"The Grass is Always Greener..."
(World Premiere) by AnabellaLenzu/DanceDrama

October 14th-16th
Thursday & Friday, 9pm - Saturday, 8pm
@ The Merce Cunningham Studio
(55 Bethune Street, 11th floor, New York City, NY 10014)

The Grass is Always Greener... is an evening-length multimedia dance-theater piece, which explores themes of immigration, roots, and memory.

This new collaborative work choreographed by Anabella Lenzu, with photographic projections created by Todd Carroll, explores one woman's thoughts and dreams as she travels with her suitcase filled with her memorabilia, images of her home, and hopes of her new life. The work deals with the periods of immigration to the United States around the turn of the Century and brings these forgotten experiences into sharp relief against modern times.

In a non-linear approach, The Grass is Always Greener... also weaves in scenes from our current dilemma as the United States struggles to find a realistic and humanistic approach to immigration. Ms. Lenzu personally immigrated to the United States in 2005, and uses her experience to reflect on ideas of homeland, travel, and citizenship that influence our daily lives and continually surface in the media.

The work is set during the great waves of migration that passed through Ellis Island, as passengers disembarked from all over the world with dreams of a new life in America. Anabella Lenzu reconstructs physical drama using contemporary movement and character development. Lenzu's movement vocabulary originates from rustic primal gestures with accents of sweeping lyrical action that transports the audience to a vibrant physical and emotional space. Blending ideas of past, present and future homelands, Lenzu uses elements of modern dance, theater, ballet and ethnographic folk traditions.

Photographer Todd Carroll will illuminate the unique histories of the
immigrants onstage. Original work by the artist along with archival images from the Library of Congress are the source material for the digitally altered photographs and short videos projected during the performance.
Choreography: Anabella Lenzu
Music: Astor Piazzolla, Cantica Popularia, Fabrizio De Andre, Carlos Gardel, Verdi, Bach, Enzo Avitabile
and Traditional Tammurriatas & Pizzicas.

Photographic Projections: Todd Carroll
Light Designer: Stephen Petrilli

Dancers: Lauren Ohmer, Dawn Quigley,
Raleigh Veach & Anabella Lenzu
Special Guest: Debra Zalkind.

Tickets: $20-general, $15-student, purchased at the door. Reservations recommended, email: info@AnabellaLenzu.com

www.AnabellaLenzu.com