Neta Dance Company

(Photographs: Anja Hitzenberger)

Jason Marchant of the Neta Dance Company mailed me to say:-

"The premiere of our Orchid Show production (inspired by, and utilising, music from XTC's Apple Venus) at the Kitchen (June 15-18, 2000) was a great succsess. We got great reviews from New York Times, Time Out New York and The Village Voice to name a few, and the response from the audience was overwhelming. We are writing to let you know of our upcoming performances of The Orchid Show in Poland as part of The Krakow 2000 festival and the Bytom International Festival for Modern Dance."

Performances of the Orchid Show In Poland:

July 8th - Krakow at 7pm.

Panstwo Wysza Szkola Teatralna
Ul. Straszewskiego 22
31-109 Krakow
tel: 48.12.422.5701 or 422.1855 or 430.1590
fax: 48.12. 430.1592 (attn: Mr. Hudor)

July 11th – Bytom at 7pm.

Slaski Teatr Tanca
Ul. Zeromskiego 27
41-902 Bytom, Poland
tel: 48.12.281.82.53/55
fax: 281.82.52

July 12th – Krakow

Site specific performance of the Orchid Show in Kazmierez, the Krakow Jewish quarter – Time - TBA

A description of the piece follows:

The Neta Dance Company (renamed last year from Neta Pulvermacher & Dancers) premieres the new evening length work, The Orchid Show, a unique collaboration between Israeli choreographer Neta Pulvermacher and the witty, idiosyncratic, English rock band XTC (Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding). The Orchid show is set in a whimsical, psychedelic and mirthful swamp, where other worldly beings, insects and ordinary mortals come to life and their stories unfold. Collaborating with Pulvermacher on this work are also, video-artists, Karen Dunn and Katia Moorman, and costume designer, Maile Okamura.

The Orchid Show, choreographed, written and directed by Neta Pulvermacher is an evening in three parts: River of Orchids, Apple Venus and The Orchid Show. The first track off of XTC’s newest album, Apple Venus, River Of Orchids provided Pulvermacher with the inspiration for her choreographic foray into the world of Orchids. The result is a tour de force solo that Neta created for company dancer, Maile Okamura, who is an “orch” going about her swamp, dancing from lily pads to lily pad.

The program continues with Apple Venus, a suite of lively, naïve, hilarious and nutty dances set to seven songs by XTC, featuring Pulvermacher’s highly versatile company of six dancers. Neta says: “The suite has a 60’s flair about it, and a child-like awe at the world, its people and its things.”

“My favorite kind of art always maintains an element of surprise and delight. It’s kind of like clockwork toys. You wind them up and step back, and then they do something a little bit unexpected, almost as if they have an animism of their own—a soul and a life that’s more than just the sum of the clockwork.”
(Andy Partridge, XTC)

Conceived as a mini, opera The Orchid Show, (the last section of the evening) is a mad horticultural lecture on the world of orchids and the people who collect, adore and fetishize them. Dancer, Jeremy
Laverdure portrays, the devout orchidist, and soap opera star, Jill St. Johns, as she unravels, amazing facts, tales and anecdotes about these dazzling flowers.

The company includes: Maile Okamura, Jeremy Laverdure, Jason Marchant, Brittany Reese, Christina Towle, Tami Stronach and Neta Pulvermacher.

"Neta Pulvermacher’s witty, pretty, nutty dance… with style and pizzazz…the radiant dancers made those comical and sad memories live again robustly…”
(Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times, March 4th, 2000)

“Bittersweet poetry… extraordinary…powerful and moving”
(Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice).

“The six barefoot women became Vivaldi’s concerto…Breathing, sweating, utterly clear and constantly surprising…”
(Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 13, 2000).

About the company: The Neta Dance Company was founded in 1987. Since its inception the company has toured throughout the U.S., Israel, Poland and Canada. In New York, the company has been presented by Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, The Joyce Theater, Central Park’s SummerStage, the 91st Street Play House among other venues. The company’s upcoming projects include tours to Poland and Israel. The company’s new production is supported in part by grants from The Jerome Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, The Puffin Foundation, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council - Fund for Creative Communities, Con-Edison, The Friends of the Neta Dance Company, and The Chelsea Studio Gallery.

Neta Pulvermacher was born and raised in Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan, Israel. She graduated from Juilliard in 1985. Her works have been commissioned by the American Dance Festival, The Yard, The Yellow Springs Institute, Dance Theater Workshop and many others. She has created works for Ballet Arizona, Ballet New England, Vertigo Dance Company (Israel), The Repertory Project (Ohio) and Ballet Wisconsin among others. Neta has received choreographer fellowships from the NEA and NYFA, Meet the Composer, The Jerome Foundation and numerous others. Pulvermacher is noted for her collaborations with avant garde musicians and composers such as Roy Nathanson and the Jazz Passengers, John Zorn and Masada, Anthony Coleman, and Yuval Gabay among others.

XTC: The English rock band, XTC has gained a fastidiously loyal following by experimenting with idiosyncratic, jagged art- rock, mystical, melodious pop and trenchant, English folk- influenced music. XTC’s new orchestral album Apple Venus Volume 1 showcases a new, but instantly recognizable side of this eclectic, ambitious outfit. Since XTC formed in Swindon, England in 1975, they’ve drawn influence from a wide range of artists including Captain Beefheart, Ray Davies, Charlie Parker, and most notably the Beatles. “The orchestral influences on this record don’t really come from classics, “ says Partridge of Apple Venus, “they come from show music…musicals like South Pacific or West Side Story and My Fair Lady.” The constantly malleable and re- inventive style of XTC has gained them a cult following both in the US and abroad. The band’s new album, Wasp Star will be released on May 23rd, 2000. We are grateful to Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding for their generosity and for donating their work and creating the sound track for the company’s new production.