Nicole Klaymoon - Embodiment Project

Nicole Klaymoon
EMBODIMENT PROJECT
“One of the most rocking dance theater pieces that have hit the town in a long time.”
- Dance magazine contributing editor Rita Felciano, SF Bay Guardian
“Choreographer and performer d. Sabela Grimes may be one of the Los Angeles dance world’s best- kept
secret.” - Los Angeles Times
“The Sixth Vowel, produced by the Miami Light Project last Friday was THE BEST small theatrical production I
have seen in this city in a decade.” - Chuck Strouse, Miami New Times
“Klaymoon has the gift of creating concert dance that is highly dynamic, cerebral, and emotive.”
- Sean San Jose, Co-Founder of Campo Santo Theater Company
Nicole Klaymoon’s Embodiment Project was selected as one of the Bay Area’s “ten companies and artists who
challenged expectations or unveiled surprises... in 2012.” -SF Bay Guardian
“Jazz vocalist Valerie Troutt is unquestionably one of the best...songwriters around. Armed not only with a puretoned voice but a preternatural sense of rhythm...Troutt has the power to turn listeners into avid fans in the
course of a few bars.”
-Rachel Swan, East Bay Express
“San Francisco's Embodiment Project found another way to break out of music video conventions: Nicole
Klaymoon's choreography had the excellent singers of Valerie Troutt's MoonCandy Live House Ensemble mix
with the popping dancers' duets.”
- Rachel Howard, SF Gate
REPERTORY
HOUSE OF MATTER
(Selected as one of SF Bay Guardian's top 10 shows
of 2012)
House of Matter uproots traditional notions of
gender, power, and manhood through high-energy
street dance, live music, spoken word, theater, and
interactive video. Featuring critically acclaimed Los
Angeles choreo-poet d. Sabela Grimes, legendary
Oakland vocalist Gina Breedlove, nine-piece band
MoonCandy, and original compositions by singer/
songwriter Valerie Troutt, House of Matter electrifies,
provokes, and mobilizes. MoonCandy’s musicians
create original house music; the style’s signature
‘looping’ becomes a potent incantation spellbinding
the audience. House of Matter had its World
Premiere at Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Green
Show (OR) in 2012. (Includes 11 dancers and 6
musicians, but can downsize cast for touring
purposes.)
SIXTH VOWEL
The Sixth Vowel is Klaymoon’s solo show directed by
Kamilah Forbes of the Hip Hop Theatre Festival (New
York) and choreographed by Rennie Harris. Through
personal narrative the piece responds to the ways the
U.S. public school system crushes children’s creativity
and imagination. Chuck Strouss, art critic of the Miami
New Times, wrote “she played the part of a school kid,
commented on the way schools don’t work, made you
laugh your ass off, and think even harder.” Sixth Vowel
premiered at 4th Street Theater, NY Theater (NY) in 2008.
(Includes 1 performer.)
Workshop, NY
BLOOD MEMORY
Blood Memory is a multimedia dance theatre
production that uses storytelling, puppetry, and
dance to convey true stories based on the lives of
HIV+ people living in Kenya. Blood Memory
highlights community responses to HIV and how the
virus continues to carry tremendous stigma globally.
Blood Memory premiered at G.R.A.C.E Africa in
Embu, Kenya in August 2012. (Includes 6
performers.)
DARE TO LOVE
Dare to Love is a series of compelling and hauntingly
revealing ‘chore-poems’ and duets that explore
themes of intimacy and manhood. This unique
intersection of popping, partnering, and live song
questions the prevalent system of ideals that calls
vulnerability a weakness. Instead of relying on those
dated ideals, Dare to Love creates a space where
these emotional intricacies can be mapped through
the body’s movement. Dare to Love features the
critically acclaimed street dance innovator, d. Sabela
Grimes, and the soulful and operatic live vocals of
Valerie Troutt and Solas B. Lagee. The show
premiered at he the International Hip Hop Dance
Festival at the Palace of Fine Arts (CA) in 2013.
(Includes 5 performers.)
PRAISE
Highly physical choreographic
works that showcase various
party dances and street dance
traditions including Popping,
house, hip hop, b-boying/bgirling, and waacking. PRAISE
also include captivating and
awe- inspiring freestyle
performances. This work
communicates a celebratory
and uplifting message of unity,
action, and strength. PRAISE
premiered at the Elizabethan
Stage (OR) in August of 2011.
(Includes 7 dancers.)
RESIDENCY AND
OUTREACH
LECTURE DEMONSTRATIONS
Lectures are an opportunity for
company members to engage in with
audience members about EP’s unique
choreographic method and crossdisciplinary collaborations. Company
members demonstrate the various the
street dance forms represented in the
choreographic works and share about
EP’s explorative creative process.
YOUTH OUTREACH
EP is a teaching company—members hold B.A. and
M.F.A. degrees in dance and teach at both public
schools and Universities. In the San Francisco Bay
Area EP has taught at the Stern Grove Festival
Youth Program, Oakland Art Museum, Performing
Arts Workshop, ODC Youth Program, Dance
Mission, Destiny Arts Center, and Leap Imagination
and Learning. Klaymoon has also performed in
school assemblies, children’s hospitals, and has
worked as a resident artist in over 30 schools in the
Bay Area. Reaching the next generation through hip
hop movement and culture is vital to EP. The
company strongly believes that with the right tools,
our youth has the potential to use their creativity to
brighten the world and make social change.
TECHNIQUE CLASSES
EP technique classes emphasize the importance of
an open cipher (free-style circle) to initiate the raw
energy of street dance forms. This class
incorporates influences from several styles of
dance including house, hip hop, waacking,
popping, and other social dance traditions. Each
class challenges students with foundational
footwork, improvisation, and EP’s innovative
choreography.
COMMUNITY ARTS
EP uses dance, storytelling, live song,
spoken-word, and theater to reach new
communities. Our extensive experience
includes work with underserved youth,
people affected by HIV/AIDS, and female
survivors of sexual trauma.
In addition to giving back to the Bay Area
community, EP is passionate about
fostering and expanding cross-cultural
awareness and artistic collaborations. EP
is also recognized for their educational
outreach, community arts practices, and
groundbreaking collaborations in Kenya,
Africa.
VENUES
4th Street Theater, NY Theater Workshop, NY
G.R.A.C.E. Africa, Kenya
Walking the Distance Dance Festival, ODC Theater, CA
Left Coast Leaning Festival, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, CA
Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Green Show, OR
de Young Museum, CA
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland
Studio Theatre, MD
Jazz at Lincoln Center, NY
Black Swan Theater, OR
Miami Project Hip Hop, MI
ARTS Studio Theater, UC Riverside, CA
International Hip Hop Festival, Palace of Fine Arts, CA
Freud Playhouse UCLA, CA
West Wave Dance Festival, Z Space, CA
The Painted Bride Arts Center, PA
Gloria Kauffman Garden Theater, CA
Ford’s Theater, PA
ACDF Gala, Carpenter Performing Arts Center, CA
Intersection for the Arts Theater, CA
Daedalus Project, Elizabethan Stage, OR
Dominican College, CA
CONTACT US
Nicole Klaymoon
EMBODIMENT PROJECT
Intersection for the Arts
925 Mission St #109
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel: (310) 467-4856
klaymoon7@gmail.com
www.embodimentproject.org
Jodi Kaplan & Associates
161 Sixth Avenue, 14th Floor New
York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 352-0400
Fax: (212) 255-2053
jka@bookingdance.com
www.bookingdance.com