“…a rich and absorbing dance that feels like the work of a single vision: congruent, integrated, and authentic.”
Sima Belmar, The San Francisco Bay Guardian
WOrks
piano piano
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Dancers: Chris Black, Nick Brentley, Sonsherée Giles, Katie Kruger, Amy Lewis, and Nol Simonse
Music: Jay Cloidt
Pianist: Marja Mutru
On piano piano, Karp states, “I absolutely love this concept as a way of making decisions and going about life. It is this counteraction to the fast paced immediate culture of most everything in our contemporary world that will be at the heart of this new work; not only the pace and gradual unfolding of the performance, but part of the process in creating the work’s movement vocabulary, music/sound choices, quality of lighting, and the response/treatment of the Dresher industrial space.”
On Beauty
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Dancers: Sonsherée Giles, Sebastian Grubb, Amy Lewis, Megan Lowe, and Charles Slender-White
Music: Charles Amirkhanian
Inspired by the David Brower Center’s exhibition, “Douglas R. Tompkins: On Beauty”, that celebrated the life and work of the late conservationist Doug Tompkins, Nancy Karp created a site-specific performance work for the company.On Beauty premiered at the David Brower Center February 9-11, 2018.
Memory/Place
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Dancers: Peter Cheng, Janet Collard, Sonsherée Giles, Sebastian Grubb, Katie Kruger, and Amy Lewis
Musicians: Sarah Cahill (Piano), Kate Stenberg (Violin), Gianna Abondolo (Cellist)
Production Design by Jack Carpenter with Thekla Hammond
Costume Design by Lydia Tanji
Memory/Place, a full evening work, featuring two commissioned music compositions by composers Kui Dong and Robert Honstein, and the Grand Duo by Lou Harrison premiered February 10-12, 2017.
Studies I, II, III, IV
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Dancers: Janet Collard, Sonsheree Giles, Katie Kruger and Amy Lewis
A work-in-progress for a larger work to be performed by the dance company in Winter 2016/17 at the ODC Theater in San Francisco, CA. Note: This version of the work was done in silence. Studies I, II, III, IV - Four solos designed for the Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition, October 25, 2015.
time and the weather
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Sound design: Jay Cloidt
Costume design: Candace Shoemaker
A work of fiery explosions, movement punctuated by tender moments of stillness. The imagery is drawn from the classic forms of ancient vase painting and the spaces and shapes created by and between the figures on the vases. Featuring music by composers Jay Cloidt, Kui Dong, Vijay Iyer, and Colin Jacobsen. World premiere at the dance company's 35th Anniversary Season in San Francisco, February 2015.
Trio Set
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Julia Wolfe
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
This pure movement work, Trio Set, was developed during a three month intensive rehearsal period with dancers Christy Funsch, Diane McKallip and Anne-Lise Reusswig. The pace is fast moving and highly rhythmic; interweaving the stylistic strengths of each of the dancers, 2005.
La Traversa
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Alvin Curran
Lighting and visual décor: Jack Carpenter
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
Stop signs and stop lights are merely a suggestion," Cadagon Guide to Sicily.
Inspired by the vibrant culture and rich traditions of Sicily, La Traversa was performed to a live commissioned music score by award-winning composer Alvin Curran, 2003.
*La Traversa – the Intersection/crossing
IN ITALIANO
Coreografia di Nancy Karp
Musiche di Alvin Curran
Luci e decorazioni visive di Jack Carpenter
Design costumi di Sandra Woodall
“I segnali di stop e i semafori sono soltanto un consiglio", Guida Cadagon della Sicilia.Ispirato dalla vivace cultura e dalle ricche tradizioni siciliane, la rappresentazione “La Traversa” è stata accompagnata dalla musica live del premiato compositore Alvin Curran nel 2003.
La Processione
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music performed by Green Street Mortuary Band
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.
IN ITALIANO
Coreografia di Nancy Karp
Musiche eseguite dalla Green Street Mortuary Band
Creato ispirandosi a una tradizionale processione religiosa siciliana, questo lavoro per un sitospecifico con otto danzatori della compagnia e la Green Street Mortuary Band di San Francisco, è stato commissionato per il Choreographers’ Festival che ha avuto luogo a San Francisco presso gli Yerba Buena Gardens nell’agosto 2002.
