unsettled is the story of people whom have been forced to relocate. Putting the ideal of reconciliation into the center, unsettled looks closely at the idea of conflict as an individual, social and national experience and invites the audience to share the grief of the land, with the hope for bringing the light to the dark side and creating one human race and one world through the power of art. From Brokklyn to Yerevan and then to Istanbul, we walked shoulder to shoulder, our hands on our hearts and our faces turned to sun, hoping to light the darkness of past, present and future...
Choreographed by Korhan Basaran and David Dorfman, commissioned by DancemotionUSA and BAM in 2014, conceived at BATES Dance Festival
“Lumensentient Projections” is a live performance in which light is the performer, as much as the musician and the dancer, and the stage is any surface such as a facade, dome or bridge. Light is embodied in drops of transparent dyes which travel through a clear and viscous liquid body. As these drops of light _ow and dissolve into each other, audience members are led to an almost transcendental experience through the light’s organic movement. Lumensentient Projections lends a sense of peace to most citizens who witness it, allowing them an opportunity to stay in the moment and explore the depth of that moment. They cannot be completely domesticated or harnessed as no light painting can ever be duplicated or completely directed or controlled as they are performed in the moment. The fact that the dance of the drops can be conducted but not choreographed overlaps with improvised nature of dance and music, unguessable nature of human being. As the liquid lights are conducted by the breath of the artists Edmond Deraedt and Tuce Yasak, the walls of the interiors start to breath and move and dance. Dancer Nikki Holck becomes one with the liquid lights and so with the architecture. As liquid lights move, musician John Maiorino responds with his improvisations that he creates via a large spectrum of instruments. The dancer responds the lights and music via her movement. The light artists responds to the movement of the dancer and the sound via their breath; and the light drops respond to the breath, the core of being, via laws of nature.
Lumensentient Projections was performed as a part of LAMP urban light festival in New Haven, CT in October 2013, and MassBliss Festival in Great Barrington, MA in July 2015.
Also featuring Belinda He besides John Maiorino and myself, photographed by Edmond Deraedt, Lumensentient Projections, in the form of transparent postcards, attended Gutai Card Box project as a part Gutai: Playground exhibition at Guggenheim Museum, NYC in February 2013.
COLOR ME, WARHOL, premiered at Dixon Place in April 2015, is the latest installment of an ongoing series jump-started by Raja Feather Kelly’s interest in Andy Warhol, pop culture, and identity.Seeing the world through a Warholian lens and “regurgitating” it into what he calls “Artsploitations", his new work is surreal and radical dance-theater, plundering the illusions of today’s popular culture, the impending social media war, and that imaginary line separating performers and audience. COLOR ME, WARHOL completes Andy Warhol’s vision of Richard Attenborough & Michael Bennet’s 1985 movie-musical classic A CHORUS LINE.
Choreographed and directed by Raja Feather Kelly
co-directed by Laura Snow
Performed by Raja Feather Kelly, Amy Gernux, Beth Graczyk, Lindsay Head, Yvonne Hernandez, Rebecca Hite, Nik Owens, Rachel Pritzlaff, John Gutierrez, Ben Wolk, Aaron Moses Robin, Yeman Brown.
Collaborators: Tuce Yasak (Lighting and Technical Director); Andrew Jordan (Photographer); Laura Snow (Co- Director and Videographer); Aitor Mendilibar (Photographer and Videographer); Jesse Ricke, Lisa Lee (Projection ensemble); Jenna Petok, Erik Abbot-Main (Marketing); Sam Crawford (music)
http://newyorktheatrereview.blogspot.com/2015/04/one-very-singular-sensation-rachel.html
http://www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/view/Feath3r-theory-color-me-warhol
Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living, produced by Hannah Sloat and Revolve Productions, directed by Ashley Kelly Tata and performed at the The Access Theatre in August, 2013. The Glory of Living follows the story of Lisa, a girl who leaves her trailer home and prostitute mother to join Clint, a man who loves her very much. The two take off and travel through the rural south of America, living in motel rooms, paid for with cash from minor theft. As their crimes turn from petty to depraved, audience is confronted with a portrait of America that slipped-through-the-cracks of nameless victims and their equally nameless perpetrators. Lighting design in close collaboration with scenery, explores this shift between the first and second act, from shadowy motel rooms to stark interrogation rooms
http://offoffonline.com/?p=10104
“…set designer Alexandra Regazzoni provides stunning visual counterpoint…Tuce Yasak’s lighting complements the concept … The inspiration carries over to Regazzoni’s apropos costumes
*Courtesy of Hunter Canning Photography
In Miranda Huba's HOSPITAL CITY a pair of drug-addicted sisters travel to a strange city known as "The Hospital" in search of the cure for their woes and loneliness. Unfortunately for them, "the cure" is not so readily available; Hospital City is far from the all-inclusive resort they had imagined. Their world becomes a massive game and the sisters learn to play the rules: they are forced to get jobs to earn their keep, share a bed due to overcrowding and find themselves subject to medical experiments. No matter how much medicine they take, they just don't seem to get any better. HOSPITAL CITY focuses on the position of women in the fight for healthcare and brings reproductive, mental, and addiction services into focus through two sisters' struggle for survival.
