On Saturday June 2, 2018, the Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company will perform
SLEEPWALKS: THE BODY OF DREAMS and AFT.er, two unique multi-media dance pieces. Sleepwalks: The Body of Dreams is a collaborative project based on collective dreams that features
sound/video artist Andrea Williams, neuroscientist and creative coder Todd Anderson
and composer/musician Lee Pembleton. AFT.er, the second multi-media piece, features
digital artist david allen, guitarist/composer Maria Zemantauski and musician Brian
Melick.
Location: Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Tivoli, NY
When: Saturday June 2, 2018 at 7:30pm
Tickets: 845-757-5106
https://kaatsbaan.yapsody.com/event/index/191306/ellen-sinopoli-dance-company
SLEEPWALKS: THE BODY OF DREAMS is a 45-minute multimedia dance performance based
on collective dreams. Derived from dream journals and biosensor data from two overnight
SleepWalks soundscape performances that took place in 2016, soundscape improvisations
for sleeping dreamers were performed by musicians Pembleton and Williams. The theme of
WATER encouraged water-themed dreams as well as collective dreams. These overnight
SleepWalks components explored the effect of sound on dreaming, especially on collective
dreaming. Outcomes included individual dreams that incorporated the entire group, single
participants, or one of the musicians.
For the Kaatsbaan performance, Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company dancers have transformed
themselves into the dreamer bodies as they are immersed in Williams’ video projection
environments. Reality blurs with the dreamworld as the dancers move back and forth
between the reality of sleep and the revelation of our dreams.
ABOUT THE COLLABORATING SLEEPWALKS ARTISTS:
TODD ANDERSON
As a neuroscientist and creative coder, Todd Anderson builds systems that enable faster
learning based on recent research into how memories are formed. Sleep is an important
part of memory formation, as sleep is when new short-term memories are consolidated
into long-term memories. In fact, by curating the sonic environment during both
daytime studying and nighttime consolidation, a learner can boost their memory of their
studies. This phenomenon was discovered in academic sleep labs around the world, and
his company, Sheepdog Sciences, worked on a version for home use that was utilized to
track stages of sleep and brainwaves of participants in the SleepWalks overnight
performances.
LEE PEMBLETON
Lee has been composing and performing music and art for over twenty years. The bulk
of that time has been spent investigating sound environments and creating
performative installations. He has been a member of several contemporary music/
performance ensembles & jazz bands along with the occasional rock, psychedelic & folk
groups. He has performed his works at a variety of venues, ranging from the
Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden to Chicago's infamous punk
club, the Czar Bar. His installations have been featured in museums, galleries and clubs
in America and Europe. http://vime.org/ http://earthboundmoon.com
ANDREA WILLIAMS
Sound artist, Andrea Williams, utilizes site-specific elements and perceptual cues to
reveal the unseen connections between people and their environment. Her
compositions make use of field recordings, instruments, computer technologies and the
sound of the performance space itself. She has led soundwalks based on concepts of
acoustic ecology and Deep Listening in NYC, San Francisco, and also in people's dreams
in the collaborative project called SleepWalks. She has shown and performed both solo
and with various musicians and artists at galleries and alternative spaces internationally,
such as the Whitney Museum, Eyebeam, Roulette, The Kitchen, Children’s Creativity
Museum, NPR, and the Mamori sound artist residency in the Amazon rainforest. Andrea
has created soundscapes for Hope Mohr Dance at Stanford University and video
environments for Alyce Finwall Dance Theater at the Joyce Theater in NYC. She is a
board member of the American Society for Acoustic Ecology, a yoga teacher, and she is
studying our connection to water via soundwalks as a Ph.D. candidate in Electronic
Arts at RPI in Troy, NY. http://www.listeninglistening.com
ABOUT THE ELLEN SINOPOLI DANCE COMPANY (ESDC) is a 27year old not-for-
profit arts organization located in NYS’s Capital Region. Celebrating its 26th season as
resident company of The Egg, ESDC’s commitment to CREATE, COLLABORATE,
EDUCATE and PARTNER remains in the forefront as it shares its work with diverse
audiences through concerts, showcases, residencies, workshops, educational and
community outreach. Artistic Director Ellen Sinopoli and her dancers has created over
80 dances since the company’s inception in 1991. ESDC’s collaborations and artistic
projects serve as a conduit to bring together talented artists (both regional and
national) from varied genres that include visual artists, sculptors, architects, composers
and musicians, poets and storytellers, videographers, photographers and physicists.
