Thursday, March 4 - 7 PM

Simone Forti came of age as a young dancer in the 1950s and 60s, and developed out of two main influences. The first was improvisation, which she studied with Anna Halprin and which has remained her basic mode. The other was her experience with the legendary Judson Church Dance Theater that revolutionized modern dance at a historical moment of dialogue between visual artists, musicians, poets and dancers. From her early minimalist dance/constructions through her animal movement studies, news animations and land portraits, Forti has created idioms for exploring natural forms and behaviors. Over the past twenty years she has been combining movement and language in a form she calls Logomotion, and writing has been part of the process leading to her improvised performances.

Her new book, “Oh, Tongue,” published by Beyond Baroque Books, is a varied collection of writings including an imaginary conversation with her father, experimental essays, transcripts of logomotion improvisations, poetry, articles about dance and a postscript by the poet Jackson Mac Low. Her book “Handbook in Motion: an ongoing personal discourse and its manifestations in dance” was published in 1974 by The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. The newly released anthology, “Taken by Surprise: A Dance Improvisation Reader,” published by the Wesleyan University Press, features one of her articles.

Forti has received various grants, including six NEA fellowships, a Bessie New York Dance and Performance award for sustained achievement and this April she will be receiving a Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles Lester Horton Award for lifetime achievement. She is an adjunct professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA, and continues to teach and perform world wide.

Carmela Hermann, M.F.A, choreographer, improviser and dance instructor, creates both choreographed and improvised dances. Born and raised in Los Angeles, her training began locally in 1985 where she received a scholarship to study jazz with Los Angeles choreographer Hama. She trained in ballet at Stanley Holden Dance Studio, and with Ellen Davis and Marie Sutor. She received her BFA in dance from UCLA in 1996 and her M.F.A. in choreography from UCLA in 1999. In 1998 she developed an apprenticeship with pioneer dance improviser Simone Forti, who invented the speaking dance form, “Logomotion.” Carmela was instrumental in the development of “Logomotion” as a duet form, collaborating with Forti in duet performances throughout the United States and Europe. “Learning To Speak,” her article about Simone's talking work, was the first clear articulation and pedagogical understanding of Logomotion. The essay has been reprinted in “Taken By Surprise: A Dance Improvisation Reader,“ published by Weslyan University Press this fall.

Since 1999 Carmela's choreography has been seen throughout Southern California at venues including Highways Performance Space, the Getty, Electric Lodge and Sushi. She has enjoyed performing in the work of Victoria Marks, Simone Forti, Stephanie Nugent and Kristen Smiarowski. She has been collaborating with Luke Johnson since 2002. She has been a guest artist with Lower Left Dance Company. In 2001 she curated “Now,” an Improvisation Festival that brought together three generations of dance improvisers including Simone Forti, Pooh Kaye and Nina Martin, among others. In 2002 Carmela was a recipient of the 2002 Durfee Foundation's Artist Recipient's Grant.

Carmela has been teaching workshops in improvisation and choreography throughout Southern California since 2000. From 2000-2002 Carmela held an ongoing improvisation class called “Dance Making Laboratory.” In 2002 Carmela founded “The Making Dances Workshop,” a workshop designed for dance artists to develop and perform a dance with the support of focused feedback.

Since 1990, Carmela has been trained extensively in the area of somatics. She is currently practicing massage and Cranio Sacral therapy.

Victoria Marks creates dances for the stage, for film, in community settings, and for professional dancers. Her work magnifies and develops the unique characters of the people she works with - and communicates that, through performance, to a wider audience. Marks received the 2002 California DanceMaker Grant, the 2001-2 COLA fellowship from the City of Los Angeles, and was honored with the 1997 Alpert Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. She has been the recipient of grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the London Arts Board, among others. She has also received a Fulbright Fellowship in Choreography, and numerous awards for her dance films, including the Grand Prix in the Video Danse Festival (1996 and 1995), the Golden Antenae Award from Bulgaria, the IMZ Award for best screen choreography and the Best of Show in the Dance Film Association's Dance and the Camera Festival.