PDC Works Take Root
M E D I A R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release Contact: Sophia Torres September 15, 2021 psophonia@gmail.com
PDC WORKS
TAKE ROOT
Burr5owing into the secret world beneath the trees
Archway Gallery
Friday October 22, 2021 – 8:00pm
Saturday October 23, 2021 – 8:00pm
Tickets: Student: $15 / General Admission: $20
Visit: www.pdcworks.com or Venmo: @PDCWORKS
*Masks Required*
(Houston, TX) After 18 months of being away from the studio, PDC Works (Psophonia Dance) returns with Take Root, a program that explores the secret world beneath the forest floor through live dance and music. Performers will travel throughout the intimate Archway Gallery, allowing the audience to experience the nuances of the work from multiple vantage points. While some seating will be provided, the audience is encouraged to move around during the performance to experience the work from different perspectives as the performers make their way through the gallery.
Since 2015 Torres and composer and University of Houston Professor Rob Smith have developed several collaborative works that foster substantial interdependence between dancers and musicians. Take Root continues their interest in creating programs that facilitate deep and meaningful interaction between their respective disciplines, this time for six dancers, one violist and fixed-media. This showing of Take Root is an initial step towards creating a more fully developed evening-length program.
Like many others, choreographer Torres found herself reconnecting with nature, slowing down and listening deeper. Trees talk. Trees communicate with one another, trees collaborate, trees share resources and even give defense signals. Trees are more than a collection that creates forest, they are an underground living network with intricate connections. Though their roots a vast amount of information is shared in the complex hubs and systems below ground. These are the inspirations for Torres’ choreography and where Take Root begins scratching at the secret world beneath the forest floor.
Nina Bledsoe Knight, a Sam Houston State University faculty member, will perform Smith’s viola and fixed-media score for Take Root. Audio recordings of trees and viola sounds have been used as source material for the fixed-media element of the work.
Filling out the program will be two excerpts – The Orchid (2013) and Pier (2015) – in tribute to company member Vi Dieu who passed away suddenly in 2020.
ARTISTS:
Sophia Torres, choreography
Rob Smith, composer
Nina Knight, viola
PDC WORKS:
Melissa Juneau, Tory Pierce, Lysette Portano Marmolejo, Arielle Tesia Rojas, Elyssa Vega, & Paty Lorena Solórzano
MUSIC:
Partita No. 2 Sarabande – Johann Sebastian Bach (b.1685 – d.1750)
Take Root – Rob Smith (b.1968)
Following recommendations from the CDC and local officials, masks will be required at the event. We ask that you self0- scan before arriving at Archway Gallery. If you are not feeling 100% the night of the performance, please stay home.
PDC Works is funded in part by Dance Source Houston’s Groundwork Grant program.
Press interviews and photos are available upon request.
-30-
Additional Sites:
https://www.instagram.com/pdcworks/
https://www.facebook.com/Psophonia-Dance-Company-26802059496/
https://www.archwaygallery.com/
Recent Comments