INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS
International Creative Collaborations was made possible by a major grant Meet The Composer received from the Ford Foundation. Between 1996-1998 MTC funded twenty-two multidisciplinary collaborations between U.S. based composers, choreographers, and dramatists, and creative artists based in Africa and the Middle East; Asia and the Pacific Islands; and Latin America and the Caribbean. Although the ICC program is no longer running, Meet The Composer is currently in the early stages of developing new international initiatives. Below are descriptions of the International Creative Collaborations projects funded by Meet The Composer: Round I (1996); Round II (1997); Round III (1998).
Round II || Round III ||
ROUND I GRANTS
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
PhilaDanco
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
A collaboration between New York-based choreographer Blondell Cummings and Oumou Sangaré,
a singer/composer in Mali. The commissioned work, which was premiered during
PhilaDanco’s 1996/97 season, focuses on the lives of women in African and American
societies.
Rites and Reason Theatre/Brown University
(Providence, Rhode Island)
A collaboration that included composer Craig Harris (U.S.), New York-based writer Sekou
Sundiata and composer Doudou N’Diaye Rose (Senegal). The new work that resulted from
the collaboration, titled "The Return of Elijah, The African," had as its theme
the roles played by various groups in sustaining the slave trade. It was presented in
several venues throughout the Northeast by a consortium during the 1997/98 season.
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
Crosspulse, Inc.
(Berkeley, California)
A collaboration between U.S. composer Keith Terry and Indonesian choreographer I Wayan
Dibia based on the theme of celebration. The full-length work, "Perayaan," had
its premiere in Fall 1998 at San Francisco’s Cowell Theater.
Foundation for Independent Artists, Inc.
(New York, New York)
A collaboration between the U.S.-based choreographers Eiko & Koma and Japanese
composer Somei Satoh resulted in a full-length work titled "River." For the
work’s initial series of performances, the score was performed live by the Kronos Quartet . The world premiere of
"River" took place on August 31, 1997 at Lafayette College in Easton,
Pennsylvania, where the choreographers were in residence.
Ping Chong and Company
(New York, New York)
A collaboration that included Ping Chong, theater artist (U.S.), Muna Tseng, choreographer
(U.S.) and Joséf Fung, composer (Hong Kong). Together the three artists created a
new work titled "After Sorrow." The work explores what is Chinese in the
lives, experiences and work of the collaborators, each of whom is part of the Chinese
diaspora in the twentieth century. The work had its premiere at New York’s La MaMa in
January 1997.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
City Lore, Inc.
(New York, New York)
A collaboration that includes several practitioners of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Puerto Rican
music and dance traditions. The two-year project, hosted in partnership with East
Harlem’s Harbor Performing Arts Complex, brought together artists from Cuba and
Puerto Rico, who worked with New York-based artists. Concerts throughout New York City
preceded follow-up residencies and a national tour that was scheduled for Fall 1998.
Danspace Project
(New York, New York)
A collaboration comprising choreographer Sondra Loring, video-artist/dramatist Vivián
Cruz Juárez (Mexico) and composer-inventor Ariel Guzik Glantz (Mexico). "The
Bridge," as their collaborative project is called, has as its themes cross-cultural
identity, the meaning of ‘home’ and the experience of otherness. The new work
had its U.S. premiere in New York in October 1997.