Nancy Karp + Dancers

new work

full-evening

interdisciplinary

pattern

site-specific

La Processione

Created in the spirit of a traditional Sicilian religious procession, this site-specific work for eight dancers from the company and San Francisco’s Green Street Mortuary Band was commissioned for the Choreographers’ Festival at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco in August 2002. The slow moving procession on the grassy Esplanade of the Yerba Buena Gardens stretched from the Mission Street steps across the vast lawn toward the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Fountain. The movement vocabulary for La Processione built upon Karp’s observations of traditional Sicilian processions; from the actions of spectators and procession participants alike.

The choreography by Nancy Karp was in collaboration with dancers Pia Allabastro, Manuelito Biag, Hilary Bryan, Jason Hancock, Aileen Kim, Diane McKallip, Anne-Lise Reusswig, and Manfred Schaechtle . Musicians in the band included Lisa Pollard, Soprano Saxophone/ Leader; John Coppola, Toni Thompson, Michele Latimer, Trumpets; Zacharia Spellman, Tuba; Derek James, Trombone; Angel Orosczo, Drum, and Tim Vaughn, Drum.

BART, 1974

Threading Light, 1997
See Threading LightQuicktime video excerpt

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Surface Roll, 1998

Terrace Canon, 1990

Terrace Dancing, 1982

Site-specific work statement:

Choreographer Nancy Karp has created more than twenty site-specific dance works since founding her company in 1978. These include works for the San Francisco BART subway stations, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Oakland Museum, Theater Artaud, and the hillside terraces of the Kyoto College of Art in Japan. Nancy Karp + Dancers’ site-specific performances are investigations of site architecture, history, social behavior and gesture. These performances break down the wall between the audience and the performers allowing audiences to get close to the work and close to the artists in ways seldom possible in traditional theater settings.