text: SAVIANA STANESCU research: KARA DEAN choreography: NATASA TRIFAN costumes & set design/photography: OANA BOTEZ-BAN assistant costumes/graphics: ERIKA WEI lighting design: LUCRECIA BRICENO music: LUCIAN BAN video: DAN BORA & DIANA ODASSO
performance: BARBARA BARESE, TIFFANY BARBARASH, JUUN HWA EA, MINDY MYERS, ANNIE RICCI, HANNAH SPONGBERG, NATASA TRIFAN, IVANNA WEI
THE CULTURE PROJECT - 45 Below 45 Bleecker Street @Lafayette (August 17th - 7 pm, 18th - 2.30 pm, 19th - 3 pm, 21st - 7 pm, 22nd - 5 pm) THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL a production of The Present Company
MINUS presents: BODY MAPS (70 min) directed by OSK (Oana/Saviana/Kara) a dance-theatre piece/pot where American, Asian and (East-)European ways of understanding facts & emotions life & art are interwoven spinning a yarn telling stories, performing hi/stories of/about PEOPLE with their body-luggage of PAST TRAUMAS, feelings, memories... a social worker interviewed women & men collected and recollected REAL stories about AIDS, drug addiction, rape, incest, violence, depression but also love, happiness, joy, playfulness, imagination, sensitivity words and movements images and sentences music and sounds in one word: E-MOTIONS compete in showing these STORIES about her, him, them … actually about YOU, about US !!!
press clippings... Oana Botez-Ban/Designer The dancers wear long black robes patched with leather and odd attachments (by Oana Botez-Ban) and try to press the air away, as if it were encroaching. Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice 2002 Costumes-setting, her stage designing concept invades the dramatic space, develops threateningly, crawls, climbs, surrounds, wraps, withdraws like a reptile in a corner or in a box, lies in ambush ready to attack with an implacable ferociousness. Catalina Buzoianu, Scenografica, 2000 De Lavallade is stunning in the opening of "No Ice in Poland," standing in a pool of light, wearing a flowing blue dress by Oana Botez-Ban. Darrah Carr, 2002 Saviana Stanescu/Writer ...a work of unique construction. This is the direction courageously and uncompromisingly taken by Saviana Stanescu, the 'hard' poetess-playwright from the border between millennia. Les Cahiers MAISON ANTOINE VITEZ, Paris, 2001 "Silicon Valley" by Saviana Stanescu, presented at La Wie, MenschenBuene, translates social and emotional structures into an intense day-dream of a woman prisoner of an artificial Siliconland - the land of huge breast implants... Osterreich Journal - Aktuelles aus Osterreich, Vienna, 2002 Eminent translator Adam Sorkin presents the prolific young Romanian poet and playwright Saviana Stanescu whose unique dramatic voice, postmodern, feminist, humorous, and sly has already won her internationally recognition. Thalia Pandiri, METHAMORPHOSES, 2001 Excess, abuse, bizarreness, the communion of pathetic and comic in the aesthetic paradox Kierkegaard dreamt of. Laugh, this is Saviana Stanescu show! Alina Nelega, Observator Cultural, 2000 Born of a luxurious imagination censored by a fierce intelligence, Saviana's texts proclaim fantasy as an instrument of exorcizing the dull Real. Octavian Soviany, Contemporanul, 1997 Natasa Trifan/Choreographer The surprise of the evening was Natasa Trifan. In a natural environment and in the accords of Albinoni's music, Natasa had integrated the sensitivity and the choreographic art. Vera Proca-Ciortea, Adevarul literar si Artistic, 2000 Lucian Ban/Composer Lucian Ban - one of Eastern Europe's foremost progressive jazz composer/pianists. JazzOnWeb 'Free Forum' Top Stories, 2001 WHO is WHO in "body mapping"... : Saviana Stanescu (Condeescu) /Writer/Co-director A Romanian prize-winning writer/artist with 5 published books of poetry and drama including the English-Romanian anthology Black Milk. Her play "The Inflatable Apocalypse" won the Best Play of the Year 1999 UNITER Award. Her texts have been presented/staged/published not only in Romania but also in London, Salisbury, Swansea, Bath Literature Festival, Cambridge, Struga (Macedonia), Warsaw, Vienna, Paris, New York, Philadelphia, Smith College - Massachusets etc. Last year Saviana was writer-in-residence of Kultur Kontakt in Vienna, Austria. She is currently a Fulbright scholar in Performance Studies, at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (MA program) and recently performed in the Women Center Stage festival, at 45 Bleecker Street Theatre (Culture Project), a video-poetry show called SCRIPTease. Oana Botez-Ban /Designer/Co-director She is a graduate of Bucharest University of Art with a BFA in Fashion Design and now she is in the MFA program, in the Design Department at NYU. She designed over twenty productions in her native Romania. Costume design exhibition include: Quadrennial Scenography Show (Prague), several costume exhibitions in Romania and a theater design catalogue, Scenografica, about three Romanian designers. In NY since 1999, Oana has assisted fashion designer Maria Cornejo, costumed collaborations with Moonwork, Turandot directed by Ulla & Niky Wolcz, at La MaMa Theater; and in the last year she started designing for different dance companies as: Uber at The Kitchen, DOUG ELKINS DANCE COMPANY at Theatre de Suresnes Jean Vilarand (France)and PARADIGM for Altogether Different Festival at The Joyce Theater. Also, Oana is one of the Minus co-founders, a theater-dance company, which had the first performance, ZERO, in New York, last year. Natasa Trifan /Choreographer At the age of eight she was