ALASKA

By Argentine Director Diana Szeinblum

Here's what ultra pdx has to say about ALASKA: "Argentine choreographer Diana Szeinblum’s new work ALASKA is a raw and unapologetic piece of dance-theater that simultaneously inspires mystery, hope and a worrisome sense of helplessness (think of the voyeuristic discomfort of seeing Gena Rowlands’ unraveling in Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence). 'Gloriously alive,' ALASKA marks the choreographer’s first visit since her 2003 Secreto y Malibu, a fantastically arch piece that seemed one part Buñuelian tease, one part a nod to Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures." Read the complete review.

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Argentine director Diana Szeinblum’s new work ALASKA explores the relationships between four characters and the concept of “interior space.” Obsessive, athletic movement, live original music, and a spare minimalist set collide in this raw, sexy, brainy, and mysterious piece of dance theatre. The title ALASKA “speaks of that place that we all know, but where no one has ever been.”

Szeinblum began her career with the prestigious contemporary Ballet of the San Martin General theatre under the direction of Oscar Araiz. On a Goethe Institute scholarship, she studied at the Folkwang Tanz Schule and danced with the FTS company under the artistic direction of Pina Bausch, where she worked with choreographers such as Bausch, Susanne Linke and Urs Dietrich, among others. Her award-winning independent dance theatre work Secreto y Malibú toured across Europe, Asia and the US in 2003 including performances at PICA, The Walker Art Center, Dance Theatre Workshop and the Fresh Terrain Festival in Austin.

ALASKA is funded in part by an Opportunity Grant from Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), National Performance Network (NPN) Performing Americas and Jason Saunders and Stephanie Kelly of Morgan Stanley.

"Alaska is a piece that shows the arid landscapes of bodies that withhold subconscious memories, sometimes as imperceptible as stolen glances, put painfully and gloriously alive as as performed by the dancers." La Prensa