American Realness

Ishmael Houston-Jones & Emily Wexler

13 Love Songs: dot dot dot

World Premiere

THURS JAN 9 . 10:00 PM
FRI JAN 10 . 10:00 PM
SAT JAN 11 . 2:30 PM
SUN JAN 12 . 7:00 PM
FRI JAN 17 . 5:30 PM
SAT JAN 18 . 2:30 PM

Run time: 60 minutes

ABRONS ARTS CENTER UNDERGROUND THEATER
466 Grand Street / tickets $20

Single Tickets Festival Pass

Choreographer/performers Ishmael Houston-Jones and Emily Wexler will present the premier of their first evening length collaboration, 13 Love Songs: dot dot dot. Separated by a generation — he’s in his 60s she in her 30s, and differing in gender and ethnicity – male, female; black, white, these two innovative dance artists have found common ground in their mutual belief that the pop love song is corrosive. That these songs damage any hope at finding true love with their sickening, cloying, and cheesy lyrics. Houston-Jones and Wexler have researched the lyrics of a drove of pop songs by a host of pop artists as divergent as Bryan Adams and Mary J. Blige; Ja Rule and Stephin Merritt; Aretha and Nina Simone and of course Madonna. They have narrowed their playlist to 13, (or maybe 14 or more); it won’t be pretty; it won’t be polite, but there will be knives.

13 Love Songs: dot dot dot received support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, 2013 Grants to Artists Award and developed through a Process Space artist residency made possible by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

created and performed by Ishmael Houston-Jones & Emily Wexler
some text sections were originally part of For the Love of Dave Dick by Emily Wexler and Some Reasons Why Your Anus is not like Everest by Ishmael Houston-Jones

Ishmael Houston-Jones (choreographer/performer) is a Choreographer, Author, Performer, and Teacher.  His improvised dance and text work has been performed in New York City, across the United States, in Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America. In 1984 Houston-Jones and Fred Holland shared a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie Award” for their Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders. In 2011 he won a “Bessie Award” for the reimagining of THEM, his 1986 collaboration with composer Chris Cochrane and author Dennis Cooper. THEM was ptrsented at AmReal 2011 and consequently toured to France, The Netherlands, Germany, and Los Angeles.

Emily Wexler (choreographer/performer) has worked as an artist based in Brooklyn since 2004. She has performed alongside many incredible artists including Rebecca Brooks, Kim Brandt, Karinne Keithley Syers, Yvonne Meier, Ryan McNamara, Jen McGinn, Ishmael Houston-Jones, and Ann Liv Young. Her work has been seen in venues and settings throughout the U.S. and abroad. Most recently, she was honored with a Bessie nomination for her performance in Yvonne Meier’s “Mad Heidi “.  She is also working with Niall Jones on a performance movement called Raw Sugar which is interested with disturbing the already disturbed.  She holds an MFA in Dance from Hollins University and teaches Dance History/Theory/Criticism and Performance Labs at The University of the Arts.

Natalie Robin (lighting design) is a NYC-based lighting designer of theater, opera, dance, music and performance art. She is the associate producer of American Realness; a founding company member of Polybe + Seats; and an Associate Artist of Target Margin Theater. She is also an adjunct faculty member at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Department of Undergraduate Drama. Natalie is the winner of the Apollo Lighting 2011 Standing O Award and was chosen as a 2008 Young Designer to Watch by Live Design Magazine.  Natalie is a contributing writer to Live Design Magazine and Stage Directions. Natalie also tours as a lighting supervisor and production manager, for artists including Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People. BA: Columbia. MFA: NYU/Tisch  www.natalierobinlighting.com/


COMING SOON!