WONDER
2013
In WONDER, Michelle Boulé mines the depth of information and perceptual patterns she has acquired through a lifetime of dance. Her choreographic drive, pushing her body into new dimensions of exposure, questions the culture of facades embedded in everyday life. In a continuous cycle of costumes and personas, Boulé explores archetypes and definitions of gender, identity, and virtuosity. The dance engages the audience in a purposeful relationship with the performer to mutually explore seeing and being seen. WONDER is an invitation to witness a body in the performance encounter where a shared space of curiosity and possibility is laid bare. Without wonder our eyes are closed.
Choreography & Performance: Michelle Boulé
Sound Design: Carmine Covelli in collaboration with Michelle Boulé, includes ‘Hazel’ by Junior Boys; ‘Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)’ by Chic; ‘Love Come Down’ by Evelyn Champagne
Text & Costumes: Michelle Boulé
Lighting Design: Natalie Robin
Choreographic Advisor: Levi Gonzalez
Length 45 minutes
History
January 30-31, 2015 – OnEdge Festival at Links Hall (Chicago, IL)
April 3, 2014 – Gertrudes ielas teatris (Riga, Latvia)
January 8-12 & 18-19, 2014 – American Realness (New York, NY)
May 30-31, 2013 Premiere – ISSUE Project Room (Brooklyn, NY)
April 15, 2013 – Dancehouse (Dublin, Ireland)
March 1, 2013 – Mascher Space Cooperative (Philadelphia, PA)
Press
300 Words on Realness: WONDER by Lydia Mokdessi
Four Views on Realness by Lizzie Feidelson
Eva’s “Nice” List: Most memorable arts experiences of 2013 by Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Critical Correspondence Interview on the process of making WONDER with Michelle Boulé by Matthew Walker
“American Realness, Abrons Arts Center, New York – review” by Apollinaire Scherr for Financial Times
‘Wondrous Michelle Boulé‘ by Eva Yaa Asantewaa for InfiniteBody
‘Peeling Back the Layers’ by Siobhan Burke for The New York Times
Starred Dance Listing by Siobhan Burke for The New York Times
Luna Luna Mag by Alyssa Morhardt-Goldstein
Interior Design by Samara Davis
Press
‘American Realness, Abrons Arts Center, New York – review‘
by Apollinaire Scherr for Financial Times
‘Wondrous Michelle Boulé‘‘
by Eva Yaa Asantewaa for InfiniteBody
Michelle Boulé’s opening to WONDER–her solo, commissioned by Issue Project Room and premiered in the Gallim Dance Studio at Clinton Hill’s Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew–could be remembered as this dance season’s most stunning and certainly most courageous adventure.
Funding
WONDER was commissioned through ISSUE Project Room’s Emerging Artists Commission program, made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Residency support was provided by BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the New York Community Trust (Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for the Arts). Additional support provided by Caitlin Simpson and individual donors listed below.
Dr. Melvin Boulé, Dehlia & Olivia Bernardi, Marie-Claude Schauer, Casper the Dog, Frances McCaughan, Patricia Knowles, Joseph Isler, Ezra Tessler, Craig Bellafiore, Eva Dorman, Ruthie Epstein, Jessica Green, Miguel Gutierrez, John Jasperse, Kim Kort, Michael Lavelle, Mary Ochsenschlager, Ilse Pfeifer, Kevin Sheneberger, Margaret Wallin-Hart, Celia T. Wolters, Toni Yagoda, Jaime Fennelly, Allison Bachmeier, Terryann Nikides, Benjamin Pryor, John Scott, Alan Fleming, Danielle Boulé, Dr. Mel Boulé, Gregory Brackett, Moira Brennan, Alison Clark, Hilary Clark, Lenore Doxsee, Luke George, K.J. Holmes, Sarah Galender Meyer, Katherine Myers, Ruthann M. Rains, Brian Rogers, Todd Shalom, Renée Wadleigh, Sixto Wagan, Jayoung Yoon, Neal Beasley, Juliana May, Carmine Covelli, Alma Lazcano, DeAwna McGinley-Cherney, Paul Langland, Gregory Madden, Tom Creed, Alexey Kokhanov, Vanessa Anspaugh, Peggy Cheng, Crista Cole-Hafezi, Tony Evans, Michael Fleming, Rosie Goldensohn, Lance Gries, Ann Marie Lonsdale, Marissa Perel, Antonio Ramos, Kaneza Schaal, Gemma Shusterman, Mike Skoglund, Donna Uchizono, Matthew Walker, Joseph Waugh, Deke Weaver, Joan Athey, Anna Azrieli, Jill Booth-Clibborn, Ori Flomin, Anders Griffen, Stacey Levine, Sam Miller, Debbie Moran, Gwen Welliver, Rebecca Wender, Lily Baldwin, Oren Barnoy, Talya Epstein, Aiko Kinoshita, Amiti Perry, Natalie Robin, Hahn Rowe, RoseAnne Spradlin, John Stark, Adrienne Truscott, Jules Skloot, Michelle Amador, Emily Baumann, Amy Birnbaum, Lily Bo Shapiro, Michaela Cannon, Yanira Castro, Jessica Conway, Elizabeth Doud, Beth Gill, Lindsay Gilmour, Julian Orduna Guerrero, Leah Hafezi, Mike Inwood, Courtney Krantz, Janice Lancaster Larsen, Christy Loebach, Mark Dendy Dance and Theater Projects, Ingrid Nachstern, Marci Skolnick, Jacob Slominski, Niegel Smith, Zornitsa Stoyanova, Angela Vock, Isabel Watson, Emily Wexler, Kota Yamazaki, Susanna Young, Robert Boole Zatapathique, Rishauna Mari, Hadar Ahuvia, Tricia Albertson, Boru O’Brien O’Connell, Justin Cabrillos, Tony Carlson, Paul Duncan, Christine Elmo, Heather Frazier, Genevieve Beth Grady, Natalia Ariane Hafizi, Jody Oberfelder, Kyli Klevin, Kayt MacMaster, Cori Olinghouse, Tony Orrico, Dave Ratzlow, Tamara Riewe, Elke Rindfleisch, Kathe Robin, Michal Samama, Lauren Snyder, Marti Wolfson, Diana Crum, Neal Thornburn, Richard Becker, William Crosbie, Tina Clark, Terry Michael Gammon, Travis Gonzalez, Geena Hason, Jill Tajiri Jacobs, Daniella Jaeger, Justin Lamb, Stephanie Pereira, Michal Rosenn, Eric Damon Walters, Tomasz Werner, Katherine