New York, United States (IBwire.com - November 21, 2010) Dance Projects, Inc. presents Beth Soll & Company in a concert of new dances.  Performances will take place on Saturday, December 11th at 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 12th at 2 p.m. at The Julie Ince Thompson Theatre in the Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA.  Admission is $15. Reservations: 212-927-0476 or bethsbron@gmail.com.  Also available are BosTix Half-Price Advance Tickets at www.BosTix.org. More information about the company: bethsollandcompany.org

In December, Beth Soll & Company will perform a concert of three Boston premieres by noted choreographer Beth Soll, who played an active role in the Boston dance scene from 1971-1997. Ms. Soll, described by critic Thea Singer (The Boston Phoenix) as “. . something of an alchemist [who] takes the dross of everyday life and turns it into the equivalent of spun gold, ” has created an evening of work that refers eloquently to the vital interaction of the personal and the objective.  Within the perfect geometry of the French formal gardens, 18th century citizens frolicked, lusted, and plotted the deaths of others.  Inspired by this juxtaposition of human fallibility and mathematical perfection, Beth Soll has choreographed “Restless Geometry” (2010), a work for seven very human dancers, who wrestle with the mathematical constraints of both the shapes they create and the sublime structure of music from the 17th and 18th centuries.  Also on the program are two new solos.  “Disclosure” (2010) is an introspective solo for Soll herself to the dramatic sounds of Stuart Dempster, Pauline Oliveros, and Panaiotis.  In her world premiere of “Tribute,” which makes references to choreographic approaches from earlier eras, Soll speaks directly to the audience about the frustrations and joys of the human attempt to communicate. Performing with Soll in this concert are Kimberly Almquist, Randy Burd, Victoria Dombroski, Lara Gemmiti, Lindsey Miller, Tamara Saari, and Manuel Sandridge.  Lighting design is by David Haan.

“Soll’s work is indeed unclassifiable, delicate, fraught with many of the finer elements of modern dance and often as close to poetry as performance movement comes.” Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune.

About the Choreographer:

Beth Soll, who directed her own company in Boston from 1977-1997 and in California from 1997-2000, moved to New York in 2000. Often praised as “the most accomplished choreographer to have emerged from New England,” she is known for her enigmatic and powerfully expressive work. With her company, she has performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. She has worked with dance companies in the Midwest and in Boston and with many choreographers, including Bill Evans, Martha Gray, Ina Hahn, Raymond Johnson, Dawn Kramer, Anna Nassif, Rosalind Newman, Wendy Perron, and Mel Wong. Ms. Soll’s goal is to choreograph dances that evoke feelings, offer insights, and present the viewer with the familiar seen in a new light. Her work seeks to elicit a wide range of responses from audience members, allowing them to add their own memories and perceptions to the experience of the dance, and to come away with a sense of personal enrichment.

Soll’s work has been supported by seven Choreography Fellowships and numerous Dance Company Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, many grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and other state and civic agencies, and funding from numerous private foundations and corporations, such as Jacob’s Pillow, the Lef Foundation, the Bank of Boston, the Polaroid Foundation, and the Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation.  In the '80s, Ms. Soll received Boston Magazine’s “Best of Boston Award”, and her full-length work, “Dances of Paradise and Everyday Life” was chosen as one of the best dances of 1992 by The Boston Globe. Reviews and articles about Ms. Soll's work have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, Dance Magazine, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, Ballet Review, The Santa Barbara News Press, and others.

Ms. Soll has been on the dance faculties of the University of Wisconsin, Boston University, the Harvard Summer Dance Center, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (where she directed the dance program for 20 years), UC Santa Barbara, the Usdan Center, Manhattanville College, The New School, and numerous private organizations. She is currently performing and choreographing in New York City and is an adjunct faculty member at Manhattanville College and Empire State College. In addition, she teaches at the American Language Institute NYU. Soll's book, Will Modern Dance Survive? Lessons to be Learned from the Pioneers and Unsung Visionaries of Modern Dance, was published in 2002. 

BASIC LISTING INFORMATION FOR DECEMBER 11TH AND 12TH

 PERFORMANCE OF BETH SOLL & COMPANY

Press contact: Beth Soll

212-927-0476

bethsbron@gmail.com

WHO:  Dance Projects, Inc. presents Beth Soll & Company

WHAT:  In the Boston premieres of  “Restless Geometry,” “ Disclosure,” and “Tribute”  by choreographer Beth Soll.

WHERE:  The Julie Ince Thompson Theatre, the Dance Complex,

                                                        536 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA.

WHEN:  Saturday, December 11th  at 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 12th  at 2 p.m.

ADMISSION: $15.  BosTix Half-Price Advance Tickets are available at www.BosTix.org.

RESERVATIONS:  212-927-0476 or bethsbron@gmail.com. 

Choreographer Beth Soll, described by critic Thea Singer (The Boston Phoenix) as “ . . .something of an alchemist [who] takes the dross of everyday life and turns it into the equivalent of spun gold, ” has created a dance concert that refers eloquently to the vital interaction of the personal and the objective.  Performing with Soll in this concert are Kimberly Almquist, Randy Burd, Victoria Dombroski, Lara Gemmiti, Lindsey Miller, Tamara Saari, and Manuel Sandridge.