International Mixed Ability Dance Collaboration with Austria’s LizArt Productions
What makes a person or object physically beautiful? How do our ideas of what makes compelling contemporary dance change when people with disabilities are fully included on stage? Together, Miami’s Karen Peterson and Dancers (KPD) and Austria’s LizArt Productions (LAP) dive into these questions, and address the state of the world today, in the U.S. premiere of Scrutiny: The World Gone Astray. This unusual program of mixed ability or physically integrated dance, the Miami/Vienna Dance Exchange, will be presented Thursday, May 11 and Friday, May 12, at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium.
Fourteen dancers – seven with disabilities, including those with physical and visual impairments – have worked on Scrutiny collaboratively for the past few months. The project culminates first in a trip to Vienna in April by the KPD company, performing the piece there together with their Austrian partners, and then the May trip to Miami by LAP to bring this international synthesis to South Florida audiences. Scrutiny is a reflection of the emotional, social and political turbulence in the world today, and includes powerful visuals from Miami-based video artist Maria Lino. The piece is choreographed by Karen Peterson, Juan Maria Seller and Katrina Weaver, workshopped with company members.
“Scrutiny is an international, cross-cultural, and challenging dance piece,” says Karen Peterson, Founder and Artistic Director of KPD. “All of my artistic work in Miami has led up to these performances – the dynamic physical movement, the deep integration of all abilities, collaborators from across the ocean and an opportunity to work closely with my KPD partners.” At Friday night’s performance, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava will be honored for her consistent support for the arts, and the Honorary Consul of the Austrian Consulate Miami, Werner Stemer will introduce the performance, as well as receive an award.
Thursday, May 11, 8:00 pm
Friday, May 12, 8:00 pm
Miami-Dade County Auditorium, “On Stage Black Box” theater
2901 West Flagler Street, Miami, FL, 33135
ADMISSION
$20 general admission
$15 students
$10 seniors and people with disabilities
Ticketmaster at tinyurl.com/ScrutinyMiami or in-person at the Auditorium box office
Karen Peterson and Dancers was founded in 1990 and is dedicated to the development, education and presentation of dance through workshops and performances, integrating dancers and students with a range of physical abilities. They have presented an annual season of new work at multiple venues throughout South Florida, have performed throughout the state, and have presented their work nationally, from New York to Washington, D.C., and in nine countries, including Brazil, Spain, Ireland, Serbia and Portugal. In honor of her work, Ms. Peterson has received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the New World School of the Arts, a Bank of America “Cultural Award” from the American Red Cross, and a “Queen of the Arts” Award from the Miami Herald. Most recently KPD has been awarded a major Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to launch Forward Motion in 2018, a festival and conference of integrated dance, in Miami.
Support for Karen Peterson and Dancers, and this performance, comes in part from Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and Cultural Affairs Council, and the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; The Miami Salon Group; The Children’s Trust; The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in partnership with Very Special Arts; Citizens Interested in the Arts; Leibowitz Trust; Jewish Communal Fund; WLRN; The Whitten Arts Foundation; and other donors.
Karen Peterson and Dancers
(305) 298-5879
www.karenpetersondancers.org