Friday, May 31st (8PM)
Sliding scale $10-$20 (Buy tickets at the door)

Strung is a solo dance created and performed by Katie McNamara. Using as seed a solo created in 2005, the work investigates the arc of losing a mother and becoming one. Strung evolves through the essence of the clown and the highly characteristic qualities of physical systems. The work has been developed in collaboration with film artist Michelle McNamara, visual artist Li Jun Lai, costume designer Stephanie Turner, and musician Matthew Jason.

Also on the program is VRAKA, a trio by Stephanie Turner.

Katie McNamara is a dance artist, a cook, a mother and a teacher. Along with her husband Olase Freeman, she co-directs their company, BaldSoul, within which they strive to find the locus where art and life coexist.  Their most recent work is parenting a beautiful boy, Kayin Effie. Katie spent her preliminary professional years in Philadelphia where she danced with Group Motion, Scrap Performance Group and Leah Stein Dance Company.  She was deeply influenced by the city’s diverse artistic community and the raw spontaneity of its stage.  During this time she also co-founded and directed the Bald Mermaids, named “best new modern dance company” by Philadelphia’s City Paper.  Her work has been shown at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia’s Painted Bride Art Center, the Carriage House, Galapagos Art Space, the Projekt Theatre (Dresden, Germany) as well as during the Silesian Dance Festival (Bytom, Poland).  Her recent choreographic residencies include Rhode Island College Dance Company, Providence College Dance Company, Roger Williams University and Salve Regina University.  Katie currently teaches Dance Composition at Dean College and has had a fourteen year career as a Pilates teacher-certified through Pilates Method Alliance. She is pursuing a MFA in dance at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Stephanie Turner has performed for artists Katie McNamara, Olase Freeman, Melody Ruffin Ward and Betsy Miller.  She grew the work you will see tonight in a choreolab guided by Alexandra Beller in New York City.  She is a student and teacher of contact improvisation and modern dance and is the co-founder of The Movement Exchange in Providence, RI.