PROGRAM INFORMATION
Thursday, May 20, 2021, 6pm
Welcome to the OPEN AIR SERIES presented by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre(PBT)!
We are so grateful and excited PBT has opened up their stage at Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park for the local dance, theater and music communities!
Recommended donation for this performance is $10 to help support the dancers' artist fees via Venmo @Shana-Simmons-Dance or via the website www.shanasimmondance.com/donate
We are so grateful and excited PBT has opened up their stage at Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park for the local dance, theater and music communities!
Recommended donation for this performance is $10 to help support the dancers' artist fees via Venmo @Shana-Simmons-Dance or via the website www.shanasimmondance.com/donate
SPRING FOR SOLOS:
We have gone back in time for this performance and resurfaced some of Simmons' solo repertory starting with 2011.
Included are the original performers and a little background of where the piece originally premiered.
Also included in this performance is one NEW group work set to Herbie Mann's "Comin' Home Baby"... we hope you enjoy!
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Run time approximately 50 minutes.
All choreography by Shana Simmons.
Untitled (2019)
Originally presented as part of the pearlPRESENTS Dance Festival, this solo was the inspiration for SSD's current production, Living Landscapes. Imagine wandering through the grasslands or maybe it takes you to a countryside with a small pond... Simmons aimed to visualize herself within a specific environment in the hopes of translating that environment to the viewing audience.
Performer: Shana Simmons
Original performance: Shana Simmons
Music: Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, "Summer in the High Grassland"
---
STOP (2016)
Presented at the SpringUP Festival in Lehigh Valley, this solo performance was dedicated to Garret Sinagra, a friend of Simmons'. The dancer moves to almost every single beat in a race against time(ing). Exhausted, the dancer takes hold of her future and moves forward with confidence.
Performer: Emily Jaikaran
Original performance: Shana Simmons
Music: So Percussion, "It Is Time: 1. Metronome"
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5 minute pause
---
Comin' Home Baby (2021)
Let's dance! A new group work for pure and simple fun. We hope you get a kick out of it as much as we do.
Performers: Shana Simmons, Joanna Dehler, Brady Sanders, Emily Jaikaran, Allegra Golembiewski
Music: Herbie Mann, "Comin' Home Baby"
---
PASSENGER (2014)
This solo was the final section to our 2014 environmental production PASSENGER. The extinction of the passenger pigeon happened in 1914, so SSD joined the national Project Passenger Pigeon group to honor the 100-year anniversary of the extinction of this species. Once the most numerous bird in North America, the passenger pigeon became extinct very quickly. PASSENGER was presented at the National Aviary and this solo represents Martha, the final passenger pigeon to pass who lived in the Cincinnati Zoo.
Performer: Jamie Erin Murphy
Original performance: Jamie Erin Murphy and Jessica Marino Mitcham
Music: Anna Moffo, Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
---
Bits...Pieces... (2011)
This solo demonstrates the aftermath of.... (you fill in the blank). How does one pick oneself up again and move on? Does the baggage come with you or does it remain?
Performer: Brady Sanders
Original Performance: Jessica Marino Mitcham
Music: Andrew Griffin, String Quartet Number 1, "Metropolis in the Fall" Mvt 2
Run time approximately 50 minutes.
All choreography by Shana Simmons.
Untitled (2019)
Originally presented as part of the pearlPRESENTS Dance Festival, this solo was the inspiration for SSD's current production, Living Landscapes. Imagine wandering through the grasslands or maybe it takes you to a countryside with a small pond... Simmons aimed to visualize herself within a specific environment in the hopes of translating that environment to the viewing audience.
Performer: Shana Simmons
Original performance: Shana Simmons
Music: Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, "Summer in the High Grassland"
---
STOP (2016)
Presented at the SpringUP Festival in Lehigh Valley, this solo performance was dedicated to Garret Sinagra, a friend of Simmons'. The dancer moves to almost every single beat in a race against time(ing). Exhausted, the dancer takes hold of her future and moves forward with confidence.
Performer: Emily Jaikaran
Original performance: Shana Simmons
Music: So Percussion, "It Is Time: 1. Metronome"
---
5 minute pause
---
Comin' Home Baby (2021)
Let's dance! A new group work for pure and simple fun. We hope you get a kick out of it as much as we do.
Performers: Shana Simmons, Joanna Dehler, Brady Sanders, Emily Jaikaran, Allegra Golembiewski
Music: Herbie Mann, "Comin' Home Baby"
---
PASSENGER (2014)
This solo was the final section to our 2014 environmental production PASSENGER. The extinction of the passenger pigeon happened in 1914, so SSD joined the national Project Passenger Pigeon group to honor the 100-year anniversary of the extinction of this species. Once the most numerous bird in North America, the passenger pigeon became extinct very quickly. PASSENGER was presented at the National Aviary and this solo represents Martha, the final passenger pigeon to pass who lived in the Cincinnati Zoo.
Performer: Jamie Erin Murphy
Original performance: Jamie Erin Murphy and Jessica Marino Mitcham
Music: Anna Moffo, Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14
---
Bits...Pieces... (2011)
This solo demonstrates the aftermath of.... (you fill in the blank). How does one pick oneself up again and move on? Does the baggage come with you or does it remain?
Performer: Brady Sanders
Original Performance: Jessica Marino Mitcham
Music: Andrew Griffin, String Quartet Number 1, "Metropolis in the Fall" Mvt 2