Chris Yon
(MN)
2012
- Chris Yon devises original dances from a developing catalogue of physical hieroglyphs, shout outs to heroes and winks to peers. Setting gestures in rhythmic and spatial patterns to reflect on the complex physical behavioral spectrum of human beings and the mysteries of the composition of the universe.
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Yon’s choreographies have been presented at Bryant Lake Bowl, Walker Art Center and The Southern, Dance Theater Workshop, Performance Space 122, La Mama, Symphony Space, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, Gershwin Hotel, CBGB’s, The Knitting Factory, Philadelphia Dance Project, ODC Theater , Velocity Dance Center, Highways Performance Space, Project Art Centre (Dublin), Tangente (Montreal), and CiteDanse (Grenoble). His work has been commissioned by Irish Modern Dance Theatre (Dublin), d9 dance collective (Seattle), The Wooden Floor (Santa Ana), and The Danish National Theater School (Copenhagen). Named a “Very Young Hot Shot” in The Village Voice and among “25 Dancers to Watch” in Dance Magazine. He has had residencies and space grants at The Yard, SILO and BAX. Co-founder of Ur, your neighborhood dance palace in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 2003-2005. Recipient: 2003 NYFA Fellowship for Performance Art andMultidisciplinary Work (shared with Justin Jones), 2005 BESSIE Award for Performance, 2009 SAGE Award for Choreography, 2011 McKnight Fellowship for Choreographers. BFA, NYU.
He lives and works with his wife and muse Taryn Griggs in Minneapolis.
The Very Unlikeliness (I'm Going to KILL You!)
Partnership Project: McKnight Artist Fellow | November 26 – December 2, 2012
Collaborators in Residence: Taryn Griggs [Performer], Angharad Davies [Performer], Dan Hurlin [Dramaturge], David Bagnall [Documentary Filmmaker], Sara Smith [Set Design]
Yon researched and developed an evening length duet entitled The Very Unlikeliness (I’m Going to KILL You!), a suite of dances constituting the repertory that Yon has created with wife and dancer, Taryn Griggs. Yon remarked, “In the tradition of husband & wife vaudeville teams who spent years refining their routines on the road, Unlikeliness is a container to reinvestigate and repurpose material and ideas that resurface from piece to piece to express what was, is and will be. If these are the hit singles on my pop concept album, I want to create the B sides.”
While in residence, Yon explored memory techniques to generate and capture material and worked to determine the underlying mechanisms for creating and remembering complex choreography. Renowned writer, director, actor, and puppeteer Dan Hurlin joined the residency as dramaturg. Documentary filmmaker David Bagnall was also on site to create a training film and inform a supplementary instruction manual. Choreographer and archival librarian Sara Smith created designs for set, costume, and decor. Dancer and choreographer Angharad Davies participated as a performer and stand-in for Yon. The residency ended in a sharing of the work with representatives from the FSU School of Dance, Theater department and Tallahassee community members.
The Very Unlikeliness (I’m Going to KILL You!) premiered at La Mama E.T.C. (NYC) in Spring 2013.
This residency was supported in part by The McKnight Foundation in partnership with Northrop Concerts and Lectures.
