Williamsburg Art neXus
In connection with Arts at University Settlement present

THE BRIDGE
A works-in-progress movement-theater series featuring:

bêsto perfekto
Julia May Jonas/Nellie Tinder
Red Metal Mailbox/ Piñataland
The Compound Eye

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 @ 8pm
Curated by Sara Juli & Jake Hooker
Admission is $12, Reservations recommended at 718-599-7997
184 Eldridge Street (at the corner of Rivington), 2nd Floor
www.wax205.com

Williamsburg Art neXus (WAX) has teamed up with Arts at University Settlement to continue its programming of The Bridge, a series exploring the movement-theater vein. The Bridge investigates the genre by providing a workshop atmosphere where audiences and artists are encouraged to explore and critique the boundaries of the form.

bêsto perfekto will perform Part 1 of All the Faithfully Departed, a piece about alien abductions, the Rapture, neurological disorders, spiritual ecstasy and being struck by lightning. A soundtrack culled from sci-fi movies creates the environment for this story.

Julia May Jonas/Nellie Tinder presents NEW TRENDS (Nellie Thinks About Motivation) a sensual meditation on love, inspiration and the to-do list. Set to the soothing strains of live Bossa Nova guitar, New Trends is fueled by Stoic Philosophy, Benjamin Franklin and how nice it feels to cuddle.

Physical theater company Red Metal Mailbox in collaboration with Piñataland presents Everywhere Leaks Are Appearing. In a steamy bathhouse at the dawn of the 20th Century, musicians sing of the “future,” conjuring siren-like apparitions who both illustrate and undermine their musical visions. Red Metal Mailbox teams up with old-world orchestrette Pinataland who will perform live.

The Compound Eye performs Speak Again which tells the story of the search for somewhere to speak; the place where someone can speak to others; and the place where someone can say “I love you” as if for the first time.

In 2004, Jeremy Laverdure and Tracy Dickson formed bêsto perfekto, a dance enterprise devoted to Laverdure’s choreographic interests. Their work has been seen at Food for Thought, WaxWorks, Dance Conversations at the Flea, One Arm Red, SWEAT, d.u.m.b.o. dance festival, and DTW’s Fresh Tracks.

Nellie Tinder is the multi-disciplinary company of Julia May Jonas. Guided by the statement, “Oh what a bore it is to be Nellie Tinder, when all one can do is think about things,” Nellie Tinder attempts dance-theater explorations of overarching human issues, including love, morality, perspective and personal relevance.

Formed in Brooklyn, New York, Piñataland is the creation of David Wechsler and Doug Stone, performers/songwriters who set out to form a new band centered around their fascination for the stories and sounds of the Weird Old World. In addition to appearing at numerous venues on the East Coast, Piñataland has been featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered, performed at the Thomas Edison Historic Site (where they demonstrated wax cylinder recording), the American Museum of Natural History’s Margaret Mead Film Festival, and the historic Atlantic Avenue Subway Tunnel. They have also played live on New Jersey’s famed WFMU, and mounted their own multi-media show in 2001 at the HERE Arts Center in NYC.

Red Metal Mailbox is a New-York based company dedicated to creating visceral works of theater by linking original text with a highly physical aesthetic that explores movement as language. They develop investigative performances with a brazen, risk-taking spirit. The company has presented work at P.S. 122 and Dixon Place among other venues in New York, as well as at the Metcalf Experimental Theater in Illinois. Their recent production of Safety Pop will be presented as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in September of 2005.

The Compound Eye is an ensemble-based theater company dedicated to creating challenging and visually evocative new work with a home-made aesthetic. Since its founding in 2002, the company’s work has been presented in theaters and festivals (such as HERE’s American Living Room Festival, FUSE festival, Dixon Place, The NY International Fringe Festival, the Connelly, and Down-Under St. Marks) and out of theaters (Key Food Parking Lot, Flux Factory, Office Ops, an apartment on McKibbon Street). Find out more about the company at www.thecompoundeye.org