Newport’s Island Moving Co. will present dances set in city landscapes as an Open for Dancing Interlude on September 25 and 26, 2015.
IMC’s Open for Dancing is a biennial site specific dance and art festival that the Company will next present in September 2016.
The Interlude will include performances created for the center of Newport at Queen Anne Square and Bowen’s Wharf; and at the newly built Pell Elementary School on Dexter Street in Newport, employing the inventive playground equipment on the campus.
On Friday, September 25th, Christine Sandorfi will present the dance she is making at the Pell School playground with a cast of sixteen 4th and 5th graders from the Newport Schools. The children, who will collaborate in the creation of the dance, have all participated in Island Moving Co. programs at the schools or in classes at the Newport Academy of Ballet.
“The moment I saw that great new playground at the Pell School I knew how much fun it would be to use it for a site specific dance,” says Sandorfi, who is a dancer with the Island Moving Co and is Education Director for the creative movement programs in the schools. The dance will be performed for the school community at 1:30 and 2pm and again at 5pm for the public. Attendance is free.
On Saturday, September 26th, Artistic Director Miki Ohlsen will use the Island Moving Co.’s professional dancers, students and community members to create a dance that moves from Queen Anne Square, across America’s Cup Ave. to various locations on Bowen’s Wharf. At the Square, the dance will be accompanied by music from the Trinity Church carillon; on the wharf, a Schubert quartet, plus improvised music by area musicians, will accompany dance vignettes placed in distinct areas around the historic Wharf. The dance will be performed twice, at 3 and 4:30pm and is free and open to the public.
Participation in the Queen Anne Square/Bowen’s Wharf dance is still open. There is a fee of $75 which includes rehearsals with the IMC on Thursday and Friday and performance in the dance.
Island Moving Co.’s Open for Dancing Interlude at Pell School is sponsored by David and Leslie Reed; the Downtown Interlude is sponsored by Bowen’s Wharf. For more information, visit www.islandmovingco.org.