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New England and Montreal Artists Collaborate in Dance Concert at Keene State

KEENE, N.H., 1/26/07 - Fresh from its debut at the Tangente Theatre in Montreal, Dancing Across Borders will bring Chalk to the Wright Theatre of Keene State College’s Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond on February 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. _Dancing Across Borders _is an artistic collaboration between five New England and Montreal artists. Chalk is the result of a unique cultural dance alliance between the state of New Hampshire and the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Redfern Arts Center is the New Hampshire hub site for the alliance.

With generous support from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the Quebec Ministry of Culture, Chalk is the result of 10 days of intensive collaborative work, a week of creative residency at the Redfern in August 2006, and four days of open studio rehearsals in Montreal. During these periods, the artists led each other through experiments in perception, musical composition, movement improvisation, and partnering and developed the thematic history that informs and sustains their ongoing creation.

The ensemble, led by Bessie Award-winner Paul Matteson, will make use of a variety of creative expression to engage the audience’s imagination, including movement, text, voice, painting, photography, sculpture, and a panoply of musical instruments.

In a collective statement the artists explain how they arrived at naming the ensemble, Dancing Across Borders: “The world is riddled with invented borders - borders between states and countries, between self and other, between artistic disciplines, between actor and observer, between imagination and reality, between dreaming and waking, between body and mind. The five artists of the Dancing Across Borders project, working in a variety of media and moving boldly from one medium to another, leave this fractured, fabricated universe behind. Directing their attention to the seamless interweaving of creation - in, amongst, and around themselves - they bring forth a kaleidoscope of improvised art.”

Since seating is limited to only 80 people in the Wright Theatre, those wishing to attend are encouraged to pick up their tickets in advance. Ticket prices are $15 for the general public, $13 for seniors and KSC faculty and staff, $8 for youth ages 17 and younger, and $5 for KSC students with an ID. Tickets for all of the Redfern’s Presenting Series events and for performances by the Department of Theatre and Dance are also available. Patrons can still purchase 20/20 memberships that enable them to receive a 20 percent discount for all Presenting Series performances.

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