TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. Co-Founding Directors: Todd Richmond Paz Tanjuaquio
www.topazarts.org
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
quotes “ intelligently conceived, image-filled dance… moving with sharply delineated precision… Ms. Tanjuaquio suggested the necessity of art in frightening times.” (Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times)
“ Tanjuaquio dances with strength like a blessing arising from fervent discipline. Exuding serenity within constant motion, she’s Shiva, and every possible direction of space feels the clean, razor-sharp slice of her limbs.” (Exclusive Reviews by Eva Yaa Asantewaa)
“ Richmond's marvelous film creates the illusion of the corner of a room, or an open book, on the flat back wall. The images, accompanied by his spare music, are of landscapes—sometimes populated by the dancers in the work… They're like voyagers but also like sentinels. (Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice)
“ Paz Tanjuaquio is an optical illusionist. Her style blends ballet, modern dance, improvisation and butoh, offering a clarity not always apparent in contemporary dance.” (Gia Kourlas, Time Out New York)
“ ...a dancer of extraordinary concentration and quiet radiance” (Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times)
“ Tanjuaquio is a ravishing presence, strong and serene.” (Tobi Tobias, The Village Voice)
“ The complexity of the movement structures... proved that Tanjuaquio is a thinking choreographer.” (Constance Valis Hill, The Vineyard Gazzette)
photos: video stills of Paz Tanjuaquio in “Thunder Against 1.2.3.” at the Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church, NY
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
artists TOPAZ ARTS integrates art forms, from choreography and performance to visual art, film and design. A seamless collaboration of movement and images, dances by TOPAZ ARTS immerse the audience in a visceral world, creating kinetic environments that transport the viewer to an imaginative place.
PAZ TANJUAQUIO (Choreographer/Dancer/Visual Artist), born 1966 in the Philippines and raised in Illinois and California, has been creating dances in New York City since 1990. Her background in visual arts led her to further explore ideas in the form of movement and choreography. Her work has been commissioned and presented in New York at such venues as Performance Space 122, Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks Series, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Aaron Davis Hall, Symphony Space, Dixon Place, Joyce SoHo Presents, Thelma Hill Performing Arts; and nationally at Godt-Cleary Projects in Las Vegas, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and Ohio University. In collaboration with composer Todd Richmond, she has created numerous works including evening-length dance “on the other side of silence” (2008) and “ascendance” at TOPAZ ARTS, “Thunder/Silence” (2006) presented at Joyce SoHo, “Thunder Against 1. 2. 3.” premiered at the Danspace Project, “TWELVE” (2001) commissioned by Performance Space 122, and "Strange Fruit and Other Secrets" (1999) at the Merce Cunningham Studio. Recent awards include the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer Commissioning/USA, New York Foundation for the Arts BUILD/Homer Avila Memorial Award, two Individual Artist Awards from Queens Council on the Arts, and Dance Theater Workshop’s Suitcase Fund where she participated in the Mekong Project’s Cambodia Creative Residency 2004 and artistic research travel in Vietnam 2003. She has been artist-in-residence at Kaatsbaan in Tivoli, NY, Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, Akiyoshidai International Art Village in Japan, The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard, Bennington College in Vermont and Movement Research in New York. As a performer, she has danced for Molissa Fenley and Dancers since 1997 and with Marlies Yearby’s Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater from 1991-96. She has performed in the works of Carl Hancock Rux, Maureen Fleming, Margarita Guergue, Clarinda Mac Low, Stephen Petronio, Kevin Wynn, Christalyn Wright, Stefa Zawerucha, among others. She received her MFA in Dance from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and her BA in Visual Arts from University of California, San Diego. She is co-founder and director of TOPAZ ARTS, Inc.
