Island Moving Company announces performance dates for Far to Near: Choreography. Closer. a mixed repertory evening-length contemporary ballet featuring choreographers from Italy, Puerto Rico, and Newport October 26 and 27 in Newport, RI. Curated by Artistic Director Miki Ohlsen, Near to Far Choreography. Closer. is designed to showcase the company’s 13 nationally and international recruited dancers in the intimate 200 seat setting that the renovated Casino Theatre provides.
Far to Near: Choreography. Closer. will mark the world premiere of 3 new works commissioned by Island Moving Company. Simona De Tullio the director of the Breathing Art Company based in Bari, Italy will debut two pieces with scores by Puccini and Ivan Iusco with Hugues Lebars respectively. Tullio’s work internationally has taken her to Germany, Spain, Hungary, and Albania. De Tullio has directed the international San Nicola Dance Prize since 2010, and is influenced in part by her collaborations with American contemporary ballet legend Alonzo King.
Island Moving Company Artistic Director, Miki Ohlsen, will debut a new piece to join the over 30 previous works she has contributed to the company’s repertory. Ohlsen’s premiere will feature veteran IMC dancer Katie Moorehead and relative newcomer Gregory Tyndall in an intimate duet. Far to Near: Choreography. Closer. will also feature Here’s to Life by Puerto Rico native Rodney Rivera. The piece was commissioned by Island Moving Company in the spring of 2018 in tribute to the people of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s devastation in the fall of 2017. It features a score by Michael Nyman and Johnny Mandel. Rivera’s work has been presented in international dance festivals such as the Miami International Ballet Festival, Festival de Ballet de la Habana Cuba, Aquins Festival Haiti, All Stars of Dance Gala, Festival de Coreografos de Ballet Concierto de PR, Festival Internacional de Teatro de PR, and the World Ballet Competition among others.
The program will feature three additional pieces being restaged from the company’s existing repertory: summer 2018 premiere Transport by IMC Associate Artistic Director Danielle Genest, Queens are Made of Distance and Greasepaint by IMC dancer Shane Farrell which debuted in 2015, and Continua Metamorfosi by IMC Artistic Director Miki Ohlsen originally commissioned by Topsy Taylor.
Sponsorships of Far to Near: Choreography. Closer. are available, and tickets can be purchased online at www.IslandMovingCo.org or over the phone at (401)847-4470.
Performance Dates and Times
- Friday October 26, 7:00pm
- Saturday October 27, 3:00pm
- Saturday October 27, 7:00pm
Under the leadership of Artistic Director Miki Ohlsen for 36 years, Island Moving Company has produced and presented dances by a diverse group of choreographers, working with musicians, poets, and visual artists. IMC is known for its creative use of unusual venues, creating site-specific work at Rosecliff Mansion, Belcourt Castle, the Tall Ship Oliver Hazard Perry, the Great Friends Meeting Hall, Fort Adams, and other notable sites across Newport County.
IMC works extensively with students k-12 in curriculum-based movement residencies throughout R.I. and Massachusetts impacting over 3,000 children annually. Additionally, IMC operates the Newport Academy of Ballet which provides pre-professional afterschool dance training to over 175 students a week from across Rhode Island.