april 8th - april 22nd, 2023
The Movement Sessions By Kaylee Gibson
Dries Van Noten is delighted to present a series of dance performances at The Little House, 451 N. La Cienega Blvd.
PERFORMANCE 1 – APRIL 8TH (5PM AND 6PM)
WHITNEY SCHMANSKI AND SOPHIA BACELAR
Whitney Schmanski is a multidisciplinary artist, dance professional, collaborative creator, educator, and researcher. Inspired by the innate knowledge of the body and nature, she explores interactions between the mind, body, and environment through movement storytelling, somatic practices, design, systems thinking, and scientific research. Whitney is currently based in southern California and is a freelance dancer for stage and film. She holds a BFA from The Juilliard School and an MFA from UC Irvine.
As a performer, producer, communicator, creator, speaker, and educator, Cuban-Chinese musician and interdisciplinary artist Sophia Bacelar (b.1996) combines her background as a classically trained cellist with a passion for technology, innovation, storytelling, and change to create works and experiences for the contemporary culture. Through music, art, and film, she activates spaces, brands, and ideas in the physical and digital world.
PERFORMANCE 2 – APRIL 15TH (5PM)
PEABODY SOUTHWELL, KAYLEE GIBSON, MANDY KAHN AND ASHLEY KNIGHT
Peabody Southwell is an artist and mother. Known for her "electrifying" (Wall Street Journal) performances in venues as
disparate as the Metropolitan Opera and a colonized Tongva village she prioritizes vulnerability over control. Simultaneous to her career as an opera singer Peabody has worked for over a decade as a director, designer and dramaturg largely uncredited and unpaid on award-winning productions with major institutions. This symbiotic erasure fuels her recent projects surrounding gender, privilege, exploitation and transparency.
Kaylee Gibson grew up in the central coast of California, where the Redwoods, and Pacific Ocean deeply influenced her, instilling a deep sensitivity. She grew up dancing ballet, and training with the Joffrey ballet in New York. In 2015, she formed The Movement Sessions in Mexico City, a project-based performance series bringing together artists, dancers and musicians in unique spaces to explore ideas through presence. Kaylee is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, producer, and curator who has worked across the arts, film, healing arts, and environmental efforts.
Mandy Kahn is a poet based in Los Angeles. She’s the author of three poetry collections, Holy Doors (2023), Glenn Gould’s Chair (2017) and Math, Heaven, Time (2014). Kahn’s poems have been included in the Best American Poetry anthology series and in former poet laureate Ted Kooser’s syndicated newspaper column American Life in Poetry. In addition to writing books, Kahn creates works of interactive literature she calls immersive poems. She builds these immersive works by combining lines of formal poetry with musical technique, audience participation and a cast of performers.
PERFORMANCE 3 – APRIL 19TH AND 22ND (5PM BOTH DATES)
NAYOMI VAN BRUNT, WITH SOUND INSTALLATION BY VICTORIA MORDOCH AND TWIG HARPER AND SCULPTURAL FLORAL INSTALLATIONS BY SOPHIA MORENO-BUNGE
Nayomi Van Brunt began her formal training at age 9 with Atlanta Festival Ballet under Nicolas Pacana and Gregory Aaron. Since her time with Atlanta Ballet, Nayomi has danced with New York Theatre Ballet and Wonderbound. She has had the pleasure of performing in works by Christopher Wheeldon, Val Caniparoli, Victor Quijada, Janie Taylor, Charm La Donna, Pam Tanowitz, Gemma Bond, Madeline Hollander, and Benjamin Millepied. Nayomi has had the privilege to perform at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Vail International Dance festival.
Victoria Mordoch is a Los Angeles based experimental multi-instrumentalist and producer. Her first solo release Floreana One (spring 2023) has been described as “the Bob Ross of ambient exotica”. The first release in a three part series of sonically cinematic vignettes. She is currently working with sonic landscape installations harnessing plants' own natural electromagnetic pulses to create three dimensional immersive tonal experiences. She is interested in bringing awareness to the life that is responding to our presence.
Twig Harper is an experimental musician and artist, known for his innovative approach to sound, using homemade and modified instruments to create abstract compositions and improvisations that blur the boundaries between oise, sound composition, and experimental music. Harper's work has been described as "bizarre and beautiful.”
Sophia Moreno-Bunge is an artist, florist, and founder of ISA ISA, a Los Angeles floral design. With an emphasis on seasonal, often local and foraged flowers, branches, pods, and fruits, ISA ISA’s desire is to create emotive, weird, and wonderfully inspired environments.