enrolled in a special school, which emphasized on movement and dance, structured on a Russian model. Entering The Academy of Theater and Film in Bucharest, Department of Choreography, and after four years she received a graduate degree in Choreography and Modern Dance Teaching. During the graduate school she had the opportunity to work with artist guests like: Christine Bastin in performance "Guele de Loup", Domnigue Baqouet, Joseph Nadj, and Philippe Genty. In Romania she choreographed fifteen performances for art schools, dance festivals, and art exhibitions. In 2001 she co-found with Oana Botez-Ban Minus in the US and she choreographed her first movement theater project, named Zero in N.Y.C. In addition to her regular training, she developed a special interest in dance Kinesiology and Body/Mind techniques. She has been an active practitioner and instructor of Alexander and Feldenkrais somatic techniques for the last five years. She graduated from SUNY College at Brockport with an MA in Dance and Science. Kara Marie Dean /Researcher/Co-director She is a graduate of Columbia University School of Social Work. Since receiving her master's degree in social work, Kara has been the project coordinator for several research projects through Columbia University and the University of Washington, Seattle, School of social work. She is currently running a program on violence prevention in the South Bronx and also a project on the health and wellness of Native Americans in the New York City area. She also works on several other research projects, including HIV-prevention among youth living in the South Bronx and Domestic violence with women receiving emergency care at St.Barnabas Hospital, Bronx, NY. She also has a profound interest in design and costumes. She has Assisted costume designers in collaboration with Columbia University/Oscar II Hammerstein Center for Theatre Studies for Turandot by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Ulla & Niky Wolcz, at La MaMa Theater. And, she also worked as the house manager for Zero, a premier production of the Minus Company. Lucian Ban /Music He is originally from Romania where he studied at the Bucharest Music Academy. He founded The Jazz Unit Quintet in 1994 and released two albums as a leader for Green Records Label: "Changes - Live at GreenHours" in 1998 and "From now on" in 1999. The group toured the country in major venues and festivals and in Europe as well. The album "From now on" won the Great Prize as the Best Jazz Album in Romania in 2000 awarded by The Romanian Composer Association. An original piece from the first album was included as a tribute in the Book about the famous South-African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim published by the prestigious Das Booktrader in Copenhagen. In 1999 he moves to New York with a scholarship to study at the New School Jazz Program. A former student of Phil Markowitz, Junior Mance and Charles Tolliver he establishes the Lucian Ban Quintet with baritone sax great Alex Harding. Then later records for his own album, original pieces by Lucian Ban. He performs regularly with his band and as a sideman in New York jazz clubs and is a member of The BMI Composers Jazz Workshop. Lucian Ban also wrote music for more than 10 theater productions, films and ballet and in June 2001 he wrote original music for the Theater/Dance Event "ZERO" produced by Minus Company. In August 2002 Lucian Ban will record two albums for the prestigious Creative Improvisation Productions label. Lucrecia Briceno /Lighting Designer Originally from Lima, Peru, this will be her fourth appearance as a Lighting Designer at the NY Fringe Festival. Previously her work has been featured as "one of the most interesting design in this year's Fringe" (2000) and (2001) by Curtain Up. Ms. Briceno is a second year graduate student at the Design program at Tisch School of Arts. She also belongs to the NYC's acclaimed theatre company Collision Theory and has been part of their production team for the last three years and is also a member of Cabula6 a Spain based Dance Theatre Company. Past productions include: Jail Bait at Inter Annex, Burn This at ATA, The Cure at Troy at the Amaroussion Theatre in Athens, Greece, TimLofts #24, #23, #22, #21, RappleEye at SoHo Rep, etc. This summer she will be travelling to Bogota, Colombia to design with The Theatre Production Company Corporation Ni?os Cantores. Dan Bora /Video Artist He studied at the University of Chicago. He has done fieldwork on the spawning of dance / club 'sub'-cultures in East Europe as a neocolonial phenomenon, and on private Gypsy Pentecostal prayer circles. In New York he is assistant engineer to the Philip Glass Ensemble, hobbies in computer (Web) programming, and has produced a documentary and short videos about the Appalachian Mountains. Diana Odasso /Video Artist Diana graduated with honors from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Psychology and Art History. Her research has explored the aesthetic implications of biopsychological phenomena and visual culture as salient components in the genesis and subjective perception of contemporary media. Diana has worked in behavioral optometry studying the functional aspects of vision of well as with the documentary film company, U.Y.A. Films, on a project in Guatemala. She is currently working in the decorative arts and specializing in French and American Art Deco furniture. Erika Wei /Assistant Costume Design/Graphic Design She is