TODD RICHMOND (Composer/Film/Visual Design), born 1962 in Pittsburgh, PA, is a composer whose musical approach involves relationships to dance, film and visual arts. Awards for his compositions for dance include the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer Commissioning/USA, Individual Artist Award from Queens Council on the Arts with funds from NY State Council on the Arts, and an ASCAP/Gershwin Award for music for dance and film. His collaborations in dance began in 1993, working as composer, set designer and filmmaker with choreographer Paz Tanjuaquio as well as with many New York City and international choreographers. His works have been seen and heard in NYC at such venues as Danspace Project, Dance Theater Workshop, Performance Space 122, nationally from Las Vegas at Godt-Cleary Projects to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and internationally at the National Theater in Seoul, Korea and Sovannah Phum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He has been an artist-in-residence at Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida for a dance on camera residency with master artist Merce Cunningham. His dance films have been presented at Dance Films Association, Queens Museum of Art, Video Cha Cha at Bryant Park and featured on Dance on Camera Festival's "Tape of the Day" at the Donnell Media Center. As a visual artist, he was assistant to sculptor Richard Artschwager from 1990-1995 and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Richmond is a graduate of City College of New York in Music and Film. He is co-founder and director of TOPAZ ARTS, Inc.
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
productions EVENING-LENGTH DANCE WORKS: on the other side of silence (2008): 70 minutes An evening-length dance and performance installation for six dancers. Choreographed by Paz Tanjuaquio, this multidisciplinary work brings the timeless relevance of a 1952 manuscript written by Yoko Ono, SOUNDLESS MUSIC. Written by 19-year-old Ono just years after the nuclear attacks on Japan, this seminal work is translated through dance and imagery by Tanjuaquio with original music and film by Todd Richmond, lighting design by Mark T. Simpson. THUNDER AGAINST 1. 2. 3. (2005): 35 minutes A three-part solo choreographed and performed by Paz Tanjuaquio, with music & visual design by Todd Richmond; costume design: Monstah Black; lighting design: Carol Mullins. Full trilogy premiered at Danspace Project, NY, October 2005. Inspired by Tristan Tzara’s 1918 DaDa Manifesto, this work is presented with integral video images, and may be performed as separate sections: PART 1: Under the Middle Bridge (2003), premiered at Dance Theater Workshop PART 2: Dancing to Cambodia (2004), premiered at TOPAZ ARTS/Noguchi Museum Presentation PART 3: Etre (To Be) (2005), premiered at Danspace Project TWELVE (2001): 45 minutes Evening-length work for 5 dancers with choreography by Paz Tanjuaquio; original music and video by Todd Richmond; text by Ava Chin. Commissioned by and premiered at Performance Space 122, NY, May 2001. This work explores the significance of the number 12 in our lives, through dance, visuals and spoken word. Strange Fruit & Other Secrets (1999): 60 minutes Evening-length work for 5 dancers with music and video by Todd Richmond; visual art by Albert Chong; original text by Ava Chin, Luis H. Francia, Nicky Paraiso, George Emilio Sanchez; costumes by Alpana Bawa. Inspired by a research trip to the Philippines, this work was developed at The Yard at Martha’s Vineyard, Akiyoshidai International Art Village in Japan, Thelma Hill Performing Arts. Excerpts presented by Joyce SoHo, Aaron Davis Hall, Symphony Space, NY and Philadelphia Fringe Festival 2000, PA. Premiered at Merce Cunningham Studio, NY, June 1999.
