Dance Press Release

15 YEARS of

V I S I O N   F E S T I V A L

-t h e   c r e a t i v e   o p t i o n-

Friday June 25 LOFT SERIES (UNDERGROUND THEATER)

7:45    Station # 2014 first intersection
            Choreography: Jason Jordan / Direction: Patricia Nicholson
            Dancers: Miriam Parker, So Young An, Shalimar Bernard, Jason Jordan + surprise guests
            Music: Connie Crothers
            Costume: So Young An

Saturday & Sunday June 26 & 28

Jason Jordan and Dancers in unconventional spaces at different times throughout the evenings

Monday June 28 LOFT SERIES (UNDERGROUND THEATER)

8 pm   Station # 3667 - a different intersection
            Choreography: Jason Jordan / Direction: Patricia Nicholson
            Dancers: Miriam Parker, So Young An, Chellamar Bernaud, Jason Jordan
            Music: Gerald Cleaver
            Costume: So Young An

Tuesday, June 29 Main stage

7 pm   Station # 9969 - 3rd intersection & conclusion
            Choreography: Jason Jordan / Direction: Patricia Nicholson
            Dance: Chellamar Bernaud, Courtney Jackson, Jason Jordan Miriam Parker, So Young
            Music: Connie Crothers, piano / Jason Kao Hwang, violin / Gerald Cleaver, drums
            Costume: So Young An / Set Design So Young An & Patricia Nicholson

Stations is in many ways the culmination of previous dance performances at 15 years of Vision Festivals. The Vision has presented great dancers/ improvisers collaborating with musicians from the beginning. Last year Jason Jordan performed a site specific work with dancers in seemingly random occurrences enlivening different aspects of the Abrons. This year Station takes place across 3 and ¾ intersections. The piece develops over 5 days with events occurring within the architecture of the Abrons Art Center itself, as well as 2 performances in the Down-stairs theater. These different events culminate on the main stage, Tuesday June 29.

Stations implies the journey. We travel through space and time with plans that change with each interaction. The piece will be site specific, enlivening and challenged by the different spaces and by the interactions with other artists and audience. In the words of Jason Jordan, “This is where the art is - between the known and unknown – listening to those moments when the unexpected challenges, creates or reveals.”

Performers are the dancers: So Young An, Miriam Parker, Jason Jordan, Mariko Kumanomido, Courtney Jackson, Chellamar Bernaud, Christopher Fishburn

Musicians: Jason Kao Hwang violin, Connie Crothers piano, Gerald Cleaver drums The different architecture of Abrons Art Center, & The audience members: TBD

The piece is premeditated. Much of it is pre-composed. Yet many of the most exciting moments will occur at the stations where we meet.

Jason Jordan and Dancers – The Company

This is a new company, birthed from the desire to bring together the wonderful dancers that has been Jason Jordan’s privilege to work with. The creative idea for the company is based on strong compositional concepts and a belief in utilizing fully, the individual dancer’s creative abilities. These abilities are tapped thru improvisation as a means to composition as well as leaving room in choreography for the inspired moment. Patricia Nicholson assists, in the role of director and advisor. Ms. Nicholson has spent her life developing improvisation and dedicated to an aesthetic content based on avantjazz.

Jason Jordan began his dance career at the age of seven when he won five dollars for being the best dancer at a Brooklyn house party. Since then Mr. Jordan has danced with Feld Ballets/NY, Ballet Tech (as a principal dancer), Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, Buglisi Dance Theater, Armitage Gone, Twyla Tharp, Ballet Noir, Gleich Dances, Rubberbandance, Cedar Lake Dance, Peridance Ensemble, Battery Dance and 360 Degrees Dance company. Mr. Jordan would like to thank all of the beautiful souls that have helped him along the way.

Patricia Nicholson’s professional career developed around the aesthetic of free jazz. The use of composition and improvisation has been influenced by this consistent relationship. Combined with extensive technical background, Ms Nicholson has brought developed her unique approach drawing freely from traditional and non-traditional techniques to create an eclectic approach to intuitive movement and composition. Ms. Nicholson has brought her avantjazz collaborations to the Tampere Jazz Festival, Guelph Jazz Festival, the Vision Festival, Sons d’Hiver Festival and Vision Nights, Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, the San Diego Jazz Festival etc.