Yannis Adoniou�s KUNST-STOFF Celebrates a Decade of Dance Innovation at YBCA

Monday, January 7, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Featuring Three World Premieres with Original Music Performed Live by Jethro DeHart and Korean Artist, Dohee Lee

10th Anniversary Season
February 14, 15, 16, 2008 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

SAN FRANCISCO, CA ââ?¬â?? January 7, 2008 ââ?¬â?? Yannis Adoniouââ?¬â?¢s KUNST-STOFF is pleased to announce that it will celebrate its 10th Anniversary San Francisco home season with a gala celebration and a three performances on the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts main stage in February 2008. The performances will feature three World Premieres: un state, by Artistic Director, Yannis Adoniou, out of hand, by Berlin-based, in-house choreographer and KUNST-STOFF co-founder, Tomi Paasonen, and solo for yannis. Mr. Adoniou himself will take the stage to perform solo for yannis, a solo work whose concept was developed in dialog with Alonzo King and is being created in collaboration with Mr. Paasonen. The eveningââ?¬â?¢s works all explore the concept of ritual in contemporary times with an approach unique to each choreographer. These works are a continuation of a decade-long dedication to creating conceptually driven work that challenges and expands the boundaries of perception. With themes that reflect upon and respond to contemporary society, KUNST-STOFF's work reaches across cultural and social boundaries in search of that which resonates on a universal level. While versed in the realm of established dance techniques, the company's work steps outside of the "known" with a distinctive movement style that extends the body beyond codified limits. KUNST-STOFF has had the honor of appearing on the stages of some of the most dedicated dance presenters in the Bay Area as well as touring both nationally and internationally, Concluding its Artists-in-Residence at ODC Theater this year, the company looks forward to traveling to Tallahassee, FL for its month-long residence at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography in April 2008. Over the past 10 years, KUNST-STOFFââ?¬â?¢s unusual and highly visual theatrical dance works have drawn in collaborators from a variety of different mediums. This year, the company is pleased to feature original sound scores by, Dohee Lee, David Jude Thomas and Jethro DeHart. Dohee Lee is an up-and-coming contemporary composer, musician, and performer based in the Bay Area. Her roots in traditional Korean dance and drumming have developed and evolved through working with many artists of many different disciplines. Through her forum, The Puri Project, she provides opportunities for artists to cross stylistic boundaries between traditional and contemporary art forms in an organic manner. She has recently collaborated with Nanos Operetta and Kronos Quartet. Jethro DeHart has moonlighted as musical director for KUNST-STOFF on and off for the past 10 years, composing, mixing/engineering, designing sound, and on occasion, performing live with the Company. Mr. DeHart can also be spotted fronting the San Francisco alternative band "Habitforming" appearing on 3 full length releases, "Habitat", "Involved" and "Slow Motion Drifting". David Jude Thomas is a San Francisco, multi-media artist who has lived and worked in the Bay Area for nearly 15 years. He is currently involved in several documentary/narrative projects and created a visual interpretation of movement and dance for multi-screen projections for the CalArts Dance Ensembleââ?¬â?¢s 29th Season in 2006. He has written, produced, shot, edited and composed numerous short films and video pieces such as "Requiem 1 & 2", "Cry me a River", "Jarman", "Thursday's Child", "Girl Eats Apple" and the feature length film "Metalface". The company is also pleased to have co-founder and former co-artistic director, Tomi Paasonen, joining the company to create a new work for the 10th Anniversary Season. Since Mr. Paasonen moved to Berlin in 2001, he has operating under the name PAA (Public Artistic Affairs), he as created award-winning productions such as State of Being with disabled and professional dancers and Icarus- Departure Tegel, a co-production with Germany's largest male prison. Paasonen was a soloist dancer with Hamburg Ballet, LINES Ballet San Francisco and The Joffrey Ballet. His unique ability to bridge his classical background with avant-guard experimentalism makes Mr. Paasonen a rare hybrid in the dance world. For years he has develop his interactive visual art concepts and choreographic systems and dance improvisation techniques that can be used universally by dancers from different kinds of backgrounds. . Artistic Director, Yannis Adoniou, a native of Athens, Greece, is an award-winning dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker. Since founding KUNST-STOFF in 1998, Mr. Adoniou has premiered over 20 new works in the Bay Area, toured internationally, and collaborated with nationally known visual and media artists and composers. Mr. Adoniou was a member of Alonzo King's LINES Contemporary Ballet for seven years and he currently serves as a teacher and choreographer at the San Francisco Dance Center, LINES Ballet School and LINES Ballet School Pre-professional Program. Mr. Adoniou was nominated twice for the Bay Area's Isadora Duncan Awards, winning an "Izzy" in 1998 for outstanding achievement in performance. His choreography has been hailed as "some of the most original dance or drama" by the San Francisco Chronicle, "multy-focused, ever-shifting work in which the viewer imposes his own perspective" by Dance View West and the San Francisco Examiner has praised KUNST-STOFF as being a "remarkably harmonized company" with "some of the finest ballet-trained daredevils to be found in any metropolis." Support for the creation of the work, solo for yannis, that will premiere this season, comes from an Individual Artist Grant to Mr. Adoniou from the San Francisco Arts Commission. To find out more, please visit www.kunst-stoff.org ### For further information: Yannis Adoniouââ?¬â?¢s KUNST-STOFF 415.845.3040 ext 286 FAX 415.286.1180 press@kunst-stoff.org www.kunst-stoff.org Download this Press Release as a PDF.