – One of the oldest modern dance groups paired organic fluid grace with telling drama. |
8.) |
Ballet Hispanico at MASS MoCA on Oct. 6 – An irresistible company spiked with Latin flavor, robust personality and a burnished technique. |
9.) |
Paco Pena and his Flamenco Dance Company at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Jan. 27 – No one could be immune from the spell cast by guitarist Pena and his flashy and flowery dancers. |
10.) |
Mark Morris Dance Group at Jacob’s Pillow on Aug. 22 – 25 years old, but still gleefully anti-establishment. |
“Burning up the stage with its energy and daring” ~ Home Style Magazine
Work sets new bar
Sinopoli dancers brilliant in debut of original piece
Author: WENDY LIBERATORE
Gazette Reviewer
Date: September 10, 2006
Section: B: Regional
TROY - Choreographer Ellen Sinopoli and architectural designer Frances Bronet have done it again. They have yanked concert dance from its proscenium stage. And this time, to the delight of viewers, dropped it in a box. Imagine trapping a firefly in a bug box and you have "Spill Out!," their collaboration that premiered Friday night in the Historic Gasholder Building in Troy. "Spill Out!" eschews the given notion that movement sculpts space. Here, with the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company members climbing and crawling in Bronet's 40x12x3 foot rectangular enclosure, the space is shaping the dance.
Of course, this is nothing new. For over 40 years, choreographers have experimented with not just site-specific works, but props that become the piece's raison d'etre. But one has to admit that "Spill Out!" is the most interesting thing to happen in dance in this region since Sinopoli and Bronet unveiled their first collaboration in 1999, "Beating a Path," in an empty Troy storefront. It's not that any one thing about "Spill Out!" is brilliant. It's just all the pieces, including the hypnotic electronic score by William Harper, make for an extraordinary evening - one that I would highly recommend.
"Spill Out!" is an experience that begins upon entering the Gasholder Building. This large brick circular structure, with its vaulted ceiling, intrigues as it reeks of a history, an undisturbed monument to the lost industrial era. In the center of this large room is Bronet's construction, framed by scaffolding and wrapped in slatted spandex. Inside are the dancers. Wearing neon lime unitards, they lounge on the slender runways.
Once everyone is seated, the music which includes the soothing chirp of peepers, cues the dancers to awaken. They do so organically, stretching their limbs by sliding them along the bars. As our vision is obstructed by the spandex walls, they seem suspended in water or air. Those one top, step high like long-legged birds. When the stop, to survey the audience, they do so with authority. They clearly have domain over their environment.
When the music shifts, which it often does abruptly, so too does the movement quality. It swings from serene to eerie to violent. Rather than caged creatures who have mastered their confines, they look like humans being laid to rest. When they rouse, shaking off their brush with death, they start to bounce off and bust through the cuts in the stretchy walls. They fling their bodies off the spandex which ricochets them backwards with frightening force.
Finally, they emerge from their cell, like toddlers who discovered how to escape their playpen. While we celebrate their liberation, once the dancers slip out of the box, the spell that "Spill Out!" casts is sadly broken. Regardless, there is much to praise, including the video by Ralph Pascucci and costumes by Kim Vanyo. The pieces runs 65 minutes and it feels like 30.
Certainly, "Spill Out!" has some buzz. Friday's show was sold out. Many patrons stood lining the walls.
The piece will remain there until Sept. 17. It will then move to Skidmore College and the University at Albany. However, it would be wise not to miss it at the Gasholder Building. The juxtaposition of a historic building to modern art, with a work about architecture and dance, makes quite the impression.
Wendy Liberatore (395-3199 or at wendy@dailygazette.com)
Copyright (c) 2006 The Daily Gazette Co. All Rights Reserved.
“The choreography, dancers and set design have the audience capturing, losing and recapturing a multitude of fascinating and absorbing oscillations”
~ Chatham Courier
‘Spill Out!’ is rich with visual delights
Author: Tresca Weinstein, Times Union Reviewer
Date: September 9, 2006
It’s a good thing that “Spill Out!,” the new collaboration between choreographer Ellen Sinopoli and architect Frances Bronet, will be around for a while. The 65-minute piece, which premiered Friday evening at the historic Gasholder Building in Troy, will be performed 10 more times over the next month – at the Gasholder Building, Skidmore College and the University at Albany – and it’s so rich with visual delights that even if you went to every single performance, it’s a good bet that each time you’d see something you hadn’t noticed before.
If you’re only going to see “Spill Out!” once, however, then see it at the Gasholder Building. The vast domed structure is a perfect foil for the massive rectangular structure that serves as the five dancers’ habitat. The building’s curving walls and faded brick contrast beautifully with Bronet’s set, a streamlined rectangular structure of steel and bright blue spandex that stands 12 feet high and 40 feet long. William Harper’s mysterious, evocative score for the piece seems to expand to fill the space. David Yergan’s lighting design casts the dancers’ shadows on the walls like gorgeous, animated cave paintings. And Ralph Pascucci’s video projections, giant images of the dancers thrown across the spandex “screen,” add yet another layer.
Sinopoli’s choreography for the five dancers – Jamien Cvjetnicanin, Melissa George, Claire Jacob-Zysman, Sarah Pingel and Laura Teeter – starts out slow, with the dancers inside the structure, their bodies striated by the lines of blue spandex that enclose them. Glowing in lime green costumes designed by Kim Vanyo, they come out of their slumber like winged creatures emerging from chrysalises. Sometimes they occupy separate cells of the structure; other times they cling together, making abstract multi-limbed shapes within the geometric lines of the set.
