Ton Simons and Dancers

 

In January of 1982, Ton Simons & Dancers performed three dances over four evenings as part of the program Dancing in The Kitchen, at The Kitchen. First performed in Paris, Beaubourg in October of 1981, Tally was structured around a sequence of solos by two performers, Ellen van Schuylenburch and Ton Simons, with costumes designed by Mark Lancaster. The Knife Sharpener was a tableau by William Katz and Simons based on a scenario by Bruce Chatwin. The two performers, Rich Merrill and Simons, resembled a Surrealist collage, while Merrill sharpened a blade on an overturned bicycle, Simons was standing almost nude in a room of bird cages - some empty and some with green and blue singing parrots. To end the night, Spread premiered with a series of dances choreographed for nine dancers, performed by Susan Alexander, Helen Barrow, Anne Bryan, Pat Cremins, David Dorfman, Karen Fink, Rick Merrill, Ton Simons, and Ellen van Schuylenburch. Described as an “Abstract Expressionist ‘action painting’ come alive,” by Jack Anderson in The New York Times (February 4, 1982), the performance was based on a nine-square grid division of the space. While certain steps were designated to specific directions and places on the grid; some sequences are the result of “jumbling” the elements of basic phrases.

Supplemental Information

Postcard-reverse [PDF]
Postcard [PDF]
SoHo News review [PDF]
Dance Magazine review [PDF]
Village Voice review [PDF]
New York Times review [PDF]
Program [PDF]
Press Release [PDF]

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