Featuring Lindsay Mack, Kate Armstrong Ross and Joanne Wilson
Costume Design by Mia Bienovich
Lighting Design by Tuce Yasak
Sound Design by Nathan Schwartz
Video Design by James Daher and Lucia Jeesun Lee
from nytheater.com:
"...Individually all the elements are impressive, the costumes (Mia Bienovich) are simple but very successful in supporting transitions, the lighting (Tuce Yasak) and sound (Nathan Schwartz) define space and time well. With running, the production will strengthen and hopefully find its impact amongst its many targets."
http://www.nytheatre.com/Review/ivanna-cullinan-2011-10-6-hospital-city
Trust in the You of Now is a three part multi-media chamber opera. It is the story of two future astronauts stuck in a spaceship hovering above an unlivable earth that has been taken over by sentient robots, killing drones and a new post-nuclear species of frogs. It explores the meaning of creation and the effects of technological advancement on human society.
Trust in the You of Now is performed by a live eight-member orchestra and two female opera singers. A narration is delivered by of-stage voices, which are incorporated within the score and modern dancers perform movement and pantomime to communicate the stage action. The story follows an epic battle between two robots to control the lives of a frog civilization over several millennia. The songs are presented in the undecipherable languages of the robots and frogs respectively and translated by astronaut onlookers.
Each part of the three-part opera utilizes different mediums, shifting focus to reveal specific facets of the story. The first part, was presented by Theater for the New City and Ouroboros Co. in May 2014, the love affair of Willie Willie, a gifted frog, and Fictor, a popular sentient robot, whom encounter the rage of the killing drone robots that control their society.
Trust in the You of Now: Part One
an original chamber opera composed by Robert Boston
libretto by Kimberly Pau
choreography by Giada Ferrone
directed by Eric Mercado & Kimberly Pau
photography by KiKi Larson
Unfold was a site specific work that was choreographed for the main stage in Zorlu Performing Arts Center. The audience of 50 started their journey into the piece from the 2nd balcony and watched the first part of the show from the top of the house. For the second part, the audience was leaded to the first balcony; and for the third part to the orchestra. As the audience moved and changed perspective and the stage kept extending via opened curtains and lifted blackdrops, the piece kept unfolding. Eventually, for the finale audience sat on stage, the distance between audience and the performers dissolved and the proscenium disappeared. For a post-show reception, audience was invited to backstage. Lighting for the show designed from these different view points to enhance the idea of "unfold".
Choreographed by Korhan Basaran, performed by Korhan Basaran Dance company, commissioned by Zorlu Performing Arts Center, Istanbul, Turkey, February 3rd, 2014
Arthur Rimbaud blazed a path of scandal through nineteenth-century Paris and single handedly changed the future of poetry. "Burn the End",written and directed by Jimmy Maize, looks closely to the creative mind of this "poet-genius"who changed art through a "systematic derangement of the senses" and his affair with Arthur Rimbaud with the 1970's punk rock New York references and along Pattu Smith songs. Burn the End is commissioned by Eugene Laniberal Arts College,The New School and premiered in November 2013 - Flamboyan Theater, NYC.
In August 2011, choreographer Korhan Basaran invited artists from various disciplines of performing arts and visual arts to the City Center studios to have improvisational sessions together. During these sessions, the intersections and overlaps between various disciplines were explored. As for lighting, I got actively involved with by making decisions within the moment as a performer rather than a lighting designer, using various light sources.
photos by Ali Sarikaya
AnimalParts’ ‘avant-garde autobiography‘, Revenge of the Popinjay is an experimental rap-horror show in which Anthony struggles to cope with the loss of his sister while uncovering a frightening link between himself, his lover, and an illusive gay rap star/serial killer targeting heterosexuals.
Revenge of the Popinjay combines storytelling, stand-up, physical theater, performance art, and original live rap music to create a one-of-a-kind theatrical event. Popinjay satirizes the clichés of homophobic culture and questions the capacity for evil in any human being.
As an acting a partner to Anthony Johnston's incredibly courageous and healing performance and Nathan Schwartz' performance, lighting has an important role as a story teller which guides the audience through winding routes in Anthony's layered conscious.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/18/theater/review-revenge-of-the-popinjay-at-dixon-place.html?_r=0
Director Ashley Kelly Tata's take of Brecht's Good Person of Szechwan, translated by Tony Kushner, performed as a production of Columbia University's directing department, at Riverside Church Theater , in March 2012.
With scenery and lighting we explored an industrial look giving reference to today's factories and industrial campuses which also act as unofficial prisons of contemporary life especially for blue collar employees. We built a light wall which shined through the transitions throughout the play, and compliment the usage of tarp and pallets. Also we used the various modules of the wall throughout the play. Another big gesture was that the rig came down with the strip lights colored yellow, giving reference sodium vapor lamps, with the choreographed movement of the workers at the factory.
untitled is an epic choreography going deep into the roots of the land and from there reaching out to the universe and to the core of humanity
choreographed by Korhan Basaran, commissioned by Nimbus Dance Theater, music with the courtesy of Fazil Say "patara ballet"
premiered June 2012 - Grace Church, Jersey City
Super We -performed at DanceSpace at St Mark’s Chuch, NYC in January 2015 - is a evening-long show created with 4 pieces - 2 solos and 2 duets- by Raja Feather Kelly and Tzveta Kassabova.
25 Cats Name SAM and one Blue Pussy, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, or How Can You Dance When Every 7 Minutes Human Conversation Lapses Into Silence
Choreography and Performance by Raja Feather Kelly
Original Score by Tito Ramsey
Letter (to Ed)
Choreography and Performance by Tzveta Kassabova
Music by Arvo Pärt
Be Still, My Heart
Choreography by Sara Pearson
Performance by Raja Feather Kelly and Tzveta Kassabova
Original Music by Mike Wall
Super WE
Choreography and Performance by Raja Feather Kelly and Tzveta Kassabova
Music by Raja Feather Kelly (inspired by Laurie Anderson)
"...Between dances, Mr. Stevens produced waves of electronic sound from the sanctuary’s altar, while Tuce Yasak’s lighting patterns — leafy vines, diamond grids — crawled across the arched ceiling..."
"...In between the four pieces, Aleksei Stevens mixes scratchy, screechy music as lights twist into geometric shapes. While noise and brightness fill St. Mark’s Church in these interludes, what is most present is absence: Kelly and Kassabova’s."
http://www.dance-enthusiast.com/features/view/Kelly-Kassabova-super-WE
2.RAu is a draft work for "the Fearless Project"
Concept and Choreography: Korhan Basaran
Music courtesy of Kinan Azmeh, "November 22nd" by Hewar
Lighting Design: Tuce Yasak
Dancers: Nikki Holck, Elena Valls, Paul Vickers, Alper Marangoz, Evrim Akyay
Produced by CPMistanbul with Support by The American Consulate Culture Affairs; premiered in Crimean Church in Istanbul Turkey, in June 2014
initium/finis: A lush sci-fi noir told with media, live music, cabaret and Indian dance-theatre. Voyeurism, eroticism and terror converge in this sensual tale of violence and revolution in a futuristic world.Theatre Reverb members Kristin Arnesen and Radoslaw Konopka have collaborated with composer and musician Ellery Royston and kutiyattam artist Rajaneesh Chakyar to create initium/finis that is the first chapter of a large-scale project Reliquum. performed at Here Arts center in July 2012.
produced by Theater Reverb
directed & performed by Kristin Arnesen
projection & sound: Radoslaw Konopka
lighting: Tuce Yasak & Edmond Deraedt
Lightmosphere, designed in spring 2004 as a graduation project, focuses on the connection between light and emotion, explores the idea of 'light itself as an experience in the domestic environment'. With this system users can simply create and manipulate the ambiance lighting depending on theirmood via their own choices, in other words via their own“light cues” that is created by the various combinations of colored units.
Each unit is made of a 12x12x1/2 inch aluminum frame that holds LED’s and a micro-switch on it, and a 1/8 inch plexiglass filter.
Once users decide on the number of units that they want to use, and where and how to set them, they can create patterns and various effects using their color filters.
Lightmosphere units act as decorative panels on the walls during the day. In the evening users can turn on/off each unit individually by touching the filter. Users can create variety with the same products, by changing colors patterns and the setup throughout the years.
Lightmosphere matches colors with different moods and provides options to users in filter packs of six: Red and burgundy in “Passion”, pink and purple in “Dreams”, blue and green in “Peace”, colors of rainbow in “Company”, yellow and orange in “Home”.
Rooms with Lightmosphere turn into stages where households are performers. Colorful rooms, colorful houses, colorful windows, colorful streets and neighborhoods at nights...
Mindfulness and performing arts festival MassBliss2015 was located in a ski resort at Berkshires in July 2015. Most significant architectural features of the resort were the chair lifts. I embraced this vintage sci-fi look of the spaceship-like structures as the character of the venue and using vintage architectural slide projectors hand-painted slides, we blew life into them through various patterns.
