PARADIGM presents a program including World Premieres by Carmen de Lavallade and Gus Solomons, jr from April 14 - 16, 2011 at 8pm at Danspace Project, St. Mark's Church, at 131 E. 10th Street (at Second Avenue), NYC. The opening night performance will be followed by a celebration of PARADIGM'S 15th Anniversary and Carmen de Lavallade's 80th birthday, at Lautrec Bistro on 111 First Avenue. General admission tickets are $18 ($15 for students and seniors with I.D), available at 866-811-4111 or www.danspaceproject.org. Gala tickets are $75 and $100 and are available by phone at 212-477-1321.
The program features the World Premieres of two as-yet-untitled new pieces by Carmen de Lavallade and by Gus Solomons, jr Solomons is creating a company piece for five legendary performers (SaRita Allen, Michael Blake, Hope Clarke, Robert La Fosse, and Valda Setterfield) with original live music by Matthew Flory Meade and Kyle Olson. The evening will also include Idyll and A Thin Frost and a solo by Kyle Abraham. Choreographed by Kate Weare,Idyll (2010) for Karen Brown, de Lavallade, Blake, and Solomons, interweaves two duets that explore trust and authority. A Thin Frost (1996)will feature for the first time an all-male cast (Blake, Solomons, and Dudley Williams); the dancers' own sounds accompany this piece, as three uneasy strangers find consensus. Plus a special performance by Solomons' former student, Kyle Abraham heralds the future of dance. Appropriate for ages 6 and up.
PARADIGM, founded by Carmen de Lavallade, Gus Solomons, jr, and Dudley Williams, vividly illustrates the eloquence that years of experience bring to dance expression. PARADIGM promotes and celebrates the talents of mature artists on stage, with a dance repertory created specifically for seasoned professional dancers. PARADIGM began in 1996 with the trio A Thin Frost and has since performed in numerous venues in New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Virginia, California and Canada to critical and audience acclaim. Performance venues have included: Symphony Space, Cooper Union, Aaron Davis Hall, Hudson Theatre, Vancouver International Dance Festival, Summer Stages, New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Gus Solomons, jr (artistic director/dancer/choreographer) dances, makes dances, teaches dance, and writes about dance. He loves pockets, puzzles, and structures (architecture degree from M.I.T.); danced in companies of Pearl Lang, Donald McKayle, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham; bicycles everywhere. He created the leading role in Donald Byrd/The Group's nationally acclaimed The Harlem Nutcracker. He also created a movement role in Martha Clarke's The Magic Flute at Glimmerglass Opera and Canadian Opera, and appeared in Boris Charmatz's "50 ans de danse," a Merce Cunningham tribute, which toured Europe in 2009-10. Solomons received a 1999-2000 New York Dance and Performance Award (a.k.a. "Bessie") for Sustained Achievement in Choreography and one for performance with PARADIGM in 2010. In 2001, Solomons was the first recipient of the annual Robert A. Muh Award for a distinguished artist/alumnus of M.I.T. In 2004, he was honored by receiving the American Dance Festival's Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching. During the 2006-7 season, he was a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar.
