October 11, 18 & 25, 2020

Online Premiere of 

ORCHID PEOPLE

Livestream introduction and post premiere audience interaction: 
 

Sunday October 11 at 5 p.m. EST
facebook.com/brangwendance

Sunday October 18 at 5 p.m. EST
youtube.com/brangwendance
 

Sunday October 25 at 5 p.m. EST
youtube.com/brangwendance &
Zoom.Us

FREE
 

After the film on October 25, we will take a 5 minute break to launch a Zoom meeting where we invite you to join us for a discussion of the creative process, and solutions for working within the limitations of this time. 

Michele Brangwen and Tim Hagans will be joined by dancer Yuritzi Govea and drummer/composer Anders Mogensen, and other guests. The meeting will be streamed to our YouTube channel so you can watch the discussion, or you can participate directly by registering for the meeting in advance. 

The idea of the meeting is to talk about creating. You can ask us questions, or tell us what you are working on. 

To participate directly in the meeting please email info@brangwendance.org 

with Zoom in the subject line. Please tell us your full name. Feel free to share with us if you are an audience member or an artist yourself. We will send you a link to join after the film screening. Registration needs to be received by 1 p.m. Sunday October 25.
 

"Orchid People" is a new dance and music film from the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble that explores the mysterious power and whirlwind energy that can be found in the most delicate and fragile things. 
 

The 13 minute short features choreography, editing and costumes by Michele Brangwen and music composed by Anders Mogensen, Thomas Helton and Tim Hagans in collaboration with each other. 
 

Michele Brangwen writes: "When we began this project, the goal was to keep creating together. I  wanted to try to make as developed an artistic statement as possible while at the same time keeping everyone safe. We began a 17 week rehearsal period via Zoom in late April 2020 and then during August, I filmed the dancers and trumpeter Tim Hagans separately in an outdoor location. Bassist Thomas Helton filmed himself in Houston, TX and Anders Mogensen was filmed in Odense, Denmark. We had all been working with each other for years so I hoped the poetry of our connection to each other could transcend the limitations of the digital format. "Orchid People" explores the idea that power can be found in fragility. I believe there is incredible strength in delicacy and it can give us energy. My premise, in a manner of speaking, was "what if orchids were super heroes? What would that be like?" 

 "Orchids take a long time to bloom, so much so that when buds appear it seems that they will surely fall off the stem long before they open. One is convinced no plant could take that long to bloom. And then one day, the buds are suddenly open and stunningly spectacular. The orchid takes its own time, showing us the merit of patience and another concept of time. The second section of the film explores the slowness of orchid buds to open. For this movement, the dancers and trumpeter are filmed in front of these beautiful old water towers in Long Island City. The water tower symbolizes the hope that we may find ways to nourish and sustain ourselves and each other during the time of remaining closed. It is also meant to symbolize that there are currents of energy at work that we can't always see or understand, but we can sense."

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Performed by Robin Gilbert, Yuritzi Govea, Cristian Laverde König, Michele Brangwen, dancers; Anders Mogensen, drums; Thomas Helton, bass; Tim Hagans, trumpet.

"Orchid People" was made possible in part by a Dance NYC Coronavirus Relief Grant.

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#Artists are still here! #StaySafe #StayStrong #OrchidPeople

March 7 & 14, 2021

Online Premiere of

TO YOUR CONSTANT EMBRACE, THE CLOUD STREAM SWAYS
 

Livestream introduction and post-premiere audience interaction: 
 

Sunday March 7 at 5 p.m. EST
facebook.com/brangwendance

Sunday March 14 at 5 p.m. EST
youtube.com/brangwendance

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FREE

"To Your Constant Embrace, The Cloud Stream Sways" is a new dance and music film from the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble that speaks to our current condition of being alone together, and invites us into an inspiring and overlapping world of interaction across 5 cities in 4 different countries. The 13 minute short features choreography, editing and costumes by Michele Brangwen and music composed and arranged by Danielle Reich.

We wanted to create a new work that would be an invitation to release some of the sadness, an invitation to experience a kind of universal togetherness that exists from our shared humanity, something comforting and welcoming.

We realized when we began this project that two dancers would be soon out of the country helping family members in need, so we decided to have them film themselves dancing where they would be. It was so exciting to find that these acts of love on their part would result in these beautiful and contrasting locations being a part of the film. Our ensemble has members who reside in New York City, Houston, TX and Odense, Denmark. This new project also included footage from Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, Mexico and Cali, Colombia.

"To Your Constant Embrace, The Cloud Stream Sways" is performed by Robin Gilbert, Yuritzi Govea, Cristian Laverde König, Michele Brangwen, dancers; Danielle Reich, voice; Tim Hagans, trumpet; Thomas Helton, bass; Anders Mogensen, drums. 

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SUMMER, 2021

Online Premiere of

ASA NISI MASA
 

Livestream introduction and post-premiere audience interaction: 
 

Sunday September 19 at 6 p.m. EST
facebook.com/brangwendance

Sunday September 26 at 6 p.m. EST
youtube.com/brangwendance

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FREE

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Asa Nisi Masa is a new dance and music film from the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble that takes its title from the childhood incantation spoken in Federico Fellini's film "8 1/2." The phrase Asa Nisi Masa conjures a beautiful memory for the main character in the film of a time filled with compassion and love.  

Asa Nisi Masa, with choreography, editing and costumes by Michele Brangwen and music composed by Danielle Reich, Thomas Helton and Tim Hagans, also features movement and music created spontaneously in the moment by all performers. Dancers Robin Gilbert, Cristian Laverde König and Michele Brangwen; saxophonists Robin Verheyen and Jon Irabagon; trumpeter Tim Hagans; bassist Thomas Helton and vocalist Danielle Reich, interact with each other live on a rooftop in NYC. 

The idea behind the film was to create a kind of dance and music incantation and send it out into the world. Asa Nisi Masa was the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble's first time working together in person as a fully vaccinated ensemble. For previous projects during the pandemic they had rehearsed only via Zoom and filmed each artist separately for safety.  

The final section of the film is Brangwen's secular take on the idea of the Tibetan prayer flag. Brangwen writes: "The idea behind the prayer flag is not that the person who hangs it is asking the wind to carry a request for something, but rather seeking to send goodness out into all spaces. I feel we are now in a time where we need to send as much goodness and healing energy out into our fractured world as possible. Part of the costume that each performer wears becomes a flag at the end. I wanted to try and make the flag feel very personal."

Brangwen explains: "Nothing in the film's central section of improvisations was preplanned or mapped out, and we only did one take, so gusts of wind sometimes hit the mics, helicopters buzz by, and performers sometimes edge out of the frame, but for me that only added to the immediacy and honesty of the moment. What emerged were these incredible moments like dancer Cristian Laverde König, with trumpeter Tim Hagans and saxophonist Robin Verheyen, seeming to take every note of the musicians' effusive call into his body and in the end, trading riffs with them as if his body were a third horn. Dancer Robin Gilbert and the same two musicians tell a mysterious story that seems full of pathos and longing, culminating in Ms. Gilbert drawing the two musicians into her in an engulfing embrace. To me, this is magic."

Some people feel Fellini was sending a hidden message in the phrase Asa Nisi Masa, using an Italian form of pig Latin which adds a "sa" and a "si" to words in order to disguise them. If you take the roots of each word in the phrase Asa Nisi Masa, the letters form the word Anima, which is the Italian word for soul. Brangwen writes: "This act of creating dance and music together is part of our soul, so what better thing could we send out into the world. This is what we have to offer and we send it with love."

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