Il Mercato
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Charles Amirkhanian
Lighting: Jack Carpenter
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
In Il Mercato, Nancy Karp created an elaborate choreographic structures that evoke the chaos and energy of the marketplace. The core movement for this work is derived from market and street gesture, 2001.* il Mercato – the market
IN ITALIANO
Coreografia di Nancy Karp
Musiche di Charles Amirkhanian
Luci di Jack Carpenter
Design dei costumi di Sandra Woodall
Ne “Il Mercato”, Nancy Karp ha creato elaborate strutture coreografiche che evocano il caos e l’energia della piazza del mercato. Il movimento essenziale di questo lavoro deriva dai gesti del mercato e della strada, 2001.
KALASAM
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Paul Dresher
Lighting and visual décor: Jack Carpenter
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
Kalasam, an evening-length work for eight dancers and two musicians, integrates dance, music, slide projection, color, and light. It was inspired by Nancy Karp and Paul Dresher’s long-time association with the performing arts of India, 2000.
Surface Roll
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Charles Amirkhanian, Marcel Duchamp
surface roll was designed for an empty 1920s’ vintage swimming pool located in a natural amphitheater surrounded by gardens and redwoods at Villa Lauriston, in Portola Valley, California. Charles Amirkhanian’s Gold & Spirit and Marcel Duchamp’s La Mariée Mise à Nu…Meme, provided the music, 1998.
Threading Light
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: W.A. Mozart, Bill Fontana
Threading Light, a work for ten dancers, was inspired by the architecture of the galleries at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and the paintings of Mark Tobey and Oskar Schlemmer. It was a work in four parts, each part corresponding to a different location within the Center, 1997.
Kristallnacht
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Alvin Curran
Lighting and visual décor: Jack Carpenter
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
"Kristallnacht shatters emotions."
Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 3, 1995"Kristallnacht is an eloquent outcry against the Holocaust…It transcends time and geography."
Paul Hertelendy, The San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 3, 1995"…the jagged rhythms of Karp’s choreography carry powerful emotional echoes…stark and immensely moving…"
Octavio Roca, The San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 3, 1995
ARASHI/STORM
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Terry Riley
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
Arashi/Storm
The gestures and movement phrases for this work have been abstracted from portraits of Bauhaus and Russian Constructivist & Suprematist* artists and their work, specifically the seminal Malevich “Suprematist Painting, 1917-1918," 1992 revised in 2005.
Falling Angels
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Ben Johnston
Dancers: Deirdre Carrigan, Laura Fly, Peter Foster, Nancy Karp, Aileen Kim, Randee Paufve,
and Robert Saito
Falling Angels is a site specific dance work for 7 dancers made at the former Del Monte fruit cannery in Emeryville, CA. These are excerpts from the work presented in cooperation with the Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition. 1992.
Terrace Canon
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Sound score: Bill Fontana
Costumes: Michie Yamaguchi
The title of the performance, Terrace Canon, was derived from the action of the 30 performers moving in canon with one another- movement echoing and repeating from one group or pair of performers to the next. The choreography was inspired by the natural landscape of the forest adjacent to the Kyoto College of Art performance area, 1990.
Prima Materia
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Ingram Marshall
Visual décor: Carol Law
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
An homage to Bauhaus artists and their fascination with finding universal images of communication through the exploration of color and shape. A collaboration with visual artist Carol Law and composer Ingram Marshall, Prima Materia, premiered in 1987.
First Light
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Sound score: Bill Fontana
Visual décor: Wolfram Erber
Costume design: Sandra Woodall
In 1985, Ms. Karp, with the co-sponsorship of the Goethe Institute in San Francisco, invited the visual artist Wolfram Erber to be in residence with Nancy Karp + Dancers and to collaborate on First Light. Ms. Karp also invited sound artist Bill Fontana and costume designer Sandra Woodall to join her in the making of this work. First Light premiered in 1985.
Dot Bunch
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Music: Charles Amirkhanian
Visual décor: Carol Law
Costume design: Cara Varnell
Dot Bunch, realized with support from the National Endowment for the Arts Inter- Arts Program funds, was created in collaboration with composer Charles Amirkhanian and visual artist Carol Law, premiered in 1984.
Terrace Dancing
Choreography: Nancy Karp
Costume design: Cara Varnell
Terrace Dancing was created for the multiple terraces and rooftops of the Oakland Museum. The dancers moved through the museum site with the audience having the option to travel with the dance or catch it as it went by a window or garden terrace, 1982.
