A TRILOGY OF TEXT AND MOVEMENT PORTAITS:
These three works are part of a trilogy of works that are movement and word portraits of women and men. The premise of all of the works was the premise that all of the text/stories told in the works had to relate in some manner to one’s body/anatomy. The first title could have been the title for all three works, the idea that each performer is writing a letter address “to their anatomy”, the repository of memory and experience.
The choice of no sound/music accompaniment was made to enhance the performance of each individual and to heighten one’s experience of the chosen text.
To My Anatomy (1987)
There Were Three Men (1988)
I Met Someone (1989)
REVIEWS- press quotes
“To My Anatomy, a new piece for four women, aged 12, 17, 35, and 50, expertly explores with wit and tenderness the qualities of four women of different ages and experiences.”
----Burt Supree, Village Voice, 6/23/87
In To My Anatomy, “the talk is so humorous, so wise, so without self-pity, and the relationships between the women are so casually tender that the dance moves you to both laughter and tears.”
---Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice, 6/7/88
“Emotional poignancy emanated from ‘There Were Three Men...,’ a portrait of cross-generational insecurities depicted through danced, sung and spoken reminiscences. Here the artistic authority of the performers ... made the work’s central point- that the personal and professional lives of dancers have in common an utter precariousness.”
-----Alan M. Kriegsman, The Washington Post, 11/21/88
on There Were Three Men:
“Koplowitz’s dance cuts right to the heart of the matter. It has no pretensions, no artifice, no high-mindedness. It is deeply warm and intelligent.”
----Nancy Goldner, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4/29/89
“‘There Were Three Men’...plays seamlessly with laughter, sadness and the unexpected dimensions of everyday behavior.”
----Jennifer Dunning, NYT 7/13/91
Michael Davis recalls a mystical prebubescent adventure with a condom in the magically entitled I Met Someone in which two men and two women come to terms with being heterosexual, lesbian and homosexual. But Mr. Koplowitz mixes his anecdotes into a well-blended stew of words, music and movement that almost always reveals essential truths about us all.”
-----Jennifer Dunning, NYT 12/6/89
TO MY ANATOMY
Premiered June, 1987 at Dance Theater Workshop, NYC
To My Anatomy was the first work in a trilogy of dance/theater works by Stephan Koplowitz that served as a portrait of men and women.
Conceived, Choreographed and Directed by Stephan Koplowitz
Text written by the performers and Stephan Koplowitz
Performed by Claudia Gitelman, Kathleen Hill, Bryn Edyn and Kyra Himmelbaum
Lighting Design by Roman Flowers
Costumes by David Robinson with Cynthia Hamilton
GALLERY photos by Tom Brazil
THERE WERE THREE MEN
There Were Three Men is the second work in the trilogy and first premiered in 1988 at Dance Theater Workshop with Stuart Hodes, Murray Kelley and David Hurwith.
This version was performed in December of 1989 with Stuart Hodes and Murray Kelley and Michael Davis.
In 1995, the work was re-mounted with Stuart Hodes, David Parker, Michael Davis
Video Credits:
Conceived, Choreographed and Directed by Stephan Koplowitz
Performed by Michael Davis, Stuart Hodes, Murray Kelley
Text written by the performers and Stephan Koplowitz
Lighting design by Phil Sandstrom
Costumes by Vicki David
Videography is by Dennis Diamond
Executive Producer of Dance Theater Workshop was David R. White
GALLERY photos by Tom Brazil
Premiered 1988 at Dance Theater Workshop
I MET SOMEONE
Premiered, April, 1989 at the Painted Bride, Philadelphia, PA
I Met Someone is a portrait of relationships told from four different perspectives and orientations.
Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Stephan Koplowitz
Performer/Collaborators: Michael Davis, Gina Gibney, Martha Hirschman and Murray Kelley
Lighting Design by Phil Sandstrom
Videography by Dennis Diamond
Executive Producer DTW: David R. White
GALLERY photos by Tom Brazil
