Lindsey Kelley Dance presents the 2015 Summer DanceFest, Aug. 28 & 29

Local troupe Lindsey Kelley Dance holds its inaugural Summer DanceFest — a curated performace — on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28 and 29. Events take place on the second floor of the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, and is part of the Broadway Block party.

Press release from the dance company:

Lindsey Kelley Dance presents the 2015 Summer DanceFest, a salon­style festival celebrating modern and contemporary dance. DanceFest is a curated performance opportunity for emerging and established choreographers from near and far to present work at the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (Second Floor) on August 28th at 7pm and August 29th at 2pm & 7pm. CCCD is located at 67 Broadway Street in Downtown, Asheville.

This year’s participating choreographers include Carson Reiners (Chicago, IL), Jacqueline Dugal (Tampa, FL), Janice Lancaster (NYC and Asheville), Jessie Laurita­Spanglet and Meredith Bove (Washington, DC), and Sara Keller (Asheville, NC). With a guerrilla­style performance by Asheville’s Dance Improv Company, The Accidentals, and new work presented by Lindsey Kelley Brewer.

Tickets will not be pre­sold for this event, but ticket reservations may be requested by emailing Lindsey Brewer at ​lindseykelleydance@gmail.com.​​ Performance length approximately 1 hr, 15 min. $10/suggestion donation.

Carson Reiner describes her work as “inspired by Samuel Beckett’s, “Worstword Ho”, ​From Whence Unknown​is a piece of work that looks for answer of who, what, and how one exists in the space that we inhabit. We attempt to project ourselves into certain places/worlds and often end up in that in between space between what was before and what will be after, a place that we can get into or out of and yet it was where we continually float in and out of. The absurdity of the present.”

Jacqueline Duval will present two original works in the festival. “Judgment and assumptions can be made quickly based on appearance. S​hed​explores the stereotypes and gender associations that clothing strongly holds in our culture. Ways of living are often presented to us in a very strict way. Until later an individual is left to decide how to live on their own, left with many choices and possibilities. In ​Shed​, one individual is presented with a choice and exploration, which leads to an urge to break away and create a new option, a new identity.” “ “​Dérive,​meaning “to drift” in French, was created in Paris, France during a month long study of dance in the city. Based on a very specific path through the streets of Paris, Les Passages, this solo draws on many aspects of experiencing a new place and reflection of one’s self. Drifting through Paris’ ornate passages, unique shops, and many churches along this path lead to question of religion, spirituality, and choice. Images of the cross are present in ​Dérive​as well as a curiosity with something unseen above and below the performance space. A choice is presented, a tension created, and questions left unanswered in ​Dérive​.

Janice Lancaster states, “generated through a collection of acoustic bass samples strung together as a collage, Kima Moore’s haunting sound painting “Strawberry and Bass” inspires a sense of place as widening field ­ brimming with accidents, coincidences, and gaps. For DanceFest, I’m sharing initial movement investigations inside this aural landscape and its rumbling, elastic textures. Tasks are in active relation to all that I hear ­ simmering below the surface or threatening appearance. I’m thinking of strawberry as chameleon, her flesh growing from white to green to pink to scarlet, materializing in tiny increments as sugar and starch. I’m feeling the porosity and boundary of skin(s) ­ electrically and chemically, the worlds that move through us. Kima and I hope that this first phase of our newest collaboration will help inform its future design with projected imagery by Adam Larsen and additional dancers. In the meantime, I am solo {so low} with a ghost bass ­ as trifoliate leaves cup towards sun; five­petaled star­flowers become berry; and noded runners inevitably strew ­ dancing an everydayness and urgent nonchalance that I continue to love in all of Kima’s compositions.”

Molting, ​created and performed by Jessie Laurita­Spanglet and Meredith Bove,​“ ​involves a slow evolution. Within the performance, we seek to expose change as a continuous, inescapable process that is happening to and around us all of the time. The images and sounds that make up the work are transparently built and layered upon each other over the course of the 12 minutes, so that notions of past, present and future are intersecting within each unfolding moment. Using our voices, we create overlapping loops which highlight the consistent passing of time, and create live sculptural elements that speak to collisions of natural and human­made environments. We are interested in replication of an image ­ we highlight the twin­like qualities existing between us to draw attention to change and variation. The physical similarities between the two of us ultimately serves to highlight our idiosyncrasies and bring into focus slight differences in initiation, orientation, and physiological necessity. We begin as one body, “shedding” or “molting” the other to catalyze a separation that lingers throughout the work. Over the course of the 12 minutes, our separation becomes more and more enhanced ­ however, we continue to traverse the same path, as we both are subject to and a part of the same inescapable forces of time and continuous change.”

The 2015 Summer DanceFest is part of The Broadway Block Party. The Broadway Block Party is a neighborhood event promoting and celebrating creativity in downtown Asheville’s Broadway Arts District. Participants include: The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Window (Re/production | Re/presentation), Satellite Gallery, WCQS, Lindsey Kelley Dance Company, The Media Arts Project, Maison Mary, VaVaVoom, Willow’s Dream, Counter Culture Coffee, The Gourmet Chip Company, Bruisin’ Ales, Root Down, and Farm to Fender.

The Broadway Block Party is organized by The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design and receives in­kind support from Henco Reprographics, Mellow Mushroom, and The Asheville Masonic Temple.