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Dance Theater Workshop presents Deganit Shemy & Company in world premiere of "Arena." (April 16-18, Manhattan, NY)

by Sarah Hart
April 16, 2009
Dance Theatre Workshop
219 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-924-0077
Dance Theater Workshop

presents

Deganit Shemy & Company

in the world premiere of

Arena

APRIL 16-18, 2009 at 7:30pm

Dance Theater Workshop presents Arena, a world premiere by Israeli and New York-based Deganit Shemy, who Dance Magazine has called "a choreographer with scalding, original theatricality." With ticking metronomes and recorded crowd noises that accompany five performers in athletic gear, Arena is a tight square of light, an area of opposing forces, and a game with strict rules and highly organized time. As characters move in and out of this space, they engage in a world created within its walls where reality and imagination mix and new perceptions of life form. Arena features dancers Robin Brown, Erika Eichelberger, Denisa Musiclova, Leah Nelson, and Savina Theodorou, with music by Jason Sebastian and Sound Polaroids.


Performances will take place at Dance Theater Workshop in the Bessie Schönberg Theater, April 16-18 (Thursday – Saturday at 7:30pm). There will also be a Pre-Show Coffee and Conversation with Eva Yaa Asantewaa on April 16 (Thursday at 6:30pm), as well as a Post-show Talk with Christopher d'Amboise. Tickets are $10 online and $15 through the box office and are available online at dancetheaterworkshop.org, over the phone at 212.924.0077, and in person at the box office. Box office hours are Monday – Friday from 5pm-9pm and Saturday – Sunday from 12pm-8pm. Dance Theater Workshop is located at 219 West 19th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues.


About the Artist

Israeli and New York-based choreographer Deganit Shemy studied Art at the Kalisher School of art, and dance at the Rubin Academy of music and dance in the movement department. She presented her compositions throughout Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and New York since 2002. Her first solo was presented at The Other Dance Festival and The International Exposure Festival at the Susanne Dallal Center in Tel Aviv, where she also won a 2003 Gvanim Bemachol Award for her trio ALUM. Ms. Shemy was named Young Choreographer of the Year by the Israeli Ministry of Education in 2004, and won the 2003 Choreographer Award from the American-Israeli Cultural Foundation.


Since re-locating to New York, Ms. Shemy has been the Artist-in-Residence at Dance New Amsterdam, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Movement Research, and Dance Theater Workshop. In addition, Ms. Shemy received space grants from the Harkness Dance Center at the 92nd Street Y from 2005 to 2008. Her latest choreography

IODINE was presented at Performance Space 122 January 2008 and toured to Singapore as part of Singapore Fringe Festival 2009. Deganit Shemy recently received a 2008-2009 residency from WAX and Barnard College, and a NYFA Fellowship grant. Deganit Shemy & Company was nominated best presenting choreographer at the AWARD show June 2008 (Joyce SOHO). Ms. Shemy is a 2008 Fellow in Choreography from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She was recently granted the "Award Show" first choreography prize (production by Neta Dance Company). For more information about Deganit Shemy & Company, visit dganit-shemy.com.


Arena is commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop's Commissioning and Creative Residency Program with support from the Jerome Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Jerome Robbins Foundation. Arena was made possible in part through Sugar Salon, a program developed and administered by the Williamsburg Art neXus (WAX) in partnership with the Department of Dance of Barnard College and with the generous contribution of Scott G. Kasen. Arena was developed in residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.



Digital pictures and press kits are available on request.
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