Moving forward with celebratory premiere
ALBANY >> In celebration of its 23rd season, Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company will perform a company premiere with live music and projected visual art Saturday at The Egg.
The evening will begin at 7:15 p.m. with a talk given by Sinopoli; the performance, which also will include a new work created by Sinopoli for area dance students, will follow at 8 p.m.
In honor of the celebratory event, the company has commissioned New York City violinist and composer Cornelius Dufallo to compose music for its newest creation, “Continuum,” for which he will perform live. Sinopoli said Dufallo is a composer and violinist at the forefront of the American contemporary music scene. For more information, visit www.corneliusdufallo.
“Continuum” was created by Sinopoli, the company’s artistic director, and her dancers during a December residency at the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center.
“I became fascinated with the concept of moving forward while never losing sight of what we bring with us from our beginnings,” Sinopoli said. “When speaking with Neil at rehearsal earlier this week, I found that his original themes dealt with memory. So, without actually discussing the context of his composition, we both were taken to the same place. That is what is so wonderful about Neil’s work.”
Adding a further dimension to Saturday’s presentation is visual art created by Willie Marlowe, to be projected as a backdrop for the premiere during two of the dances, “Zarmina” and “Continuum.”
Marlowe has shown paintings in solo and invitational exhibitions in the United States and abroad. Her works are in museum, universities, corporate, and private collections. She is now a Professor Emerita and painting full time in her studio in Albany. For more information, go to www.williemarlowe.
“Zarmina,” which premiered in 2012, is set to a cello composition by Dufallo and was inspired by a landai written by Zarmina, an Afghan poet and martyr.
“The landai states: ‘I am shouting but you don’t answer — one day you’ll look for me and I’ll be gone from this.’ I chose a painting, Collage Diptych, by Willie that is a dichotomy of stones precariously balanced on each other next to a floating house. I thought this beautifully captured the essence of Zarmina’s emotions and perilous situation,” explained Sinopoli. “For the new dance, ‘Continuum,’ I was drawn to the Yellow Triangle for its color, clean line and sense of direction.”
She added that the costumes, which are designed by Kim Vanyo of Saratoga Springs, build perfectly on the artistic dynamics of the performance.
“As an artist, Willie’s uses her stunning imagination to reveal brilliantly colored visions,” said Sinopoli, who added that several of Marlowe’s paintings will be on display in the theater lobby of The Egg for the performance.
For the first time, the concert will feature dancers other than company members. Sinopoli auditioned Capital Region dance students ages 13 to 18, selected nine, and created a work for them to a Duffalo composition. Saturday’s young performers are from Tina Marie’s Dance Academy in Guilderland, Art in Motion Dance Academy in Albany and Danceforce in Guilderland Center.
“Our outreach programming is an important component of our mission and we wanted to offer a group of teenage students of dance the experience of working with a professional dance company,” Sinopoli said. “My dancers and I have been rehearsing with The Egg Kids on a weekly basis since November to create a new dance, ‘Beginnings,’ that will be performed on Saturday. The students are talented, enthusiastic and committed, and it’s been a joy to work with them.” Other dances in Saturday’s performance include the disparate and compelling music of Dave Douglas, American trumpeter and two-time Grammy nominated jazz musician, propelling the dancers in “Brink,” (2009). “Pierre’s Words” is a multi-layered work of dance and poetry guided by the electronic orchestration of composer Joel Chadabe.
As the resident company of The Egg Center for the Performing Arts, the Sinopoli company shares its work with diverse audiences through concerts, showcases, residencies, workshops and educational outreach, seeking to enrich the community by enhancing the appreciation, understanding and experience of contemporary performing arts. Since 1991, Sinopoli has created more than 70 dances and has collaborated with more than 25 artists of distinct genres and backgrounds, such as architectural designer Frances Bronet, sculptor Jim Lewis, visual artist Calvin Grimm, clarinetist Don Byron, percussionist Brian Melick and composer Hilary Tann.