MANCC Welcomes Emily Johnson, Returning Choreographic Fellow
Emily Johnson
March 7 – 22, 2014
Work in Development: SHORE
www.catalystdance.com
More Information
Emily Johnson returns to MANCC to develop her latest work, SHORE, the third in the trilogy of works developed at MANCC that include The Thank-you Bar and Niicugni (Listen). Johnson began work on the Bessie-award winning piece The Thank-you Bar at MANCC in 2009 and premiered Niicugi (Listen) as part of Tallahassee’s Seven Days of Opening Nights in the Fall of 2012.
SHORE is a multi-day performance/installation of four equal parts: dance, story, volunteerism, and feasting. It is a place audiences choose to visit once or many times, as participants or observers. It is a celebration of the places where we meet and merge – land and water, performer and audience, art and community, past, present, and future.
While at MANCC, Johnson will be utilizing the period of spring break as an intensive with FSU students and Tallahassee community members. She and her collaborators will focus on developing the transition of the work from a large group of performers singing and dancing outdoors to a small group of performers on stage.
SHORE will premiere at Northrop Presents Grand Reopening in May-June 2014 and tour to New York Live Arts, New York, NY; ODC/CounterPulse, San Fransisco, CA; On the Boards, Seattle, WA; Bunnell St. Arts Center, Homer, AK.
This residency is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Entrypoints
Entrypoints are unique opportunities for visiting artists to conduct research and collaborate with the FSU and Tallahassee communities as well as the national dance field.
3/18 Landis Green Clean Up
SHORE includes an element of community involvement (volunteerism). Johnson and her collaborators invite you to join in cleaning up Landis Green. Meet on the steps of Montgomery Hall at 5:00pm
3/19 Informal Showing
Landis Green outside of Montgomery Hall at 10:30am
3/20 Dr. Kristine C. Harper
Associate Professor FSU History Department Johnson and Dr. Harper will discuss the history of water issues.
3/21 Exploration of Florida Waterways
Johnson and collaborators tour the Slave Canal a man-made canal constructed in the mid-nineteenth century connecting the Wacissa River to the Aucilla River for cotton transportation.
Reservations are encouraged for the informal showing. Please make reservations online at: mancc.org/artists/emily-johnson. Email info@mancc.org for further information.
Collaborators in Residence
Director: Ain Gordon
Performers: Aretha Aoki, Krista Langberg
Composers/Performers: James Everest, Nona Marie Invie
Lighting Designer: Heidi Eckwall
Musician: Fletcher Barnhill
Manager/Creative Producer: Meredith L Boggia
Company Administrator: Julia Bither
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- Emily Johnson and Aretha Aoki perform Niicugni which premiered as part of Seven Days of Opening Nights in 2012.
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- Niicugni Premiere
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- Emily Johnson discusses Niicugni with FAMU students
Emily Johnson Biography
Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. Originally from Alaska, she is currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since 1998 she has created work that considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance. Her dances function as installations, engaging audiences within and through a space and environment – interacting with a place’s architecture, history, and role in community. Her work is currently supported by Creative Capital, Map Fund, a Joyce Award, the McKnight Foundation, and The Doris Duke Residency to Build Demand for the Arts. Emily is a current Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota, a 2014 Fellow at the Robert Rauschenberg Residency, a 2012 Headlands Center for the Arts and MacDowell Artist in Residence, a Native Arts and Cultures Fellow for 2011, a MANCC Choreographic Fellow (2009, 2010, 2012, 2014), a MAP Fund Grant recipient (2009, 2010-2013) and a 2009 McKnight Fellow. She received a 2012 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Outstanding Performance for the work, The Thank-you Bar at New York Live Arts. Her recent work, Niicugni, recently completed its US tour. Her current work, SHORE, which is equal parts feast, volunteerism, story and performance, premieres in May-June 2014.
Catalyst
Emily Johnson/Catalyst is the Minneapolis-based performance project company of Emily Johnson. Johnson’s work has been called “voracious,” “highly nuanced,” “stunning,” “punk rock-cum minimalist,” “aptly named” and “a force of nature.”
Johnson uses gesture, rigorous movement, and (often) words to construct her nonlinear though (often) narrative based performance installations. Believing in the act of performing, relishing self-production as much as being presented, and placing dances in a variety of locations – often outside the formal theatrical structure – has led Catalyst to perform in a wildly diverse range of venues, indoors and out, throughout the USA, in St. Petersburg, Russia and Montreal.