DANCE ON FILM:
Fulcrum, (2009): 13 minutes, 16mm color Director: Todd Richmond; choreography: Paz Tanjuaquio; Music: Todd Richmond. Filmed at various locations from NY and Vermont to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, Fulcrum is a journey within dream-state and reality, as two dancers float through alternating scenes of nature and urban environments. Premiered at The American Dance Festival’s 15th Annual DANCING FOR THE CAMERA: International Festival of Film and Video Dance SILENCE, (2007): 20 minutes, 16mm black & white Director: Todd Richmond; choreography: Paz Tanjuaquio; Music: Todd Richmond. Based on “The Soundless Music by Yoko Ono” this work explores its whimsical imagery, filming places of silence. Dancing to Cambodia, (2005): 11 minutes, 16mm color Director: Todd Richmond; Contemporary choreography: Paz Tanjuaquio; Traditional choreography: Chuon Sovannary; Music: Todd Richmond. Filmed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, this work highlights two extremes of dance—the ancient Khmer classical form and contemporary dance from New York—the visually rich and complex history of Cambodia is embodied in their collaboration. Rooftop, (2004): 6 minutes, 16mm black & white Director: Todd Richmond Performer and choreographer: Paz Tanjuaquio Music: Todd Richmond Displaced Garden, (1997): 6 minutes, 16mm color Director: Todd Richmond Performer and choreographer: Paz Tanjuaquio Camera: Brian Dean Richmond; Music: Todd Richmond
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
May2009
www.topazarts.org
Times Ledger, June 14, 2007
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
Times Ledger, June 14, 2007
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
DANCE REVIEW
Security Concerns in Travels to Distant Shores BY ROSLYN SULCAS Published: November 1, 2005
Imaginary voyages to Southeast Asia linked two short but satisfying pieces on a program of intelligently conceived, image-filled dance by the choreographers Paz Tanjuaquio and Joyce S. Lim at St. Mark’s Church on Friday night.
Paz Tanjuaquio in "Thunder Against 1,2,3" at St. Mark’s Church. Tom Brazil
First came “Thunder Against 1.2.3.,” a solo choreographed and danced by Ms. Tanjuaquio, who was born in the Philippines and has worked in New York since 1990. An official-looking security guard (wearing a badge marked “Dance Authority”) checked bags before lights dimmed and brightened upon Ms. Tanjuaquio, moving with sharply delineated precision to knocking, clanking sounds. The stretched, geometric clarity of the movement, sustained throughout the three sections of the work, is Ms. Tanjuaquio’s strongest asset — along with a mellifluous voice that renders the spoken sections of the work (a poem and diary extracts about a trip to Cambodia) rather more than the sum of their parts. A number of short films (variously by Brian Dean Richmond, Todd Richmond and Ms. Tanjuaquio) accompany the solo, their fleeting, mostly obscured images offering a counterpoint to the sharp clarity of the dance. In the last section, a mildly amusing spoof of a CNN-style report (subject: “Is dance good for America?”) precedes a more urgent solo, watched by two impassive security guards. Her arms sweeping from side to side, legs whipping her body through the beautiful open space of St. Mark’s, Ms. Tanjuaquio suggested the necessity of art in frightening times.
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
Harmonious Worlds
Two women choreograph peaceful climates in disastrous times by Deborah Jowitt
The Village Voice June 13th, 2006 Paz Tanjuaquio and Todd Richmond Joyce Soho: June 1 through 3 Allyson Green Dance Danspace Project at Saint Mark's Church: June 2 through 4 Some dancers move as if their bones and joints were flexible wires, driven by a ticking inner power source. Others respond to invisible forces—interior or exterior siroccos—tumbling them this way and that. Paz Tanjuaquio and Allyson Green have distinctive presences and styles that fall between these extremes. Arresting performers, they project serenity, gentleness, and thoughtfulness that are in no way bland. Bursts of swiftness sometimes propel them into leaps, but not the photo-op soarings we see on the ballet stage; they're low and easy, rebounding as if the floor were suddenly resilient. When these dancers lift one leg into the air, they're not unfurling a flag, but testing equilibrium or recovering from temporary imbalance. Their choreographic patterns and the shapes their bodies form are clear without being emphatic. In different ways, these two choreographers are concerned with landscape. Not