Dance Performance: Wilkes & Barber

MARFA LIVE ARTS PRESENT EVENING DANCE PERFROMANCE BY CYDNEY WILKES AND MIKE BARBER
Free performance features new choreography by Deborah Hay

Theatre and Dance lovers of the Big Bend are invited to a free performance by nationally renowned dancers Cydney Wilkes and Mike Barber on Saturday July 19. This exciting evening of dance and movement begins at 8:30 p.m. at the Goode-Crowley Theater in Marfa. The performance is the premiere of Deborah Hay's new choreography for Wilkes and Barber.

Deborah Hay’s choreography is internationally acclaimed. She was a seminal force in the formation of Postmodern Dance in New York in the 60's and 70's. Hay was part of Russian-American choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Project's Past Forward program. That project featured the works of well known dancers and choreographers such as Trisha Brown, Steve Paxton, and David Gordon, among others.

Marfa Live Arts board member Nina Martin recalls, "Hay's choreography for her duet with Baryshnikov was brilliant. She brought out a whole side of Barishnikov's talents that hadn't been exercised before. I will never forget him walking and squawking like a chicken!" In her own words, Hay works to “choreograph the world between moments, where movement proclivity plays second fiddle to exercised inquiry.”

Cydney Wilkes and Mike Barber have both worked in dance for over 20 years. They began working together in 2002, first performing in each other’s works, then beginning to collaborate a year later. Barber says that he finds “great inspiration” in Wilkes.

Hay describes her orientation to dance as “activated by attention to practices of performance.” In an intense learning environment, she challenges the experienced performer with movement concepts that trigger multiple levels of perception at once. She was able to achieve this environment with Wilkes and Barber in Marfa, as part of Marfa Live Arts’ artist-in-residency program. The three began working together in Marfa earlier this month.

In September of last year, Cydney and Mike attended Deborah Hay’s Solo Performance Commissioning Project in Scotland. They continued their work with Hay by commissioning a duet which they will perform for this performance in Marfa. This as yet untitled new work is built using the solo adaptations that Wilkes and Barber have made from Hay's work The Runner. Deborah Hay will introduce the new work at the July 19 performance. There will also be a question and answer period and artists reception after the performance.

The performance and reception are free and open to the public. Generous support for this program provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts.