Critical
Acclaim, Company
Description and History
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Photographs
By Julie Lemberger
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Kelly
Donovan
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Meg
Fry
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Aggie
Postman
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Lee
Shapley
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Critical
Acclaim For De Facto Dance
“In
front of a set reflecting Hokusai Katsushika’s Great Wave, New
York’s De Facto Dance presents CINDERZILLA -- an audaciously
meshed version of Cinderella and Godzilla. Not only does it combine
characters from the monster movies, but it also incorporates smart
choreography echoing the mechanized movement of film effects. Aggie
Postman, as our lizard heroine, gapes, blinks and responds with perfectly-pitched
control, so reminiscent of a model lizard with levers in her neck that
the moments when she elicits our sympathy are doubly tender, while
this not-so-rosy fairytale gets twisted into something ineffably dark.”
— Juliet Fletcher, Philadelphia City Paper
“De Facto Dance’s Into the Wild was a refreshing success….Naturalists?
Anthropologists? Dance critics? Dancers watch back! In the lovely trio section, ‘Hypothesis,’ one
performer commented, ‘Grace, lyricism, and balance did not come naturally
to her,’ but there is a bit of all three in De Facto Dance and quite a
bit of wit and charm in Into the Wild.”
— Eva Yaa Asantewaa, the Village Voice
“Beginnings is a comical spoof about four choreographers creating a piece
for their company. With lines like ‘take a moment to feel what exists,’ plus
some mighty hilarious movement exercises, it’s a hoot.”
— Deni Krasel, Philadelphia City Paper
“An essential playfulness pervades the group’s relationships…creating
a sort of found sculpture in sound, image, and conversation . . ..
De Facto Dance charms with its simplicity and ingenuity."
— Chris Dohse, Dance Insider
“After the Ball…possessed a kinetically explosive and dramatic quality
and even allowed for a bit of passion.”
— Carl Paris, Attitude
Company Description and History
De
Facto Dance is dedicated to the collective creation of dance-theater
works that are at once spontaneous and skillfully crafted. Founded
in Fall 2000 by its four current members – Kelly Donovan, Meg
Fry, Aggie Postman, and Lee Shapley – De Facto is committed to:
creating and performing focused, inventive dances that are both structured
and improvised; teaching the technique of choreographic improvisation
to professional dancers and actors; and expanding the audience for
improvised choreography and performance. De Facto’s dances
highlight the complexity and virtuosity of individual and ensemble
choice-making
inherent in live performance.
De Facto Dance is the evolution of more than a decade of various
collaborations among its members. Kelly Donovan, Aggie Postman,
and Meg Fry were members
of the Richard Bull Dance Theatre from 1994-1998. The years that
the De Facto dancers have shared – not only in dancing but also in
dance-making – lend both sophistication and daring to their
work.
De Facto has been selected for a 2003-2004 Brooklyn Arts Exchange
Space Grant and is the recipient of a 2003-2004 Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council/Manhattan
Community Arts Fund grant.
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De Facto has been presented in NYC by: Movement Research at Judson
Church, New Dance Alliance’s Performance Mix at Joyce SoHo, the Present
Company/NY International Fringe Festival, Hothouse at P.S. 122, Improvisational
Arts Ensembles, New Dance Alliance’s Performance Mix, Oasis at
Chashama, Williamsburg Arts Nexus (WAX), Improvised & Otherwise:
a Festival of Sound & Form, and Cold Change at The Knitting Factory;
in Connecticut by Wesleyan University and New Haven’s
Educational Center for the Arts; in New Jersey by Sweat in
Hoboken; and in
Philadelphia by LadyFest Philly, the Philadelphia International
Fringe Festival,
and Dance Theater Camp.
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Recent dances by De Facto Dance include: CINDERZILLA (2003),
Cinderzilla Suite (2003), Fanfare (2002), Beginnings (long
version - 2002),
Post-Neutral (2002), Counts (2002), Resolve (2002), S/he (2001),
Into the Wild
(2001), Loveless Duets (2001), After After The Ball (2001), In
the Wild (2000),
Beginnings (short version - 2000), Demonic Dances (2000), Storied
Exchange (2000), After The Ball (2000), and Three Cubed (2000).
De Facto has
collaborated with composer/musician Skip La Plante on Precursor
to Northfork (2001),
Catch, Catchy, Caught (2001) and Turn (2000), and with percussionist
Tigger Benford (2002). De Facto has performed Richard Bull
Dance Theatre Repertory including Story Dance, Didactic Dalliance, Another
Playback,
Camera Mobilia, Falling off the Roof, Interactions, Jesus’ Blood,
Taking Place, and Visions.
De Facto Dance is one of the three consortium companies of Improvisational Arts Ensembles, Inc. (IAE), a presenting organization devoted to promoting, assisting, and producing the work of improvisational artists.
Contact information
Kelly Donovan (718) 875-5631 kelly@improvarts.com
107
Wyckoff St., Brooklyn, NY 11201