PHILADELPHIA — Following a sold-out preview during the 2013 Fringe Festival, Nichole Canuso Dance Company (NCDC) presents the world premiere of The Garden, an intimate performance experience meant for six audience members at a time. Canuso’s experiential work, on stage November 1-17 in Old City’s sprawling Power Plant Basement (233 N. Bread St.), is designed to illuminate the peculiar beauty of being alone in our bodies through moments of solitude, observation and immersion.
Inspired by Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and Jorge Luis Borges’ short story The Garden of Forking Paths, The Garden gently guides participants on an intimate yet expansive journey as they navigate the shifting terrain of the performance. Listening to headphones and moving through the space, audience members will find themselves linked with performers whose pace and movements reflect and respond to their own.
“This is really a labyrinth about movement and the choreography of the everyday,” says Canuso. “People move through the experience in isolation with headphones on, but ideally they’re able to come out of the other side feeling a little more open, more connected to their surroundings and their bodies.”
One of only four dance projects awarded a Knight Arts Challenge grant through the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 2011, The Garden is the company’s most logistically ambitious work to date. It incorporates a maze-like installation set by Anna Kiraly; conceptual lighting by New York-based Yi Zhao; an original sound score by Fringe favorites James Sugg and Michael Kiley; and performances by NCDC artists John Luna, Scott McPheeters, Les Rivera, Eun Jung Choi, Christy Lee and Annie Wilson.
The Garden runs November 1-17 at The Power Plant Basement (233 N. Bread St., access via New Street between Second and Third). Tickets will be available October 10 through Brown Paper Tickets.
The Garden
FACTS
Presented by: Nichole Canuso Dance Company
Location: The Power Plant Basement
233 N. Bread St., Philadelphia, PA 19106
Dates: November 1 – 17, 2013
Price:$20 – 45
Box Office: Brown Paper Tickets
Tickets on sale October 10 at thegarden.brownpapertickets.com
Web: www.nicholecanusodance.org
Director/ Choreographer: Nichole Canuso
Sound Design/ Composition: James Sugg & Michael Kiley
Lighting Design: Yi Zhao
Set Design: Anna Kiraly
Contributing Writer: Jackie Sibblies Drury
Performers: Nicole Canuso, Eun Jung, Choi, Christy Lee, John Luna, Scott McPheeters, Les Rivera, Annie Wilson
PERFORMANCES
Friday, November 1 at 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Saturday, November 2 at 6, 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Sunday, November 3 at 4:30 + 6 p.m.
Monday, November 4 at 6 + 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 7 at 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Friday, November 8 at 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Saturday, November 9 at 6, 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Sunday, November 10 at 4:30 + 6 p.m.
Monday, November 11 at 6 + 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 14 at 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Friday, November 15 at 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Saturday, November 16 at 6, 7:30 + 9 p.m.
Sunday, November 17 at 4:30 + 6 p.m.