ESDC DANCERS
LOUISA BARTA received her early dance training at the Cache Valley Civic Ballet School
and Company of Logan, UT, and the Ballet West Academy in Salt Lake City. A graduate
of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (BFA in Dance, ’13), she has worked with notable
teachers and choreographers Kyle Abraham, David Dorfman, Pamela Pietro, James
Sutton, and Sean Curran. Barta has had the additional opportunities to study across the
country and abroad with the Walnut Hill Conservatory, North Carolina School of the
Arts, LINES Contemporary Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Dance Italia, and most
recently San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. Professionally, she has performed with
the VashtiDance African Dance Company and CeDan Dance, based in NYC, and has
participated in local dance festivals as both dancer and choreographer (“Choreography
On the Edge”, 2016, Woodstock, NY, Nacre’s “So You Think You Can Choreograph?”
Festival, 2016, Saratoga Springs, NY, and in conjunction with Troy Night Out). Barta
teaches and choreographs for several schools in the Capital Region and is in her fourth
season with ESDC.
MAGGIE CIAMBRONE is a native of Easton, PA. She received her early dance training at
Stage Door Studio of Wilson, PA and then went on to the Lehigh Valley Charter High
School for the Performing Arts under the direction of Kim Maniscalco. In May 2014,
Ciambrone graduated summa cum laude from the University at Buffalo with a BFA in
Dance. While in Buffalo, she performed with Zodiaque Dance Company for three years
and did various other projects under the direction of Melanie Aceto. She attended the
Alvin Ailey School and the LehrerDance intensive, took workshops at Dance New
Amsterdam, and in 2013 received a full scholarship to attend the American Dance
Festival in Durham, NC. Ciambrone is in her fourth season with ESDC and is an Arts in
Education Coordinator for the company.
MADELINE MORSER is originally from Vashon Island, WA where she received her early
dance training at Vashon Allied Arts, under the direction of Christine Juarez. In addition
to her hometown training, Morser studied at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance,
Dance Fremont, Idyllwild Arts Academy, and Cornish College of the Arts. She graduated
magna cum laude from Skidmore College with a BS in Dance and a minor in Exercise
Science. While at Skidmore, Morser received the Departmental Award for Excellence in
Performance and Choreography, and co-authored a pilot study, presented at the
International Association of Dance Medicine and Science 2015. Throughout her college
career, she enjoyed studying with and performing works by Robert Battle, Earl Mosely,
Lar Lubovitch, and Doug Varone. Morser is in her second season with ESDC.
ANDRÉ ROBLES is a graduate of the Joffrey Ballet School NYC. While a student at JBS
he had the opportunity to perform with the Joffrey Ballet in works by noted
choreographers Gerald Arpino, Peter Pucci, and Margo Sappington. Prior to his time at
JBS, Robles studied at the Ailey School where he danced in works by Dwight Rhoden,
Nacho Duato, Troy Powell, Pedro Ruiz, and Judith Jamison. Robles studied at Teatro
Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina where he danced in works by George Balanchine and
Marius Petipa. He has presented his own choreography at The Arts Center of the Capital
Region as part of Troy Night Out. He hails from Brooklyn, NY and joined the company in
2009.
SARA SENECAL graduated magna cum laude and phi beta kappa from the University at
Buffalo with a BA in Dance and a minor in Education. During her time there she was a
dancer in Zodiaque Studio Dance Ensemble and a dancer and choreographer for
Emerging Choreographers' Showcase. Senecal has studied with various artists such as
Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, Urban Bush Women, Jon Lehrer of LehrerDance and
collaborated with visual artist Saya Woolfalk as a dancer and co-choreographer for her
performance art exhibit, "No Place: A Ritual of the Empathics", shown in Buffalo, NY
and NYC. She has presented her own choreography at The Poets Den in Harlem, Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, The Art Center of the Capital Region in Troy, and was a finalist in Nacre's "So You Think You Can Choreograph" Showcase in Saratoga
Springs. Senecal is originally from Schenectady, NY where she studied at Merritt Dance
Center under Mara and Marlene Merritt. Sara has been with the company since 2010
and is an Arts in Education Coordinator for the company.
LAURA TEETER hails from Minneapolis, where she began her early training. She
graduated magna cum laude from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Dance
Performance, where she performed in works by José Limón and Seán Curran. While in
Boston she co-produced a concert of her choreography and performed as a guest artist
with Zoé Dance. Since joining the company in 2004, Teeter has choreographed for
ESDC, and collaborated with fellow ESDC dancers on Obsequi, a multi-media art event
held in Albany’s historic St. Joseph’s Church, and as part of Trashion at Revolution Hall
in Troy. She has presented work at Choreography on the Edge in Woodstock, NY, at the
Chapel and Cultural Center at RPI, and at the Arts Center in Troy as part of Troy Night
Out. Teeter serves as the Assistant to the Artistic Director of ESDC and is also on the
faculty of Russell Sage College and Siena College.
