RASHAUN MITCHELL + SILAS RIENER COLLABORATE WITH UNDER-SERVED YOUTH FOR THE WOODEN FLOOR'S CO-CREATION LAB

THE WOODEN FLOOR INVITES RASHAUN MITCHELL + SILAS RIENER FOR CO-CREATION LAB WORKSHOP

Low-Income Youth Learn Merce Cunningham Technique and Create New Dance for Summer Performance

SANTA ANA, Calif. (March 15, 2019) — The Wooden Floor, one of the nation’s foremost creative youth development nonprofit organizations, has commissioned Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener for a three-week residency at the organization’s Co-Creation Lab as a part of the Merce Cunningham Centennial Celebration. Co-Creation Lab is an annual summer workshop and artistic collaboration with teens from under-served communities and top choreographers that strengthens The Wooden Floor’s artistic programming in order to reinforce students’ engagement through the 12th grade. When working with carefully curated choreographers that embody the powerful outcomes of dance, such as previous collaborators Seán Curran Company and David Dorfman Dance, students maximize The Wooden Floor’s dance approach of exploration, discovery, and innovation, leading to success in school and in life.

Mitchell and Riener, both former company members of Merce Cunningham Dance Company, are using chance procedures and indeterminacy techniques pioneered by Merce Cunningham to co-create new choreography with students. At the end of the residency, students will perform their collaboratively produced dance piece nightly for the public from July 18-20, 2019 at 8:00pm at The Wooden Floor Studio Theatre. Mitchell, Riener, and three independent artists will also perform an evening length show consisting of co-created student work, an original arrangement of choreographed Cunningham work, and a Cunningham dance film. Tickets will be available starting June 1 at TheWoodenFloor.org.

About Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener

Since 2010, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener have created dance in response to complex and active spatial environments, merging elements of fantasy, absurdity, and quiet contemplation into challenging multifaceted performance. After working together in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Mitchell and Riener developed a keen interest in the way abstraction and representation coincide in the body. Their collaborative work takes many forms, from site-specific installations, improvisational dances, and traditional proscenium pieces to highly crafted and intimate, immersive experiences. Together they have been part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Extended Life Dance Development program, the New York City Center Choreographic Fellowship, and have been artists in residence at EMPAC, Mount Tremper Arts, Wellesley College, Jacob’s Pillow, and Pieter. Their work has been presented at MOMA PS1 as part of Greater NY, The Chocolate Factory, New York Live Arts, Danspace Project, REDCAT, ICA Boston and Summer Stages Dance, the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, On the Boards, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

About The Wooden Floor

Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor is one of the foremost creative youth development nonprofit organizations in the country. We transform the lives of young people in low-income communities through the power of dance and access to higher education. In Orange County and through national licensed partners, we use a long-term approach grounded in exploratory dance education to foster the confidence and gifts within each child to innovate, communicate, and collaborate—skills necessary for success in school and in life. 100 percent of students who graduate from Tthe Wooden Floor immediately enroll in higher education. Our students become change agents and beacons of hope within their own families, their neighborhoods, our community, and our world.

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CHEAT TWEETS

“Merce Cunningham Dance Company alumni Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener will hold three-week residency at The Wooden Floor’s Co-Creation Lab, an annual summer workshop and artistic collaboration with teens from under-served communities and top choreographers.”

“The Wooden Floor commissions Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener for Co-Creation Lab, an annual summer workshop and artistic collaboration with teens from under-served communities and top choreographers that strengthens the organization’s artistic programming.”

“Former Merce Cunningham Dance Company members Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener will collaborate with youth from under-served communities to co-create dance piece, and perform an evening length show with independent artists at The Wooden Floor’s Co-Creation Lab.”

(Left: Mitchell, Right: Riener, photo by Michael Williams)