DoublePlus: Fana Fraser + Burr Johnson
Dec 13 – 15
CURATED BY KIMBERLY BARTOSIK
DEC 13 – 15 AT 8:00 PM
THE THEATER
DoublePlus embraces the artist-as-curator format to present three split-bill evenings featuring artists deserving of new or wider visibility, each curated by an established artist. The 2018 series is curated by Alice Sheppard, Kimberly Bartosik, and Kota Yamazaki.
Fana Fraser
Fana Fraser presents BBB, a new solo performance work-in-process. BBB is many things: a bloody bloody bay, a brave bitter birth, a beautiful bellowing beast. BBB blends underbelly tempos of the Caribbean, conjuring a fantastic world of desire, scrambled objects, and remnants of a brutal colonial history. With stillness and mania, BBB is a new word for revenge. BBB is a new formula for power.
Burr Johnson
Chimera emerges as a study on the textures of movement, the interplay between expressionism and formalism, and the subversion of expectations. The dancers seek new worlds by interrogating and reimagining various entrenched dichotomies—natural/artificial, female/male, human/animal, static/moving, and passive/active by way of intense physical rigor, pedestrian task-based actions, and dynamic partnering. As a painter uses chiaroscuro to transform two-dimensional surfaces, the juxtaposition of events and situations creates drama in this work.
Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Fana Fraser is a performer and performance maker living in New York. Her performance work is rooted in a contemporary Caribbean aesthetic and framed by narratives of women's erotic agency, desire, and sexuality in the Caribbean. Fana's work has been presented at Brooklyn Museum, The Knockdown Center, Movement Research at the Judson Church, BAAD!, La MaMa Moves!, the CURRENT SESSIONS, Work Up at Gibney, Trinidad Theatre Workshop, and Emerging Artists Theatre. She is a 2017-18 CUNY Dance Initiative Artist in Residence and was a 2017 Movement Research Van Lier Fellow. Fana has performed with Camille A. Brown, Ailey II, and Ryan McNamara. She also currently serves as the Rehearsal Director for Ailey II.
Burr Johnson has danced for John Jasperse Projects, Helen Simoneau Danse, Kimberly Bartosik/daela, and Shen Wei Dance Arts. He has also worked for Marina Abramović/Givenchy, Walter Dundervill, Ryan McNamara, Yozmit, Mark Fell, Boris Charmatz, Isabel Lewis, Nick Mauss, Peter Sellars, Christopher Williams, and Jack Ferver. His choreographic work has been presented through Movement Research, Dixon Place, Abrons Art Center, Danspace Project, New York Live Arts, and Works and Process at the Guggenheim. He has guest-taught at Henrico Center for the Arts, Philadelphia University of the Arts, the University of Utah, Salem College, Goucher College, Virginia Commonwealth University, and UNC Greensboro.
Photo of Fana Fraser by David Gonsier. Burr Johnson photo by Robert Altman.
The accessible entrance for this location is located at 280 Broadway. Please note that this is a shared entrance with the New York City Department of Buildings. To access the elevator, attendees may be asked to provide a valid photo ID and go through building security, including a metal detector.
Requests for reasonable accommodation or for access to the 280 Broadway entrance after 5:00 pm or on the weekend should be made three days in advance by contacting Elyse Desmond at 646.837.6809 (Voice only), or by e-mailing elyse@gibneydance.org.