Oberon's Grove: In the Studio with Teresa Fellion

Above: Mia DeWeese rehearsing with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance

Friday May 1st, 2015 - BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance are preparing for their upcoming performances at St. Mark's Church as part of Danspace's DANCE: Access series. The performance dates are May 21st - 23rd, 2015; more information and tickets here.

Ms. Fellion, the choreographer, describes the work to be performed: "The Mantises Are Flipping W.3 is a long-term contemporary dance project which has evolved during three separate, detailed stages of fresh development, exploring duality that creates a voyeuristic point of observation into idiosyncratic worlds and relationships among individuals." The piece originally premiered at ICA Boston and the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn in 2013; then Mantises W.2 was shown at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center and Bryant Park Summerstage in 2014. "In May 2015, we will premiere the new work, Mantis W.3..." Ms. Fellion continued, "...which will give the audience an immersive experience in the imaginative, playful, yet 'unfortunately adult' world of Mantises Are Flipping."

Mantises W.3 will feature dancers Iman Barnes, Zach Bergfelt, Corey Bliss, Mia DeWeese, Alex Jenkins, Monica Mordaunt, and Audrey Rachelle Stanley. The costumes are by Ljupka Arsovska, with lighting designed by Tim Cryan and live music and original composition by Ryan Edwards and John Yannelli.

At today's rehearsal at the DANY Studios, it was amply evident that the choreography and the very fine music are expertly meshed, with an impressive use of space; and that the dancers are gifted both in technique and in emotional expressiveness. An unusual opening 'episode' gives the piece an immediate sense of being different, but I won't give it away.

Here are some images of the dancers from today's rehearsal of The Mantises Are Flipping W.3: