Rosy Simas Danse presents “It’s Strange to Be Here, The Mystery Never Leaves You.”

Fri, Jul 23 - Sun, Jul 25, 2010

  • Fri 7/23, 8:00pm
    $12-14
  • Sat 7/24, 8:00pm
    $12-14
  • Sun 7/25, 8:00pm
    $12-14

Purchase Tickets Here!

New dance work by Rosy Simas Danse.

Inspired by the words of John O’Donohue.

This production contains nudity.

Performers: Lindsay Anderson, Erin Drummond, Denise Gagner, Dustin Haug, Blake Nellis, Sharon Picasso, Rosy Simas & Tamin Totzke
Lighting Design: Jeff Bartlett
Sound Design: C. Andrew Mayer
 
$12 students and seniors
$14 general admission

NEW WORK IN A CONTINUING JOURNEY FOR MINNEAPOLIS MOVEMENT ARTIST

This is how it often works for Rosy Simas- she picks up a thread of text, a phrase, an artifact or an idea- and continues tugging at that thread until she’s too consumed to turn back. She pushes the dancers she’s working with to pull along with her, first exploring the subject matter at hand, then freeing the mind and body to express it through movement. Before long, Simas will create a piece of dance that is as organic as the process that built it.

That’s how it played out Simas’ new work, “It’s Strange to Be Here, the Mystery Never Leaves You” drawn from the first line of the John O’Donohue book Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom.

“The way all of this began, a friend sent me a copy of an interview with O’Donohue on (the public radio program) Speaking of Faith, which inspired me to pick up and read three of his books  dealing with friendship, art, longing to belong on the world, finding the line between the visible and invisible world,” Simas says. “That line sort of encompasses it all for me.”

The evening features two works- one focusing on authenticity and being present in friendship, the other, Simas says, on “showing the invisible world through our visible bodies, exploring eternal human hunger for belonging.” Audiences- some seated on the floor and on stage- will surround the performers, who never leave the stage.

“We’re seemingly more connected to each other because of technology, but we need more connection with nature and beauty,” Simas says. “This piece is meant to connect the audience with performers, to celebrate beauty and what it is to be a human with longing.”

Simas is Seneca, of the Cattaraugus reservation in New York. She has spent 16 years as a Minneapolis dance artist and has presented work at virtually every dance-ready venue in the Twin Cities, including the Walker Art Center and the Southern Theater, as well as venues in New York City and San Francisco. She teaches Body Re-Education, Contemporary and Contact Improvisation dance classes in Minneapolis, where she also maintains a private bodywork practice.