Live Outdoor Performances this Sept 15/16 & 22/23

Announcing a truly unique, evocative and strikingly beautiful site-specific duet IN the Wissahickon Creek. Please come to witness and be a part of this one-of-a-kind dance experience, surrounded and enveloped by the beauty of nature.

UPSTREAM

September 15th & 16th and September 22nd & 23rd @ 2pm
Outdoors IN the Wissahickon Creek (near Valley Green Inn)

Suggested Donation $15

Choreographed by Jenny Sawyer

Featuring Sinead O'Neill, Marina Libel and Jenny Sawyer

 

this dance is about humans

this dance is about nature
no music. no lights. no stage. no social accoutrements.
just two beings. stripped down to the bare essentials of their human-ness.
muscles. bodies. water. breath. air. rock. and bone.
existing as one. together. in joy and sorrow. 
in search of a place, of a world, where they can continue their deeply vital and connected existence.

This stunning and powerful dance piece by Philadelphia based choreographer Jenny Sawyer is a call for you to remember your own intrinsic connection with nature. This evocative duet is taking the traditional, sanitized dance performance and literally putting it into the river. This will be unlike anything you have seen before.

UPSTREAM is a radical plea for us to heal our ailing world by fully acknowledging that humans are part of nature and not separate from it.... a plea for a paradigm shift of cultural proportions.

Make your reservations now for this beautiful and remarkable dance!

To make your reservation please email jroesawyer@gmail.com and you will receive a confirmation email containing all the audience information you will need. Audience seating is somewhat limited, so reserve your spot now!

Watch UPSTREAM on YouTube

Now you can watch the first version of my outdoor dance project UPSTREAM on YouTube!!
This is an unfinished, yet strikingly beautiful and evocative piece which I am currently gearing up to keep working on this summer.

UPSTREAM - first version October 2011 - 20 min
http://youtu.be/roWXVjRsIKM

"An outdoor dance work-in-progress, exploring the human relationship to nature and the constant, eternal and ever-changing processes of life."

Comments and observations welcome.

UPSTREAM - Call for Dancers!

I am looking for dancers to join me in my river dance project "Upstream" this summer!  Would YOU like to be part of this beautiful outdoor investigation?

Last summer, I had a vision:

"A beautiful, haunting, meditative, and meaningful dance staged in the Wissahickon Creek, with the dancers continuously moving upstream over the course of the piece."

Last fall, two dancers joined me to create Upstream, a strangely beautiful and evocative duet in the Creek. In 6 to 8 rehearsals, we created an amazing rough draft.

You can view the full 20min piece here on YouTube: http://youtu.be/roWXVjRsIKM

This summer I want to expand the piece and perform a more finished version during the Philly Fringe Festival in September.

Would YOU like to join me?

More details about the piece:
Most of the river is very shallow so much of the dance will entail mostly wading and moving over rocks. Some sections will involve moving in pools or areas of deeper water, up to the knees, thighs, and possibly up to the waist. The dance may involve climbing over a small wall with a waterfall. You don't have to be a champion swimmer (you will never be in water over your head) but you need to feel comfortable floating, diving, splashing and submerging your whole body for a few moments.

In rehearsals we do a lot of experimenting with improvisational movement structures as research for the piece. In the end some sections of the piece will remain structured improvisational scores and some sections will be more highly structured or choreographed for effect.

What I am looking for in my dancers:I am looking for dancers who are very comfortable and creative within improvisation, in rehearsal and performance, and enjoy creating their own movements, who are interested in water, dirt, being outside, connecting to nature, getting wet, etc., and who are willing to experiment with using their voices, as I intend to use vocalized sound in the piece (no text). You don't have to have a good singing voice, just a willingness to explore using your voice loudly outdoors.

Intentions for the piece:

I intend to hold rehearsals regularly over the course of the summer, beginning the 2nd week of June until the performances at the end of September. I am looking for people who are free to rehearse during the day on a weekday preferably, but the exact rehearsal schedule is yet to be determined.  Each rehearsal block will take 4 to 5 hours since the site itself is about 40min away. For example: Leave the city at 12noon. Get to site and  rehearse from 1-4pm with a snack break. Leave and get home at 5pm.

