Yoshiko Chuma and The School of Hard Knocks/ROOT CULTURE at Danspace Project June 4 to 13


June 4 to 13, 2009
Presented by Danspace Project as part of the City/Dans series
St. Mark’s Church, 131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Ave.), Manhattan.
Thursday through Saturday:
pre-show begins at 8:00 pm; performance at 8:30 pm.
$18.00 ($12.00 for members).
Box office (866) 811-4111
www.danspaceproject.org

Here is an excerpt of the description of the piece from Yoshiko Chuma’s website.

“This next installment in Chuma’s ten year project, “A Page Out of Order” (culminating in 2011), features artists of all disciplines from Japan, Romania and the USA. The word “POONARC” in the title is an acronym for “Page Out of Order Not About Romanian Cinema.” This production is inspired by Chuma’s interest in the cultural scene currently emerging in Romania. It is imagined as a personal and public dialogue with Romania. Since 2007, Chuma has journeyed five times to Romania, meeting filmmakers and actors and visiting and filming locations used in the their movies. Despite its name, this piece uses several clips from recently acclaimed Romanian films. Intercut with still photos and video taken on their locations, the film clips serve as a backdrop to text created by Jake Margolin with the ensemble. Like previous installments of the Page Out of Order series, there is text dealing with cultural identity and language, accentuating similarities by pointing out differences. This colloquy is interrupted by dance, some furious some slow. Solos and duets are staged in and around the seven-foot aluminum cubes which have been an integral part of the Page Out of Order series since its inception.”