by Jessica Bozek
“I was sufficient and am no longer, will not be again. Any mother knows.”
- Noy Holland, “What Begins with Bird”Long before I gave birth, I was compelled by versions of pregnancy and the postpartum period that acknowledged or, better still, rendered the otherness, the messiness, the unnaturalness of these experiences.
birth I’ll never know from this end but I love this
my wife Aretha Aoki in a new Emily Johnson production.
Niicugni (Listen): World Premiere!!
It’s here - the world premiere! Niicugni has been many years in the making and I am thrilled beyond belief to begin sharing it with you.
We premiere THIS FRIDAY at 8pm at the Nancy Smith Fichter Dance Theater at Florida State University in Tallahassee. This premiere is co-presented by Seven Days of Opening Nights Festival and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. Please come if you can, and if you can’t, send us your love!
Niicugni is many things. Here’s what I can tell you: it is a dance that took thousands of years to make. It is a story made of many. It is a word that instructs us to listen. There is hope here, and death; monsters and laughter; salmon, bear, blood. There is you, everyone who has ever lived, the ground beneath us, and a never ending attempt to pay attention. I made this for you and it is also for my dad.
Niicugni is second in a trilogy of works that began with The Thank-you Bar. It is made and performed by Emily Johnson with Aretha Aoki, James Everest, Bethany Lacktorin, and Heidi Eckwall. It is housed within a light/sound installation of hand-made, functional fish-skin lanterns made by volunteers across the country.
Here is a trailer for you to see, made by the fabulous Julia Bither.
Current Niicugni Tour - come see!
WORLD PREMIERE! Seven Days of Opening Nights Festival with MANCC at FSU: September 21, 2012
MassMOCA, North Adams, MA: November 16, 2012
NYC PREMIERE! Baryshnikov Arts Center as part of PS122’s Coil Festival: January 9 - 12, 2013
Redfern Arts Center, Keene, NH with Vermont Performance Lab: February 13, 2013
ASU/Gammage: March 2, 2013
Tigertail, Miami, FL: March 22-23, 2013
Bunnell St. Gallery, Homer, AK: April 11 - 13, 2013
Northrop Auditorium at The O’Shaughnessy, Minneapolis, MN: April 21, 2013
Portland Institute of Contemporary Art: date TBA
