Open Rehearsal Showing with Keely Garfield

Paul Hamilton, Keely Garfield, Angie Pittman, photo by Whitney Browne

Open Rehearsal Showing with Keely Garfield
Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 3:00pm: Free
TOPAZ ARTS, 55-03 39th Avenue > directions

TOPAZ ARTS is pleased to present a free open rehearsal showing with choreographer in residence Keely Garfield. Join us on Sunday, March 5th at 3pm for the opportunity to see her new work in development “The Invisible Project” before the premiere performances at NYU Skirball on March 10-12.

The Invisible Project, is a ritualized performance inspired by Garfield’s work as an enduring dance artist, and her covert calling as a hospital chaplain. Garfield, with collaborators Paul Hamilton, Molly Lieber, Angie Pittman, and Opal Ingle, contends with presence and absence, emotionally extravagant embodiment, and understated disappearing acts to offer a glimpse of hope. Original music from Jeff Berman harmonizes spirited testimonials and percussive soundscapes to underscore the intimacy and largess in the body of the work.

“As a choreographer and performer, Keely Garfield has long blurred the lines between irony and sincerity, the absurd and the profound. Her unpredictable works, unafraid of kitsch, are costume pageants with room for prayer, feats of endurance and bravery that don’t disguise awkwardness and vulnerability. Garfield is also a yoga teacher, an urban Zen integrated therapist and a hospital chaplain. Her newest piece, “The Invisible Project,” is her first to explore explicitly the crossover between her work as a choreographer and her work in wellness, experimenting with how endurance, patience, healing and catharsis can be danced. If compassionate presence is an aim, the cast is ideal: Opal Ingle, Angie Pittman, Paul Hamilton and Molly Lieber.” — Brian Seibert, The New York Times

About the Artist:
Keely Garfield, a native of London, England, is based in New York City. Her company, Keely Garfield Dance (KGD), founded in 1989, has been widely commissioned and presented at theaters and festivals nationally and internationally, garnering several Bessie awards and nominations. A spirit of philosophical investigation and compassionate concern continues to shape Keely’s path as an artist and is central in her creative endeavor. Garfield has also made work for other modern dance companies, theater, musicals, ballet, film, MTV, site-specific projects, schools and universities. Garfield is a Guggenheim Fellow, holds an MFA from UWM, and teaches at The New School. Alongside her artistic career, Garfield works in the field of wellness, and is currently a chaplain at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn.

The Invisible Project was commissioned by NYU Skirball and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

TOPAZ ARTS Choreography Residency Program is made possible by TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. with funds, in part, from NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

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