I intend to perform it for a live audience on Saturday and Sunday Sept 15th/16th and/or Sept 22nd/23rd in the late morning or early afternoon.

I would like to hold an initial meeting/rehearsal with dancers who are interested in joining the project during the week of June 10-16th.
Please let me know If you are interested in joining me for this project or learning more information.

Thank you for your time and interest!

I am REALLY excited about this project and I hope it excites you too.

Please forward this to other dancers you know (who are not on this email) who you think would fit & enjoy the project.

Sincerely,
Jenny

DATE CHANGE - New Workshop Offering - March 19th

Finding the Well: Accessing Your Power Through Sound and Movement

An Improvisational Workshop with Jenny Sawyer

Sat. March 19th from 1pm-3pm
Studio 34
$20 for one person
$15 if you pre-register by March 13th or come with a friend 
$15 for dancepass holders

Come explore and expand your own personal sense of power through sound and movement.

In this workshop we will use vocalization, guided movement exploration, partnering and witnessing to connect to emotional centers of our bodies, access deep internal sources of strength and vulnerability, and cultivate new powerful ways of moving and being.


This is exciting, fun, challenging and vulnerable work. As a group we will create a supportive and safe space for both individual and group exploration.

All levels of movement experience are welcome. Willingness to experiment with making sound is required.

To pre-register or get more information, please contact Jenny Sawyer at jroesawyer@gmail.com

Studio 34
4522 Baltimore Avenue in West Philly
(215) 387-3434
info@studio34yoga.com


Bio
Jenny Sawyer has studied dance and improvisational movement for over 20 years. She is a co-founder and current member of the Philly Contact Collective, a performance and contact improvisation collective. She was a founding member of Amnesiac Music and Dance, a touring performance improv company directed by Nicole Bindler. Jenny has studied improv and contact improv from Angie Hauser, Chris Aiken, Nancy Stark Smith, Nicole Bindler, David Brick, KJ Holmes, and Kirstie Simpson, among others. She is currently developing a new solo improvisation and performance practice that inspires the basis of her teaching.

Jenny's Fun-A-Day Project 2011

"A Dance A Day"

This year I finally did a Fun-A-Day Project! 

(To do Fun-A-Day you do/make/find something everyday for the month of January)

I did "A Dance A Day!"

(Almost) every day I improvised a dance on video, as a way to practice improvising daily and learn how to use my new snazzy albiet handmedown video camera.

Most of the dances ended up being filmed at the end of the day, before bed, in my bedroom, in limited space, and thus have an intimate, diary-like quality to them. I do things that I would not do onstage, that I do only for myself, and yet many of them, in the footage, are fascinating to watch.

I am quite curious about this..... how to show intimacy/vulnerability onstage... how to do things onstage you think you shouldn't... how to tell which ones are actually touching to watch and which ones really are "too much." Does "too much" really exist?

Perhaps I will use the footage as a jumping off place for a piece someday.

On Friday Feb 11th I showed my "A Dance A Day" video footage at The Seventh Annual Fun-A-Day Art Show at Studio 34 in West Philly. 

It was pretty great. The art and projects people make every year for this astound me. And the community comes out. It wasn't the best venue for showing off my project (I have too much footage to know what to do with it) but it was fun to be a part of the showing and connect with artists,  friends and neighbors.

The Seventh Annual Fun-A-Day Art Show
Your friends and neighbors have made an eclectic array of art every day for the month of January. Come celebrate their marvelous displays of creativity!
Two big days!
Friday & Saturday, February 11 & 12, 2011
7-11 pm
Free! All Ages!
Featuring Food, Refreshments, Performances, and Fun!
More info at http://www.artclash.com

Sensing the Living Workshop Pictures (September)

These pics don't really do the dancing justice, but you can witness a few of the more contemplative moments and witness the beauty of the day. We had a meaningful and fun time following our impulses in connecting with the natural world, ourselves and each other.