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For Immediate Release
Avila/Weeks
Dance Partnering Defies Convention in Labor Day Weekend
Performances at Oberlin College
Media
Contact: Alice
Hirt Hug
Hall Auditorium
Friday, September 4
Saturday, September 5
8 p.m.
OBERLIN, OHIO -- Avila/Weeks Dance, a New York City-based duo, will perform at Oberlin College on September 4 & 5. The evening will include two solos and three duets from the company's repertoire.
Homer Avila and Edisa Weeks have been collaborating since 1991, when they met while performing in Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company's epic piece, Uncle Tom's Cabin/The Promised Land. They discovered a shared interest in creating works which are passionate, physically dynamic, and explore the drama of humanity. The Philadelphia City Paper hailed them as "a striking ...couple [who] showed a talent for merging dance styles with theatrics, taking simple images and developing their dramatic possibilities."
With Weeks at 5'10" and Avila at 5'6," an integral aspect of their work is expanding the concepts of partnering to embrace a unique sharing of risk and responsibility by both men and women. New York Newsday wrote, "Weeks sometimes lifts Avila. He lifts her. Their interaction defies convention and male-female clichés."
Dubious Faith, with text by James Joyce, is an exploration of passion and desire. The duet is performed to music by Juanita Hill and Ennio Morricone. The Village Voice critic wrote, "[Dubious Faith] snapped me awake," calling it, "among the most interesting new dances I've seen this season."
Another of the evening's duets, Sound of Bound Wings, is set to music by Gabriel Fauré. The choreographers describe it as "a seductive power play between two forces where one toys with the other like a cat with a mouse."
Each of the company's members has the chance to shine in the program's two solo pieces. Avila's Sotto Voce is a lyrically physical expression of hope danced to music by Puccini. Avila has been described as "quite a dancer" (Village Voice) and "agile and obviously gifted" (New York Times).
Dissolved by Rain and Newborn in the Soil is a nuanced dance/poem by Weeks about an African American woman examining her heritage and sense of self, set to an original drum score by Leslie Arlette Boyce. The New York Times called Weeks "full of dreamy theatrical presence" and the piece "a grave ritual...which proved that less is indeed more."
Homer Avila was raised in New Orleans with family roots in Central America. He has studied dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Jacob's Pillow, and American Dance Festival, and has performed with Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, and Salvatore Aiello/North Carolina Dance Theater, among others.
Edisa Weeks grew up in Uganda, Papua New Guinea, and Brooklyn. She holds a degree from Brown University and studied dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and Jacob's Pillow. She has performed with Dance Brazil, David Gordon Pick Up Performance Company, and Annie-B Parsons' BIG DANCE THEATER, among others.
Avila/Weeks Dance recently completed a commission for the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, a duet entitled Caught in Thermidor's Twilight which is currently being toured in the Ensemble's 1998-99 season. This summer Avila/Weeks Dance has performed at the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, the Ballet Festival in Nantucket, and the Blitz Festival in London.
The company has performed in a variety of venues, including Movement Research at Judson Church and Dance Theater Workshop, both in New York; Studio 303 in Montreal; and the Cleveland Performing Arts Festival. They also offers lecture/demonstrations and workshops and have taught at several colleges and universities, as well as in the New York City public schools.
"We don't want to...spoon-feed our audience," says Weeks. "Culturally, stories are very important; they help us make sense of life and human nature, and that's what we try to do in our work."
The dance concert is sponsored by Oberlin College's Theater and Dance Program, Multicultural Resource Center, and John Guttfreund Enrichment Fund.
