GEISHA

Performance: Geisha by Lee Saar the Company
Date: april 30th may 1st-2nd,’09
Location: Salvage Vanguard Theater 2803 Manor Rd Austin, TX 78722

Ms. Sher and Mr. Harari, the directors of LeeSaar the Company, slowly and methodically build a world that is claustrophobic in its intensity. LeeSaar's dances always require unwavering attention and are seldom any fun. But they are powerful. Geisha is one of their strongest and most fascinating excursions into territory whose physical and emotional atmospheres are a coolly seething whole.

There are three characters in Geisha. The central one is a bare-chested woman in jeans (Jye-Hwei Lin), eventually joined onstage by a man (Mr. Harari), also bare-chested and in jeans, whose slender, supple body resembles hers. Sometimes they move side by side, sometimes across the stage from each other. They seldom come close.

Slow, taut arm gestures suggest situations like imprisonment or protective framing. Cross-stage darts are never dashes for freedom. They are locked together, a feminine woman and a virile man who might be twins. But the woman subtly flaunts herself, and the man is as subtle an aggressor, each with an air of inevitability.

Folded into this mix is a big-voiced singer of strangely haunting Hebrew popular songs (Ms. Sher), whose lip-synching imitation of a Celine Dion-type star, complete with the taped roar of an audience, is pitch perfect and delicious. The effect is of a window opening into another world, and also of the larger-than-life pop embodiment of Ms. Lin's introverted woman-as-geisha.
-Jennifer Dunning - The NY Times -2008

admission is $10 students and artists pay what you wish. reservations are required to guarantee a seat at: Fuse Box

Website: http://www.leesaar.com/

LeeSaar The Company, the 2008 recipients of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Choreography, will be in Austin for a two-week residency at Ballet Austin as they continue to develop their latest work. The piece will receive it's premiere at Performance Space 122 in November 09 and be shown during Fusebox 2010 in Austin.

Every morning the studio will be opened to the public for free training. The residency will also include a free open rehearsal/public showing of their new piece on April 26th.

Daily training with the artists: April 17th-27th from 9:30-10:30am (Mon-Fri) *No training on Sat & Sun (the training is for dancers of all levels) Public Showing/Open Rehearsal: Performance: April 26th @ 2:00 pm Location: Ballet Austin: 501 W. 3rd St

ÉRECTION

Performance: Pierre Rigal & Aurélien Bory
Date: April 23rd 8 - 9:00pm
Location: Austin Ventures Studio (Ballet Austin)

In partnership with Arthouse & Fuse Box

Inspired by Darwinian theory and science fiction, érection tracks the evolution of man from primitive life to homo erectus in forty-five spellbinding minutes. Starting from a recumbent position, French dancer and choreographer Pierre Rigal develops the theme of the evolution of our species through the notion of the “erection” of the body. In a journey of twists, turns, and constant surprises, Rigal finds his way to an upright position. The surprising and radical use of saturated color illuminates Rigal like an elementary particle caught in the light as video images of space are projected onto the floor, forcing the dancer to find his way within the limits of his surroundings. It is a stunning pas de deux between dancer and projections. Directed by founder of the acclaimed CIE 111, Aurélien Bory, a pioneering figure in the French contemporary circus, érection melds body movements with images and sound to create a stunning visual environment that gives us a glimpse into infinity.

Co-produced by compagnie dernière minute/ TNT- Théâtre de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées. With the support of CDC Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, the Council of Regional Midi-Pyrénées, the Council General of Haute-Garonne, DRAC Midi-Pyrénées, and the city of Toulouse.

testperformancetest presents érection in partnership with Arthouse & Fusebox Maxi Geil’s verbiage from fusebox is fine but needs to include the easy link to both artists early in the text. and

>> Admission is free but reservations are required to guarantee a seat at: Fuse Box

MAXI GEIL & PLAYCOLT

Performance: Maxi Geil & Playcolt
Date: April 25th 9 - 10:30pm
Location: The Historic Victory Grill

In partnership with Arthouse & Fuse Box

testperformancetest presents érection in partnership with Arthouse & Fusebox Maxi Geil’s verbiage from fusebox is fine but needs to include the easy link to both artists early in the text. and

>> Admission is free but reservations are required to guarantee a seat at: Fuse Box

MAXI GEIL! AND PLAYCOLT VS. NEAL MEDLYN

Performance: Maxi Geil & Playcolt with Neal Medlyn
Date: April 26th 7 - 8:00pm
Location: The Blue Theater

Neal Medlyn and Guy Richards Smit are rivals. They desire each other's destruction. They are also, it turns out, not skilled in weaponry. Therefore, they must battle using songs and words and emotions. All of this could be interpreted sexually. Come see them together for the first time since Neal hit his head and wandered, bloodied, around Joe's Pub in New York.

MAXI GEIL & PLAYCOLT WITH NEAL MEDLYN
Maxi Geil! and PlayColt is fronted by Guy Richard Smit, a visual and performance artist who, in the words of Saatchi Online Magazine critic, Ana Finel Honigman, writes satirical operas centered around the self-esteem struggles of an insecure porn star, the ties between art celebrity and stand up comedy, and the art world's dramas and fluffy foolishness. As the stylishly sociopathic character Maxi Geil! (German slang for 'super horny'), Smit channels the gritty glamour of the eighties' East Village scene with its romanticized madness, poetic perversion and overheated artistic climate. Among the bands participants are actor/artist Zoe Lister-Jones, drummer Jeff Somoya, rhythm guitarist Mark Ephraim and lead guitarist John Allen.

Neal Medlyn is a performance artist whose work typically replicates the musical and dance performances of pop stars such as Phil Collins, R. Kelly, Prince and Beyoncé. Never lip syncing, Medlyn performs as the pops stars do, channeling their personas. He is backed by Kenny Mellman, co-writer and musical director, on keyboard; Carmine Covelli on drums; and Farris Craddock on bass.

"Mr. Medlyn is a chameleon, knowingly slipping on one outré pop persona after the next, he also remains irreducibly himself: the ultimate outsider, nose pressed unabashedly to the window of celebrity and fame… The split is just one duality in a rich welter of identity games, yet the strange power his art possesses depends on it." –New York Times

Maxi Geil! and PlayColt vs. Neal Medlyn is a co-commission by testperformancetest in conjunction with Arthouse & Fuse Box

>> Admission is free but reservations are required to guarantee a seat at: Fuse Box http://www.myspace.com/maxigeilplaycolt http://www.nealmedlyn.com/