Rubberbandance Group Premieres "Punto Ciego"
KEENE, NH, 10/7/08 - Rubberbandance Group, one of Canada’s foremost modern dance companies, will premiere their latest creation, “Punto Ciego” (“Blind Spot”), at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 23, 2008, at Keene State College’s Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. The company unites world-class dancers from contemporary, classical, ballet, hip-hop, and break-dance backgrounds to investigate human relationships using film, video, and pulsing scores to create evenings of subtle story telling.
“Punto Ciego” was originally titled “Phase II,” but, as Rubberbandance’s founder and artistic director, Victor Quijada, explained, “‘Phase II’ was always a working title. I originally wanted to give it a title in Spanish, which is my mother’s native language; she’s from Mexico. After months of working on the piece, I found ‘Punto Ciego,’ (Spanish for ‘Blind Spot’) to be the most appropriate name for the piece.”
The full evening’s work is described as a tragic comedy that explores the relationships among six different people. At times the characters only see their relationships through a lens of virtual reality.
During the course of the performance, they will defend their perceptions as well as question them. In the end, they accept their varying perspectives on the reality of these relationships.
To tell this story, “Punto Ciego” will lace the dance forms of ballet and break with A/V feeds, street demeanor, edgy ardor, and tenderness. Co-artistic director Anne Plamondon, Yan Lee Chan (lighting), Mitchell Akiyama (music), Jasper Gahunia (a.k.a. DJ Lil’ Jazz), Stephane Longpre (set design), Rene- Pierre Belanger (video design), and other multidisciplinary artists and videographers collaborate with Quijada on this work.
The Redfern premiere is made possible through funding in part from the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the MetLife Foundation.
Tickets are available through the Redfern box office (603-358-2168) or online at www.keene.edu/racbp. Ticket prices are $30 and $27 for the general public, $28 and $25 for seniors and KSC faculty and staff, $16 and $15 for youth 17 and younger, and $5 for KSC students with ID.
Tickets are also available for all of the Redfern’s Presenting Series events and for performances by the departments of Music and Theatre and Dance. Patrons can still purchase 20/20 memberships that enable them to receive a 20% discount for all Presenting Series performances.
