CORE Performance Company Brings Their Poignant Work ‘Life Interrupted’ To Asia Society Texas

Contact:
Susan Schmaeling
713.253.2799
susan@saspr.com

OR

Nneka Kelly
713.862.5530
communications@coredance.org

 

A dance/theater work which shares the story of the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent during WWII

November 22, 2016 (Houston, Texas) — CORE Performance Company presents two performances of their poignant dance theater work Life Interrupted at Asia Society Texas Center,  1370 Southmore Blvd., Houston, 77004 at 8:00 p.m. on February 17 and 18, 2017. This richly layered evening-length performance of contemporary dance, art and music was created to honor and remember the U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who were forcibly imprisoned in camps during World War II. Life Interrupted uses the historical reality of the Japanese American incarceration to investigate current social anxieties and the fear of “the other,” whether “the other” is labeled immigrant, refugee, minority or just “different.” Ultimately, Life Interrupted celebrates the strength, resilience and humanity of the incarcerees in this powerful performance.

Tickets for Life Interrupted are $20.00 for the general public, $10.00 for Asia Society Texas Center members and are available at the Asia Society Box Office at 713.496.9901 or www.AsiaSociety.org/Texas.

For the Media: Additional images are available via DropBox at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a53ymqxydlzmhfi/AACqnFNJwl_KjFaOCQygJSqSa?dl=0

Excerpts from the performance may be viewed at https://vimeo.com/163864271 or

https://vimeo.com/162971223.

The performance dates are significant as they coincide with the 75th Anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the decree in 1942 after the surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States’ entry into WWII. The following year, more than 120,000 American citizens of Japanese descent were sent to internment camps in their own country for fear they would be loyal to the Japan.

“The artists of CORE and I have been inspired by the courage and resilience of these Japanese Americans,” said Sue Schroeder, Artistic Director, CORE. “Their story has universal overtones which resonate today. Too often our national dialogue turns to defining the ‘enemy,’ and there is an impulse to define an entire community through the actions of a few. Through Life Interrupted we will share multiple points of view, through multiple artistic disciplines, to open a dialogue as to how we define and treat the “other” in our society.”

Related Programs

Friday, February 17, post-performance conversation

Sue Schroeder, Artistic Director, CORE and the dance artists of CORE in conversation with audience members about Life Interrupted post performance.

Saturday, February 18, 7:15 p.m. pre-performance conversation

Sue Schroeder, Artistic Director, CORE and Nancy Chikaraishi, visual artist for Life Interrupted and daughter of camp incarcerees, in conversation with audience members pre performance.

Life Interrupted Creative Team

The Life Interrupted project was initiated by its Co-Coordinators Sue Schroeder, CORE Artistic Director and Dr. Gayle Seymour, Professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Central Arkansas. Schroeder’s creative collaborators are Nancy Chikaraishi, Professor of Architecture, Drury University (visual artist); Scott Silvey (set design); German Composer Christian Meyer (sound design); Gregory Catellier (light design); and Erin Weller Dalton (Dramaturg) who developed a narrative mined from stories and oral histories, with the assistance of D. Patton White (Community Engagement). The creation of Life Interrupted was funded in part through a grant from the National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program as part of an expansive, multi-city art and history initiative to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the closing of the Japanese internment camps.

Funders

CORE’s 36th season in Houston is funded by the O Fund for New Work, Gwinnett Industries, Inc., Pattillo Construction Corporation, Houston Endowment, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, Cameron and Roberts Insurance Agency and many generous individuals from our community.

ABOUT CORE

Celebrating its 36th Season, CORE, an award-winning contemporary dance organization, creates, performs, and presents compelling and distinctive original dance that ignite the creative spirit and foster cultural conversations. For over three decades, CORE has initiated and supported innovation, collaboration, artistic risk-taking and sustainable art making in dance.

CORE was co-founded in 1980 in Houston, Texas by Sue Schroeder and Kathy Russell. Five years later, the organization added Atlanta, Georgia as a second home base, and now cultivates dance awareness and education in both cities, as well as throughout the country and around the world. CORE is organized around three initiatives: CORE Performs, CORE Presents and CORE

Connects. CORE Performance Company, the professional contemporary dance company of CORE, is internationally recognized for the physical and emotional range of its Dance Artists, as well as its innovative and compelling work.

www.coredance.org

ABOUT ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS CENTER

With 12 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the west. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.

www.AsiaSociety.org/Texas