On Wednesday, June 2, join Making Moves for a live a special live performance of river, river, river by Shannon Stewart. Stewart, a dance artist located in New Orleans, LA, is the first traveling artist to be presented by Making Moves. For this performance we are thrilled to partner with The Black Box, located in the Historic West Bottoms (https://www.blackboxkc.com/). Admission to the event is free.
Paralleling the tumultuous arc of the creative process, in “river, river, river," Stewart simultaneously excavates family history, ecological devastation, and the circuitous ways these things are woven into being a performance artist. (Image Credit: Ian Douglas Photography)
Following Stewart's performance we will have a live set from the Davis/Verploegh Duo. The Davis/Verploegh Duo is the free improv duo of Seth Andrew Davis on electric guitar and Evan Verploegh on drums/percussion. The duo utilities elements of free improvisation, free jazz, electro-acoustic music, and contemporary composition techniques that informs their performance practice
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
-- Shannon Stewart / Screaming Traps explores the intersection of dance with embodied identities and social choreographies. Her creative practice is body-centered as she traverses through multiple disciplines choreographically - writing, film, lecture, and performance.
Shannon was born in the South and came of age as an artist in the Pacific Northwest, Bay Area, and Europe. She has an MFA from Tulane University in Interdisciplinary Dance Performance and a BA in Urban Design from the University of Washington and is based in New Orleans.
Her work has been presented in Seattle, Portland, Detroit, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Berlin. She collaborates closely with New Orleans musicians Aurora Nealand and Byron Asher and many others. Shannon curates and produces regional and international performance opportunities for artists experimenting with form. She is a core faculty member of ROAR Berlin--a program for radical journeys in dance, the body and performance--and she is a member of the Front Gallery New Orleans.
-- Evan Verploegh is an improvising drummer based in Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to relocating to KC in late 2019, he was an active member of the Upper Midwestern music scene, including as a member of the psychedelic jazz/funk band Boat Patrol and as Music Coordinator of Project North Festival in Rhinelander, WI. In 2020, he released his first solo album Drum Set and Piano Improvisations No. 1. Committed to improvisation as an artform, Evan draws from influences of free jazz, contemporary classical, and experimental rock
-- Seth Andrew Davis is a performer, composer, improvisor, & electronic musician from the Kansas City area. Davis is involved in many different genres including, jazz, rock, classical, electronic, electro-acoustic, and free improvisation. Davis graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance in Kansas City, Mo. in 2019 with a BM in Music Composition. Davis has studied with Jim Mobberley, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Mara Gibson and Michael Miller.
Davis’s music has been performed in the United States, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Davis has had his work performed at various conferences and festivals including the New York City Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, Kansas City Performing Media Festival, NASA Regional IV Conference, Electronic Music Midwest, Exchange of Midwest Collegiate Composers, the International Navy Saxophone Symposium and has had pieces premiered by Mnemosyne Quartet, Project C4, Dionysus, Second Nature Ensemble. Chi Him Chik, Sputter Box, & loadbang.
As an artist, Davis works closely with performers and collaborators to create pieces, installations, and works that are unique to that partnership. Davis is an avid collaborator, having worked with choreographers, video artists, animators, playwrights etc. Davis’s artistic influences run the gamut from popular music, free-jazz, hip-hop, electronic music, film, literature, visual art, contemporary culture and from this Davis wishes to blur the lines between genres, composer and performer, and various artistic mediums. Davis has released his electronic music under the pseudonyms The Gods Hate Kansas, Mr Sandman, and Ghost In The Machine. Davis is also a founding member of Second Nature, a free jazz/new music/math-rock ensemble, BetaMax, Re-Animator, and is a guitarist in the new music ensemble Project C4. Davis is also an active concert organizer in the Kansas City music scene as the Vice President of KcEMA (Kansas City Electronic Music Alliance) and as the Production Coordinator of newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. In 2020, Davis co-founded Mother Brain Records with saxophonist & composer Michael Eaton. Mother Brain Records is a Midwest based label focused on releasing the works of artists in the experimental & improvised music scenes.
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ABOUT MAKING MOVES
Making Moves is a monthly dance performance series located in Kansas City, MO, curated and produced by Kyle Mullins. Making Moves is dedicated to the creation and development of new works by local and regional dance makers and to expose Kansas City audiences to a wider array of contemporary dance making.
Making Moves provides area choreographers, dancers, and audiences the opportunity to share in the process of new and experimental work in both traditional and non-traditional performance venues. Experimentation, risk-taking, collaboration, and multi-disciplinary approaches are encouraged.