Dolce Far Niente by Aileen Mapes - Suchu Dance: Artist In Residence (A.I.R.)

Suchu Dance Company presents Dolce Far Niente by Aileen Mapes – Suchu Dance: Artist In Residence (A.I.R.) Friday and Saturday, May 30 and 31.

DOLCE FAR NIENTE- "sweet idleness of doing nothing" or "the passionate spectator" is an immersed environmental contemporary dance experience told through movement, and mixed-media installation and an evening progression to activate all the senses of the audience.

When we can shut out NOISE and STOP what we are doing, what surfaces are life and our feelings of the moment whether it's grace or despair. Our ego vanishes and our true self emerges.

Come and give yourself permission to relax. So much of our selves are being told to work and produce more, get more done easily and faster. Spiritual sloth was the "noonday demon" that distracted a monk from his prayers, a dreamy listlessness that "forces him to step out of his cell and to gaze at the sun to see how far it still is from the night hour, and to look around, here and there, whether any of his brethren is near," wrote the acclaimed preacher Evagrius Ponticus (349-399), describing the ancient equivalent of Facebook addiction."

Too much idleness, however sweet, leads to ennui, the bores and the bored. However, there is a sort of dead-alive hackneyed people about, who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation…

It's hard work to experience Dolce Far Niente. The audience will be pampered and guided in the methods of idleness. Because, If we aren't all able to find bit of the dolce far niente we will have lost humanity for compassion love and kindness.

Aileen Mapes (pictured above) has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in dance as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She is constantly studying people, patterns, and is very interested in the dualities we humans face constantly. She's always exploring dance beyond the realms of the theater and beyond standard perceptions of 'site-specific' dance.

Her dance works are also informed from her theater background and graduate studies in Grotowsky, Boal and other leaders of experimental theater. Dolce Far Niente is the first full evening work Ms. Mapes will present in Houston since 2006. After completing her MFA, she devoted time developing solo movement material and small group choreography to better inform her choreographic voice and specifics of movement aesthetic.

Suchu Dance is initiating a new Artist In Residence (A.I.R.) program. The chosen artist receives free rehearsal and performance space and discounted rates on classes. The chosen artist receives general production assistance including assistance in sourcing materials for set, costumes and props, marketing assistance including professionally printed and designed postcards, outdoor banner, and full HTML, visually attractive e-newsletters.

This program encourages emerging local artists to develop new work and provides them with practical, hands-on, "real word" production experience, thereby acting as an incubator for new Houston talent.

Supporting these artists as they tackle all aspects of production and presentation is a major goal of the A.I.R. program and is parallel with Suchu Dance's mission to create greater accessibility to art.

For more information or to apply for A.I.R., contact A.I.R. Director Vipul Divecha at vipul@suchudance.org.