The dancers seem wonderfully at home on the structure; it’s their shelter and their playground. They climb and swing all over it, balance atop it and bounce playfully on the spandex ribbons, which shimmer and ripple like water. Pingel and George have a terrific duet in which they turn and bend and bounce, one on each side of the structure, reflecting each other’s moves. In Teeter and Cvjetnicanin’s pas de deux at the very top of the set, they stretch and balance together, their conjoined shadows duplicated again and again on the walls.
Despite the specificity of its set, “Spill Out!” encompasses a variety of tones and moods, moving from angular edges to soft shapes, from driving rhythms and choreography to adagios and lighthearted movement. Somehow Bronet and Sinopoli, with the help of numerous contributors and collaborators, have managed to weave together many elements to create a unified piece that not only intrigues but also transports us to somewhere we’ve never been before.
Tresca Weinstein, a local freelance writer, is a regular contributor to the Times Union
“Sinopoli locates contagious exuberance in sharply defined movement performed by dancers who are clearly enjoying themselves” ~ Staten Island Advance
Sinopoli Show Spans 15 Years
Author : TRESCA WEINTSTEIN, Times Union ReviewerDate: May 7, 2006
The Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company’s 15 th anniversary performance Saturday at The Egg included the earliest work in the troupe’s repertoire and two premieres. Along with spanning time, thee program, featuring seven of the 40-odd dances Sinopoli has made since forming her company, showcased the choreographer’s many moods, hues and styles, along with a terrific group of dancers.
The earliest work, “Dreams,” from 1991, performed Saturday by Abel Costa and Laura Teeter, contains many of the ingredients Sinopoli has continued to explore over the years, including inventive partnering, floor work, expressive arms and organic movement. All of that can also be seen in the brand-new ensemble piece, “Vooz-e-la,” set to music by Zap Mama. It’s a gorgeous, juicy dance, on of Sinopoli’s best. The choreography is playful and fast-paced – crisp, sensual and pure fun all at once. The dancers wiggle and roll and jump on and over each other, bursting with energy.
Equally delightful is “Segue,” choreographed last year for a family program and set to percussion by Brian Melick. You can see why kids would love this dance; full of long lines and quick changes of direction, it’s consistently interesting and never predictable.
“Falling,” from 2003, is rife with the kind of curving, unfolding movement that Sinopoli loves, but it’s not overdone. At its best, the piece is both sensual and spare, like a Zen garden.
“Clusters,” from 1995, opens with the dancers silhouetted against a background of scarlet lights. Dressed in gauzy white costumes, they divide, re-form and spread across the stage like organisms or cells following their own journeys and life cycles. Sinopoli uses space brilliantly here, covering all levels and corners of the stage and orchestrating myriad exits and entrances in ones, twos and threes.
The choreographer’s sense of humor is highlighted in “Vain Endeavors,” a trio from 1999. Melissa George, Ann Olson and Kehlet Schou, dressed in ball gowns and black tie, start out as robotic storefront mannequins and gradually become embedded in their own little romantic drama. Set to music by Torrie Zito, the piece is full of witty encounters and creative partnering.
“Mastery of dance’s theatrical language” ~ The Gazette
Author: Mae G. Banner, Metroland reviewer
Date: November 10-16, 2005
An engaging storyteller and a percussionist for all seasons joined the Ellen Sinopoli dancers in a Sunday afternoon program that, as Goldilocks would say, was “just right.”
In a smoothly–paced hour, the audience of about 150 kids and their families were treated to folktales from Brazil, Russia, the Antilles Islands, and a Northwest Native American story about how Coyote steals Spring. Storyteller Pleasant DeSpain, a recent arrival from Arizona, was sometimes accompanied by an ebullient Brian Melick, sometimes by Sinopoli’s five limber dancers, and sometimes only by the audience, who DeSpain gently encouraged to help him out with a collective chant or gesture.
Well-wrought tales and shimmering musical lines lifted Sinopoli’s scaled down choreography to a pleasant plateau. All the elements, including clean-lined costumes by Kim Vanyo, cohered nicely.
Animal Rhythms, danced in black knee-length pants and leaf-printed tunics, presented giraffes with long upraised arms, lumbering gibbons with humped shoulders, and gazelles who flew about the small stage and jumped off and raced out of the theater.
Make Way for the Segue , a premiere, showed the dancers moving as one in a vine-like line, bending from the waist in profile to make a sturdy garden wall, or waving their arms, one after the other, like branches in the wind. This was tight, orderly choreography, shapely and easy to read. Working in a small space led to well-designed dances.
The best was another premiere, Dance Granny Dance, which brought together all the elements: storyteller, percussionist and dancers in a West Indian tale about the trickster Anansi the Spider. Sinopoli used the whole theater, from the top row to the back stage curtain to dance this story. It was fun to see three grandmothers (Melissa George, Yukiko Sumiya and Laura Teeter) all miming together in the their calico print dresses and lacy sweaters, as they danced to market and home to sell their vegetables.
We first saw Anansi as a pair of sharp-fingered hands emerging from the back curtain. These were followed by the arms and legs of Ann Olson and Sarah Pingel dressed in unitards of pied purple and black. A neat idea to present two dancers – eight arms and legs in all – as the spider.
Granny was an exuberant finale to a well-planned program. We talk about building audiences of the future. Shows like the Egg’s family series are the building blocks.
