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well, I am happy to announce that we will be having our first post-pandemic Milkbar Salon starting March 12th - and it runs for a month, until April 9th! get ready for: MILKBAR 50: mudflat/new works from the curators A shared show of 3 environmental works including: Merlin Coleman's sound installation Ian Winters' video installation live performance by Mary Armentrout in honor of our 50th Salon and the reopening of our studio we thought we could do something a little different for the 50th Milkbar Salon, and we've never done a show of just the three of us, so here it is: The Milkbar Salon's first in-person events since the advent of the pandemic since 2020 features TIDES/San Francisco Bay,a 3-channel video installation by Ian Winters captured during his 300 mile 'artist walk' around the San Francisco Bay documenting the tides and what they have in store for the those living close by; Explorations of the Roblar Quarry/a moving picture in sound - a quadraphonic sound sculpture from Merlin Coleman that might best be described by the German word "kopfkino" which translates to 'head cinema' and sitting down in it and listening... Armentrout's acute performative takes on history and listening as she toggles between a present day persona and a Victorian one who favors a ghostly long black dress while making her points **please note that these are small audience shows, so you will need a reservation!** Opening Reception Shows (all three pieces, running time 1.5 hrs) Saturday March 12th at 3, 5:30 & 8pm Gallery hours by appointment (Ian and Merlin's installations only, running time 1 hr) Tuesdays 4-9pm March 15, 22, 29 & April 5 Fridays 4-9pm March 18, 25 & April 1, 8 Ground Floor Show (all three pieces, running time 1.5 hrs) Saturday March 19th at 7pm (ADA accessible) Closing Reception Shows (all three pieces, running time 1.5 hrs) Saturday April 9th at 3, 5:30 & 8pm ALL at the MILKBAR 241A S. 1st St. in Richmond CA price for the Salon Shows with all three pieces is sliding scale $0-40 Gallery Viewings are FREE RESERVATIONS required for all! only 15 seats for each live show, so please reserve early if you want to come! here is the LINK to the eventbrite pages with all the reservation details: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/milkbar-50-mudflat-158529 any further questions: ma@maryarmentroutdancetheater.com or 510 289 5188 COVID situation: we request that everyone attending be fully vaccinated, or if you have a medical condition preventing vaccination that you have tested negative the same day. we will require that everyone attending wear a mask when in the indoor spaces - and as always in the Milkbar tradition, cheap drinks and silly snacks/mini hang-out reception after each "show" on 3/12, 3/19, and 4/9 we hope to see you there, Mary, Merlin and Ian listening creates an opening is the newest MADT site specific performance meditation. this show started as a commissioned project of EMPAC, the Experimental Media and Performance Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy NY, and we are now bringing it back to ODC Theater in San Francisco as part of their Walking Distance Dance Festival. shows will be happening: Sunday May 12 Monday May 13 Tuesday May 14 showtime is 6:30PM SHARP! - since it's timed with sunset these are small audience shows, they will SELL OUT! get your tickets here At once a site specific performance meditation and a technology/embodiment puzzle, listening creates an opening asks how we listen and what we hear. Leading in a listening state, from a Victorian storefront, through the alleys and parks of ODC's Mission neighborhood, into and out of the ODC theater, to end looking out into the city at dusk, this piece poses the further question of what we do next - once we have started to hear? This is a wandering performance with the audience standing and walking, lying down, and changing locations several times during the show. Please wear comfortable footwear, dress for the (urban) outdoors, and let the ODC box office know if you will need assistance. read more description here read an in-depth interview I did with Sima Belmar for In Dance about my process here read EMPAC curator Ashley Ferro-Murray's program note from the EMPAC show here     listening creates an opening is the newest MADT site specific performance meditation. It is a commissioned project of EMPAC, an art and technology institute on the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus in Troy NY, and will premiere September 12-15 2018. get tickets through the EMPAC website: empac.rpi.edu these are small audience shows, they will sell out! listening creates is a technology/embodiment puzzle that asks how we listen and what we hear. Taking its time, as it draws us, in a listening state, from a Victorian drawing room on RPI campus, through the 21st century EMPAC theater, down the hill and through the streets of Troy to the Hudson River's edge at dusk, this piece poses the further question of what do we do next - once we have started to hear? we are in conversation to bring this piece back to the bay area in spring 2019, and then to England in fall 2019 - stay tuned if you are interested! and see more at the project website: listeningcreates.org 
reveries and elegies VOLUME 2 is the next installment in MADT's long term, large scale, site specific installation about change, dislocation, and the ungraspableness of the present. Happening (almost simultaneously) at the water's edge on two continents this coming spring - come experience it where you can! at the Brighton Fringe Festival: May 30 and 31, 2015 at the San Francisco International Arts Festival: June 4 and 7, 2015 choreography: Mary Armentrout sound: Evelyn Ficarra and Pamela Z video: Ian Winters for all the information and tickets to the Brighton Fringe shows: brightonfringe.org for all the information and tickets to the San Francisco International Arts Festival shows: sfiaf.org seating is VERY limited and shows will SELL OUT - get your tickets early! for more info: email ma@maryarmentroutdancetheater.com ALSO, as this is a show that will happen outside at sunset, rain or shine, windy or calm, all of us wandering around the neighborhoods of the waterfront, please dress to enjoy it - walking shoes, warm layers, hat, umbrellas if needed... read the great write up of the SFIAF show in the Express HERE find all the details in the press release HERE Brighton Fringe shows supported in part by the Nightingale. SFIAF shows are part of the Fort Mason Center Presents series, and are partially unterwritten by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. MADT fiscally sponsored by Dancers' Group. |
fantasia upon the moment when 
the woman invisible to herself and the man who isn't sure whether he wants to exist yet or not decide to go in on an apartment together you? me? us? love? how exactly do any of these things happen? and what is it that we understand about these curious, mysterious processes? - these are the questions we will ponder together within the framework of MADT's latest dance theater performance installation: fantasia upon the moment when the woman invisible to herself and the man who isn't sure whether he wants to exist yet or not decide to go in on an apartment together meet me at: Z Space 450 Florida, San Francisco CA 94110 Thursday, September 11, 2014 at 10pm only Friday, September 12, 2014 at 8pm and 10pm Saturday, September 13, 2014 at 8pm and 10pm featuring Mary Armentrout, Rogelio Lopez, Brontez Purnell and Jordan Joel, sound by Evelyn Ficarra and Pamela Z, video by Ian Winters and lights by Allen Willner Tickets: $25, through zspace.org or 866 811 4111- small shows - VERY LIMITED SEATING - shows will SELL OUT - get your tickets early MORE INFO: 510 845 8604, maryarmentroutdancetheater.com, boxoffice@zspace.org Come early: pre-show installations up and running by 7:45 or 9:45 Z Lobby, Bar and Box open one hour before curtain time read the beautifully thoughtful review by Rita Felciano HERE read the great review by Heather Desaulniers HERE read the wonderful preview by Rita Felciano in the Guardian HERE read the great mention in the East Bay Express Fall Arts Preview HERE see the little trailer Ian Winters made of stuff we've been editing recently HERE find all the details in the press release HERE and if you'd like to donate to our Hatchfund fundraising campaign, we would LOVE it - the link is HERE This production fiscally sponsored by Dancers' Group and supported by New Stages for Dance, the CA$H Grant, the Zellerbach Family Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.  
