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Date: April 9, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. ET
Target Audience: Higher Education Institutions, Public/Cultural Institutions, Performing Arts Institutions
How to Participate:
- Interactive Videoconference Site: In order to be an interactive videoconference site for this event, your site must have HIGH DEFINITION H.323 VIDEOCONFERENCING CAPABILITIES. Your site must also be connected to your national high speed research and education network (i.e. Internet2 in the United States).
- Watch the Real Player webstream!The stream will be live 15 minutes before the event: http://beansidhe.isc-net.upenn.edu:8080/ramgen/encoder/lstein.rm The webstream audience may submit questions to be answered during the live event by sending an email to hweisse@magpi.net.
Description:
Join us for this HIGH DEFINITION event!
In June 2007, Leah Stein created the site-specific dance work GATE at Philadelphia’s historic Eastern State Penitentiary. In the words of Leah Stein, the performance "illuminated, activated, and animated the site as a living and breathing location, full of history and experience." In her Philadelphia Inquirer review of the work, Lisa Kraus stated, “Leah Stein is Philadelphia’s master of site-specific performance…I loved GATE…it’s darkly gorgeous and unforgettable.” Two films, The Making of Gate, documenting the creative process, and Gate, a film of the performance, were created in conjunction with the project.
The April 9 program will include portions of both films as well as a conversation with Leah Stein, who will discuss her approach to creating site-specific dance works. Join us for this exciting opportunity!
SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT VIDEOCONFERENCE TESTING: Please note, in order to be an interactive videoconference site in this event, your site must be available for a multi-site videoconference test on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET. Your site must connect from the location being used during the live event.
About Leah Stein:
Leah has been creating site works for the past 10 years in the United States and abroad. She is drawn to the interaction between nature and architecture, people and the environment and has developed her own language for communicating the inter-connectedness of disparate elements through sound and movement.
While architecture and nature often fuel her process, GATE has an added dimension, “In particular, the fact that the prison holds so many stories and personal histories, gives a richness and depth to the site that I want to tap into and illuminate." The performance traveled in unexpected ways through the remarkable building and onto the grounds bordered by an immense 40' wall surrounding the entire building.
Leah has also garnered rave reviews for her performances, including this one in Edinburgh, Scotland’s The Herald, “If you hurry, you can catch In Situ, Leah Stein’s extraordinary and truly magical site-specific celebration of [Dance Base]…It feels so spontaneous, like a sixties ‘happening’, yet it also feels like a ritual of blessing as in Midsummer Night’s Dream..."
About Eastern State Penitentiary
Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. This was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of convicts. Its vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America’s most notorious criminals, including bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone. The site opened in 1994 for guided tours and a critically-acclaimed series of artists installations.
About GATE
GATE was funded by Dance Advance and the film by the Marketing Innovation Program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, both funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by The Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
All photos by Digger Vermont