Tania Isaac & Meredith Rainey
pitch (a dance co.)
ATTENTION:
Due to injury Danielle Currica will dance in place of Tania Isaac.
Crafted charm, I move
Chameleon
Blending into every space I enter, every frame that lands around meBrought into a world made of centuries of l and left behinds, generosity, leftovers, compassions
Choreography, direction and performance by Tania Isaac & Meredith Rainey
Through the use of mix of playful satire and flowing movement, (In)Visible examines individual and collective ideas of identity as it pertains to culture, sexuality and race, and the life of paradoxes we all lead. Both performances includes a prelude performed by Brian Cardova and Danielle Currica.
Workshop/Open Discussion | Saturday January 28th, 3-5pm
echo-location: everything is context
We neither create nor exist in a vacuum. What are the circumstances that drive us to action and how do they define, describe, limit or expand our sense of ourselves, our work, and our choices? We invite you to share your thoughts and experiences in conversation with Meredith Rainey, Tania Isaac and other leading local dance artists, on how we exist in relationship to art, identity and culture.
Learn more about the project on OUR BLOG.
(In)Visible Reel from pitchdance on Vimeo.
photo: Alexander Izilaev
BIOS
Meredith Rainey began dancing at 15 in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale. In 1985 he joined the Milwaukee Ballet. In 1987, he was invited to join the newly formed Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet, remaining with the Pennsylvania Ballet when the collaboration ended—the majority of the time as a soloist—until his retirement in 2006.
Among other awards and fellowships, Meredith has been the recipient of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship (1995 & 2002), the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Artist as Catalyst Grant (2001), the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts (2002), a finalist for the Pew Fellowship in the Arts (2003), and a Pew Center for Arts and Heritage Grant (2010).
Meredith has been commissioned to create works for Pennsylvania Ballet, Ballet X, Delaware Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, National Ballet De Cali, Danse4Nia Repertory Ensemble and institutions such as The University of the Arts, Drexel University, and Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges. His work has been performed in North and South America and throughout Spain.
In 2009 Meredith founded and directed Carbon Dance Theatre a contemporary ballet company in Philadelphia. In 2014 after deciding to concentrate on more artistic projects Meredith closed the company and remains a sought-after teacher, mentor, and independent choreographer.
Tania Isaac fuses choreography with personal documentary and social commentary resulting in dances that are elegant and dramatic, yet highly accessible. An electric and commanding performer, Isaac has been a member of David Dorfman Dance, Rennie Harris Puremovement and Urban Bushwomen. Her publications explore the spectrum of contemporary dance ranging from essays/commentary on functional mechanics to comparative literary esthetics in performance.
Keeping at the center the absolutely addictive sensation of moving with both meditation and abandon, Isaac aims to distill the satisfaction that we crave from the freedom to move in any form/idiom/culture/location and marry it with the conscious ideas of how dance/movement/art/thought shapes who we are; where we exist/live and how we negotiate that interaction.
Her current work is an exploration of creative method she calls the “Open Notebook” – a way of turning a room into a laboratory of investigation and participation in multiple forms. She developed this project during a 2006 residency at the Maggie Allesse national Center for Choreography. Her work has been presented and supported by the Painted Bride Art Center, Harlem Stage, Bates Dance Festival, the Independence Foundation, National Performance Network, the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and Philadelphia LiveArts, among others.
She is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Drexel University, a 2011 Pew Fellow and a 2012 MacDowell Fellow.