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reveries and elegies
is Mary Armentrout's new site specific performance project
- a shifting, wandering, accumulating, de-accumulating installation that is trying
to deal
with a shifting, ungraspable subject: change, loss, dislocation
life is so strange, life is so strange - it's always changing and always staying
the same
I promise the show will be different every night
I promise the show will be special every night
I promise that you won't see ALL the shows (even if you come to each and every one)
(life is so strange, life is so strange)
-you WANT to be in control
-you WANT to have it all
(you secretly yearn to run into the fact that you're not in control at all)
(you secretly yearn to be released into the knowledge that life is ungraspable - not only
by everyone else, but also by you)
last winter there were 9 shows at four different spaces in the Bay Area and one in Louisiana, as the show meandered through the national landscape:
-December 1st and 2nd, 2012, at 4pm, at the Milkbar at the Sunshine Biscuit
Factory, 851 81st Ave, Oakland
-December 22nd and 23rd, 2012, at 4pm, at Interface Gallery, 486 49th
Street, Oakland
-January 12th and 13th, 2013, at 4:15pm, at CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission
Street, San Francisco
-February 23rd and 24th, 2013, at 3:30pm, at senseofplace LAB : Baker
Beach
-March 1st, at 8pm, at the Hopkins Black Box Theater, LSU
AND, since those shows all sold out, there will be 8 more shows here in the Bay Area this coming January 2014, before the show wanders again - this time to England and further. all the Bay Area shows will be at the Milkbar in Oakland this time:
-January 4th and 5th, 2014 at 4:15pm
-January 11th and 12th, 2014 at 4:30pm
-January 18th and 19th, 2014 at 4:30pm
-January 25th and 26th, 2014 at 4:45pm
NOTE: since this show happens in conjunction with sundown, show times are a little wacky and very specific, all shows start promptly at their start times, and the space is always open a half hour before the show start time
featuring:
performance by Natalie Greene, Frances Rosario, Nol Simonse
sound by Pamela Z and Evelyn Ficarra
video by Ian Winters
tickets: $20
seating is VERY limited and shows will sell out - get your tickets early!
tickets only thru Brown Paper Tickets - no tickets at the door
informal reception always on after the show - eats and drinks
more info: call 510 289 5188 or email ma@maryarmentroutdancetheater.com
get your tickets here
find directions to the Milkbar here
read Heather Desaulniers' fantastic review from last year here
read the great critic's pick in the SF Bay Guardian here
and here's the great critic's pick in the East Bay Express
and, here's the fantastic critic's pick in the SF Weekly
here's Rita Felciano's great pick in the SF Bay Guardian from last year
read Jim Tobin's "Choreographer of the Month" preview here
and read the full press release here
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- is Mary Armentrout's acclaimed "solo" show that explodes both the notion of self-identity and the usual proscenium model of dance theater - meaning it is both a site specific performance installation in and around the old Sunshine Biscuit Factory in Oakland, as well as an autobiographical "solo" show with three other people playing also playing the title role, since this is a self that can't be kept in one piece. -
This show has now had two sold out runs at the Biscuit Factory, and has got me a nomination for an Izzy (the bay area's Isadora Duncan Dance Awards) for choreography. Yeah. Not too bad!
However, I am feeling like this show could tour - perhaps we could sell out shows in other places too! - and even though there are some unusual considerations because of the site-specific aspects of the piece, I think it could map onto many different locations with great success.
So, here is my current wish for "woman invisible" - I will find another large (or small) industrial site/ theater spot in New York City, or Chicago, or Seattle, or Portland, or your town! where I will be able to create a new embodiment of this piece. If you have any thoughts in this direction, I would love to hear them!
read the great SFBG Weekly Pick by Rita Felciano
or the great first review by Heather Desaulniers of Critical Dance
or the great second review by Heather Desaulniers of Critical Dance
or the lovely write up in the SF Chronicle
plus the Staff Pick in the East Bay Express
or the second Staff Pick in the East Bay Express
or the Top Emotional Dance Moment pick at Jim Tobin's Bay Area Dance Watch
and read the full press release here