Dancers Douglas Gillespie, Ryan Rouland Smith, Julian De Leon, Thryn Saxon, Nicole Vaughan-DIaz and Kayla Farrish. Photo by Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang.

Marksman, 2016

Commissioned by The Joyce Theater and American Dance Festival

WATCH Marksman IN THE SCREENING ROOM

Marksman is a sextet by Kate Weare that had its New York Premiere at the The Joyce Theater in November 2016, featuring an original score from composer Curtis Robert Macdonald and set design by artist Clifford Ross.

While collisions with others are what shape us cumulatively over time, Marksman acknowledges the beauty, and futility, of our own willfulness. Adopting the metaphor of “aim”, Marksman looks at the precision we use to intuit one another with senses remote from modern consciousness yet imperative to survival. Through peripheral awareness, reflex, synchrony, magnetism and repulsion we must reckon with the sheer forcefulness and fragility of our own formation. Weare draws inspiration from Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery, “The [master] marksman aims at himself...”

This work is an expansion of Weare's 2015 Unstruck which premiered at BAM in the company's 10th Anniversary Season.

"Weare excels in the depiction of intimate encounters—forceful, unabashedly sensual negotiations that can resemble wrestling matches or martial-arts battles. Her women are not to be trifled with; they’re as strong as the men and give as good as they get. Weare’s most recent work, ‘Marksman,’ is a meditation on the effortlessness and focus achieved through intense physical practice."

~ The New Yorker

"Many images came to mind during the performance, including a baptism, an exorcism, a creature mothering its young and a wild beast being tamed. The amazingly limber dancers undulated, bounced, spun and fell, often in slow motion, indicating consummate control of every muscle. The unrelenting changes of balance, tension and energy demonstrated their prodigious talent."

~ Roy C. Dicks, The News & Observer

Credits

Choreography: Kate Weare
Original Score: Curtis Robert Macdonald
Stage Design: Clifford Ross
Costume Design: Sarah Cubbage, Brooke Cohen
Lighting Design: Mike Faba:
Originating Dancers: Julian De Leon, Nicole Diaz, Kayla Farrish, Douglas Gillespie, Thryn Saxon, Ryan Rouland Smith

Acknowledgement

Marksman was co-commissioned by American Dance Festival and The Joyce Theater and was created, in part, with commissioning funds and a residency provided by The Joyce Theater Foundation, New York City, with major support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. A recipient of the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project Touring Award, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Marksman and its creation was also supported by New Music USA, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York Community Trust, The CalArts Evelyn Sharp Summer Choreographic Residency Program and was created in part at The Tisch Dance Residency Festival.

Dancers Douglas Gillespie, Ryan Rouland Smith, Julian De Leon, Thryn Saxon, Nicole Vaughan-DIaz and Kayla Farrish. Photo by Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang.

Screening Room

The Screening Room offers KWCo supporters access to films and stage works, curated with commentary by Artistic Director Kate Weare.

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