a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology studying fashion design with specialization in haute couture construction. By day she also works as a web programmer for MTV and other various freelance web projects. Before getting involved in fashion and technology she studied studio drawing, painting, and photography as a visual arts major at Interlochen Arts Summer Academy and Art Institute of Chicago and then attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana to receive a degree in Advertising. Barbara Barese /Actress This marks Barbara's return to the theatre after taking time off to help in the recovery effort in New York City. Previous roles include Alexa Vere de Vere in "As Bees in Honey Drown", Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and Boo in "The Last Night of Ballyhoo". She holds an MFA in Acting from the City University of New York, and an MA in Text and Performance from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Annie Ricci /Soprano Having completed her Masters' degree in voice performance at The Manhattan School of Music, lyric soprano Annie Ricci has spent the last two years performing with various opera companies around the city including Amato Opera, Di Capo Opera, and The Bronx Opera Company. Last year she made her Lincoln Center debut at the Clark Studio Theater performing in collaboration with The Angela Jones Dance Company. She is a native of Detroit, MI and is currently studying voice privately with Ashley Putnam. Tiffany Barbarash /Dancer/Contortionist She is a member of Xpressions Contemporary Dance Company in Pittsburgh, PA and will graduate from Point Park College this December. She began her dance training at the age of thirteen, and has been unable to stop moving since. In the DC area she danced with companies such as Motion Mania Dance Theatre, Visionary Entertainment Inc., and Jane Franklin Dance. She has also had the honor of working with various choreographers, including Kyle Abraham, Terence Greene, Lou Antonini, Judith Leifer-Bentz, Smilen Savov, Justin Ross, Tyrone Baker, and Gail Gilbert. Currently she is interning at Dancespace in downtown New York. Tiffany is excited to be performing with the Minus Company this summer. Ea Juun Hwa (also Choun) /Dancer He studied dance, religion, and science at Wesleyan University (CT). He also worked with various student organizations to address matters of economic and racial inequity. Since the move to this beloved city, he has performed with Wil Swanson/DANCEWORKS and H.T. Chen Dance Company, Jeune Gee, Mita Ghosal, Nia Love, and Sohn In-Young, among others. In addition, he has studied and performed traditional Korean percussions with Shin-Myung Pae. Juun recently returned to making dances. His works have been shown at the Public Theater, the Asian-American Writers' Workshop, Wesleyan University (CT), and Williamsburg Art neXus. He regularly performs improvisational works at Sight and Sound Construction. Juun continues study of various movement arts with the belief in its power to inform, transform, heal, and fulfill. He currently studies Yang style Tai Chi Chuan, nei kung, and push-hand technique with Master C.K. Chu, and the Alexander Technique with June Eckman and Daria Fain. He has studied technique with Trisha Brown Dance Company through their scholarship program. He also practices meditation at the New York Shambala Center. Mindy Myers /Dancer She graduated from Cornell University in 1995 with a degree in English. In New York City, she has danced for many choreographers including Sarah Carlson, Michael Foley, and JoAnna Mendl Shaw, and most recently with Gabriella Barnstone at The Kitchen. In March 2001 her work was selected to appear as part of the Newsteps series for emerging choreographers, hosted by the Mulberry Street Theater. In August 2001, she was one of four choreographers chosen for The Bridge for Dance's Rising Up series, in which she presented three works in a shared evening of dance. Her choreography has also been shown at Dance Space Center, Deli Dances, New Dance Group Arts Center, The Works Studio, and Williamsburg Art Nexus (WAX) in New York, and at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Hannah Spongberg /Dancer She is a third year undergraduate student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and will receive a B.F.A. in Dance. In addition to working on her own choreography, Hannah has performed in the works of Jayme Klinger Host, Amy Marshall, Todd Rosenlieb, Ken Skrzesz, Gus Solomons jr., and Amanda Thom Woodson. Ivanna Wei /Dancer She began dancing in college, while earning her BA in environmental management at Ball State University, and fell in love with it. She performed with the university company for four years and also with a local folk company. She then moved to Chicago to earn her certification in the Authentic Pilates Method. While there she had a fabulous time working with various local choreographers and companies. Since moving to New York she has performed with the Michael Mao Company and with Stephen Koplowitz for the reopening of the library at Lincoln Center. She has also received her certification in Yamuna Body Rolling and is completing her certification in the Gyrotonic Expansion System. Tracey Herman /Stage Manager She is currently pursuing her BFA at New York University. She is concentrating on Costume Design and Costume History. She currently works at Helen Uffner's Vintage Clothing Rental House. Upcoming projects include costuming Falsettos on the Tisch Mainstage.