ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.―The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, in conjunction with the Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, announces The Tivoli Project, a new cultural collaboration uniting two of the region’s leading cultural organizations and the village of Tivoli, New York. The project is designed to provide emerging and established artists with the resources to develop new works in dance, and to then present these works to Hudson Valley residents. The Tivoli Project will kick off this new initiative with two very different dance events: one on April 29 at the Fisher Center; the other on June 4 in Tivoli. Both will be free and open to the public. About The Tivoli Project The Tivoli Project embraces culture as a proven economic driver, and the initiative has been planned in cooperation with the Village of Tivoli and the Tivoli Business and Professional Association. The strategic alliance brings together government, non-government, and nonprofit organizations to develop the cultural resources of the community through collaboration among resident artists and local groups, helping this process not only through the aforementioned collaborations but also by offering free workshops, open rehearsals, and master classes. And, by helping to develop Tivoli as a creative hub for the region, the project will further enhance the success that the Fisher Center and Kaatsbaan have achieved in attracting visitors to the area. “The Tivoli Project will not only bring together two of our region’s premier arts facilities, it will also bring focus to the creation and presentation of great dance,” said Tivoli Mayor Marcus Molinaro. “This synergy will further promote our region’s cultural opportunities and enhance our economy. Tivoli is proud to be a partner.” The Tivoli Project will grant choreographers and dance companies long-term residency opportunities at Kaatsbaan, where they can develop their work in Kaatsbaan’s outstanding studio facilities in Tivoli’s bucolic setting. Artists will then be invited and commissioned to perform their work at the Fisher Center, which will offer administrative and technical support to present their work on the Center’s main stage in the extraordinary Sosnoff Theater. In forming this alliance, the Fisher Center and Kaatsbaan will provide badly needed resources for the creative process by supporting rehearsal time and space for choreographers, and enabling the production of their work. Tambra Dillon, director of the Fisher Center, states: “The Tivoli Project is a very simple concept, but one that we believe will have a profound effect. The Fisher Center and Kaatsbaan are tremendous assets to both professional artists as well as the local area. By joining forces, we will be able to provide dance and dance-related artists with meaningful support from creation to presentation. And, by working with the local community, The Tivoli Project will help to further the growth of the Hudson Valley’s creative economy and tourism industry.” Event Schedule On Saturday, April 29, at 8 p.m., the Fisher Center presents Buglisi Foreman Dance, led by artistic director and choreographer Jacqulyn Buglisi, in a program that features richly diverse ballets from their repertoire, many of which were developed in residence at Kaatsbaan. Program highlights include “Sand,” one of a trilogy of environmental works choreographed by Buglisi with music by Philip Glass and set design by Venezuelan artist Jacobo Borges; “Against All Odds,” featuring the captivating Terese Capucilli as the legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt; Buglisi’s mesmerizing “Requiem” of Fauré’s poignant Mass; and the jitterbug gusto of “Mean Ole’ World”. The April 29 performance is free and open to the public, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis. To make reservations, call 845 758 7900 or go to www.fishercenter.bard.edu. Known for their dramatic intensity and technical excellence, Buglisi Foreman Dance was founded in 1994 by four Martha Graham Dance Company principal dancers – Jacqulyn Buglisi, Terese Capucilli, Christine Dakin, and Donlin Foreman. A recipient of the American Dance Guild Award for Artistic Excellence, the Company has performed nationally and internationally at world-renowned theaters and festivals, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; the Joyce Theater, the New Victory Theater; Society of the Performing Arts’ Wortham Center; Vail International Dance Festival; Kravis Center for the Performing Arts; American College Dance Festival at Arizona State University; the State Theater for the Melbourne International Festival, Australia; the Rishon LeZion International Festival, Israel; Montreal, Bombay, Edinburgh, and the International Dance Week in Prague. Margo Jefferson writes in the New York Times “Buglisi Forman Dance renews the Graham technique in all its full bodied glory…Everything is here: those potent torsos, contracting, releasing, spiraling; legs, arms and heads alert to every surge of emotion. They have inherited her theatrical mastery of lighting, costumes and stage space, her way of making us feel that each dance is an encounter with destiny.” On June 4th, Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks will present a site-specific work in the Village of Tivoli, which will be developed in residency. The performance will begin at 2pm in the village of Tivoli in multiple spaces in and around the village’s main street, Broadway. Audiences are asked to meet at the Madalin Hotel at the corner of Broadway (Route 78) and North Road. The performance is free and open to the public. Artistic Director and Choreographer Yoshiko Chuma were born in Osaka, Japan and have lived in the United States since 1978. Her work has been presented in New York in venues ranging from the Joyce Theater to the legendary annual Halloween Parade; and abroad in such locations as the former National Theater of Sarajevo, the perimeter of the Hong Kong harbor and at an ancient ruin in Macedonia. Yoshiko Chuma is the recipient of several fellowships and awards, including those from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Japan Foundation, Meet the Composer Choreographer/Composer Commission and Philip Morris New Works. She received a New York Dance & Performance Award (“Bessie”) in 1984. The School of Hard Knocks, founded in 1984, was the title of the company’s first production, collaboration between Yoshiko Chuma, Jacob Burckhardt and Alvin Curran presented at the 1980 Venice Biennale. www.yoshikochuma.org About the Partners The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is a state-of-the-art cultural institution purpose-built to produce and present music, opera, theater, and dance, and to serve as a home for current and future generations of artistic leaders who are challenging the scope and traditional boundaries of their disciplines. In support of this mission, the Fisher Center collaborates with partners to provide world-class events that will complement the distinctive and outstanding physical facility designed by the architect Frank Gehry to bring new and unusual cultural events to residents of the Hudson Valley. Kaatsbaan International Dance Center is a 153-acre professional facility devoted to building for the future of dance. It was conceived by professional dancers who envisioned a permanent, year-round campus where dancers and dance-related artists could retreat to focus undisturbed on their work. Its magnificent historic Hudson River setting in Tivoli, New York, has formed the foundation for a complex of dance studios, residence halls, theaters, a dining hall and conference center, library, and costume and set production facilities, several of which are already built and in year-round use. The main programs at Kaatsbaan include professional creative residencies, performances in the Studio Theater, workshops and conferences, and Extreme Ballet, a preprofessional intensive program directed by cofounder and international ballerina, Martine van Hamel. # # # (4/18/06)