Kate Weare Company Explores Creativity and Erotic Imagination

The electrifying Kate Weare Company returns to the Redfern Arts Center to celebrate its 10th anniversary with performances of works spanning its decade-long repertory with the New England premieres of Unstruck and Dark Lark on Wednesday, October 7, at 7 p.m. in the Main Theatre. Tickets to Kate Weare Company’s contemporary dance performance range from $20 to $13, depending on seating, and $5 for KSC students. For tickets, contact the Redfern Box Office, open Monday to Friday, noon to 6 p.m., call 603-358-2168 or order online at keene.edu/arts/redfern. See a video clip and more information about Kate Weare’s performance and the free activities surrounding this event at keene.edu/arts/redfern.

Kate Weare’s newest piece, Unstruck, is a trio set to an original score by an American composer and pianist, Curtis MacDonald, who describes his style as contemporary instrumental. His musical score enhances the theme of Kate Weare’s choreography that explores the Vedic concept of Anahata Nad, or unstruck sound. Like stones in a river, or sound through a tunnel, the dancers forcibly shape themselves and are shaped by each other. Unstruck premiered during the company’s 10th Anniversary performances at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in February 2015, and the Redfern performance will be the first time the dance is performed in the New England area.

Also on the October 7 program is the 2013 dance Dark Lark, Weare’s exploration of erotic fantasy as a portal toward identity. Dark Lark seeks to honor erotic imagination as a metaphor for creativity. The dance conjures a world of butterflies, weapons, fans, and swirling capes with a richly evocative score composed by electro-acoustic cellist Christopher Lancaster.

Kate Weare Company is a New York-based contemporary dance company known for its startling combination of formal choreographic values and visceral, emotional interpretation. Weare’s dances explore contemporary views of intimacy, both tender and stark, by drawing on our most basic urges to move and decode movement. The company was established to showcase Artistic Director Kate Weare’s intimate, raw and intense choreography in 2005. The company is celebrating its 10th Anniversary with the premiere of new work and the restaging of select excerpts from the past decade.

There are several free activities surrounding the Kate Weare Company performance.

• A Dance Masterclass on technique by Kate Weare Company Rehearsal Director and Dancer Douglas Gillespie takes place at noon, Tuesday, October 6, in the Mabel Brown Room of the Young Student Center. The class if for KSC dance students but anyone may watch if interested.

• A Public Conversation with Douglas Gillespie and Kate Weare’s Executive Director Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang begins at 2 p.m., Wednesday, October 7, in the Harry Davis Room of the Redfern Arts Center. Learn about the company’s dance making process and the themes of power, identity, and genres that Kate Weare explores in her work. This talk is free and open to the public.

• A post-show reception and discussion with Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang and Douglas Gillespie follow the concert in the main lobby.

For questions or more details on these activities, please contact Redfern Assistant Director, Sharon Fantl, sfantl@keene.edu.

About Redfern Arts Center at Keene State College

The Arts Center is named in honor of Dr. Leo F. Redfern, Keene State College President from 1969 to 1979 for his vision, commitment, and eloquence on behalf of the arts that made funding and construction of the facility a reality. In 1981, KSC inaugurated this new performing arts center, with the goal of providing unforgettable artistic encounters for the campus and community. Now in its 34th year, the Redfern Arts Center presents and fosters dynamic, multifaceted arts experiences through performances, residencies, and related programs that deepen the connection between the arts and audiences, both from the campus and the greater Monadnock region.