"A lush and hurtling force of nature with a brain. Strong, deft, emotionally resonant theatre"
– Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times

The Abrons Art Center presents Alexandra Beller/Dances in two world-premiere Dance-Theater works. what comes after happy, a virtuosic and layered quintet, cracks open America's cultural obsession with happiness, and egg, a tour de force solo performed by Beller, the explores the frustrations and ecstasies of her first year of motherhood.

what comes after happy asks the titular question through humor, irony, extravagant fantasy and honest confessions. Deconstructed self-help seminars, children's television shows, automated phone messages, GPS instructions and bureaucratic manuals serve to create the text for this subversive and disarming work. A cinematic weaving of escalating psycho-social vignettes, this work reveals how we whitewash our everyday lives and our feelings to announce to the world and ourselves that we do not covet, that we are not filled with unrest, and that we do not mourn. what comes after happy features 300 fortune cookies, an eclectic and infectious sound collage, a ferocious physical and verbal vocabulary and five characters grappling with desire, idealism, satisfaction and apathy.

egg is a solo work for Beller unearthing the turmoil, ecstasy, passion and ambivalence in the first year of motherhood. Confronting both personal and cultural expectations for women and mothers through humor, confession, and a construction of impossible tasks, egg reveals why we fail as mothers in the eyes of society and attempts to find love within the matrix of perfection. Celebrated dancer Alexandra Beller uses dance, text, mathematics, and raw eggs in her search for balance, humor, love and justification. The piece demands an answer to the unanswerable questions of both motherhood and the artistic life. A mine field of sound-producing equipment sets the stage for Beller's lush and evocative dancing around and between twelve dozen raw eggs. An eerie and three dimensional sound score by Robert Poss and vintage-inspired costume by Karen Young enrobe the artist in textured, shifting archetypes and images.

"…engaging, sophisticated dance theatre"
– Tobi Tobias, The Village Voice

ALEXANDRA BELLER/DANCES
Thursday – Saturday, May 7 – 9 at 8 PM
Sunday, May 10 at 5 PM (MOTHER'S DAY)
$20 Adult | $15 Student/Senior
(Sunday May 10th, Mother's Day Special: Mothers are half price $10)
466 Grand at Pitt
Theatermania.com | 212.352.3101

About Alexandra Beller:
(Choreographer/Performer) created Alexandra Beller/Dances in 2001. Since then, she has created over forty Dance-Theater works. A member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1995-2001, she has been choreographing, performing and teaching for over 20 years. The company, Alexandra Beller/Dances has been extremely active in the New York scene as well as throughout the United States, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Russia, Norway, Holland and Korea. In NY, the work has been commissioned by and performed at Dance Theater Workshop, P.S. 122, Joyce SoHo, Danspace Project at St. Mark's, University Settlement, Aaron Davis Hall, as well as Jacob's Pillow, SUNY Purchase, and in Michigan, Massachusetts, Texas, Wisconsin and Arizona. The company consists of five dancers/actors and regularly collaborates with sound, design, costume and visual artists. Funding has been received from HERE Art Space, Dance New Amsterdam, The Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, LMCC, Puffin Foundation, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, and others. Upcoming projects include an eight-week tour through Oslo, Amsterdam, Poland, Prague and St. Petersburg this summer.

Abrons Arts Center:
The Abrons Art Center of Henry Street Settlement is located on Manhattan's Lower East Side. At once global and local in its artistic reach, the Center serves as a prime venue for New York's avant-garde, offering new, bold and experimental interdisciplinary work in dance, music and theater. www.abronsartscenter.org .

Address:
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand at Pitt
New York, NY 10002
212.598.0400

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