surprising. Tanjuaquio has in recent years been involved with projects in Asia. Green has worked extensively in Eastern Europe and left New York a few years ago to teach at the University of California at San Diego. They perform as if seeing into great distances. Tanjuaquio wheels her straight arms like weather vanes. One memorable gesture recurs in Green's work: She lifts her arms to the sides, squared off, palms forward, the way you might if surrendering to cops, but cranes her neck slightly forward; she might be looking out a window, listening for a sound, or pushing a thought behind her. Collaborators provide virtual landscapes for both. Tanjuaquio has been working closely with composer and visual designer Todd Richmond since they founded Topaz Arts, Inc. in 1990. Mark Simpson's red wash and borders and regions of white light are a vital component of her To Be: 'Etre', the third part of Thunder. In at least one recent piece by Green and in her new duet Abandon, artist Peter Terezakis's light installations play a vital role. Tom Ontveros's video projections and original lighting designs (recreated at these performances by Carol Mullins) grace the also new Full Circle. In pointing out qualities and ideas that the two choreographers have in common, I'm not implying that they aren't distinctive as artists and people. For one thing, Tanjuaquio is small, trim, and dark, Green fair and extremely slender. In terms of these concerts, emotionally loaded gestures and actions crop up in Green's dances; Tanjuaquio is cooler—both in her choreography and her own presence. The four women in her The Soundless Music By Yoko Ono Choreographed by Paz Tanjuaquio (presented as a preview) rarely touch, while Green's dancers, especially the guesting members of the Tijuana company Lux Boreal Contemporanea Danza, for whom she created Nada Que Declarar (but everything to say), push and slide their way into sometimes intimate contact. The ongoingness of Tanjuaquio's solo work reminds me of Molissa Fenley, whose choreography she has performed. The first and third parts of Thunder are like journeys that rarely pause, even though they revisit the same movements and points in space. The second part, a film made during Richmond and Tanjuaquio's 2004 residency in Cambodia, reveals links between her luminous composure and that of the lovely young traditional dancer with whom she exchanges steps. Their tranquillity is curiously at odds with Richmond's rapid cutting rhythms between views of dancing and sights along the Mekong. And, performing in the first part of the dance against the film Unter der Mittleren Brücke by Richmond and Brian Dean Richmond, Tanjuaquio seems almost still compared to the flurry of enigmatic, blurred black-and-white (more blue than black) images of the moon, clouds, water, a bridge, wheeling lights, etc. competing for our attention. The text that apparently accompanied earlier performances of Thunder has vanished, nor is one inspiration, Tristan Tzara's Dada Manifesto of 1918, manifest in the work, except in terms of the blending of possibly contrary visions and dynamics. Yoko Ono's text plays no obvious role in her new piece, for which Richmond's marvelous film creates the illusion of the corner of a room, or an open book, on the flat back wall. The images, accompanied by his spare music, are of landscapes—sometimes populated by the dancers in the work. Metal structures such as wrought iron balconies, elevators, the Perisphere from the 1939 World's Fair, and the Eiffel Tower elegantly offset the unhurried onstage forays of Lynn Huang, Chia Ying Kao, Uta Takemura, and Tanjuaquio into unison, pairings, and a brief solo for Takemura. They're like voyagers but also like sentinels. In the end the filmed images are replaced by their swaying shadows. . . The work of both Tanjuaquio and Green emerges from a world enmeshed in violence. The dancing they make, however abstract, offers another model: moral, cooperative, peaceful.
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
DANCING WITH EVA YAA ASANTEWAA: EXCLUSIVE REVIEWS by Eva Yaa Asantewaa Review No. 47 Posted: October 31, 2005 With inspirations as charged as Tristan Tzara’s manifesto, a Spalding Gray monologue, a Futurist poem, and a Frontline special entitled Is WalMart Good for America?, you might worry that Paz Tanjuaquio’s dancing would get buried under high concept. No such thing occurs. Instead, in Thunder Against 1.2.3., the Philippines-born choreographer’s performance clearly emerges as the best ingredient of all. Thunder Against 1.2.3. includes three solos linked by their connection to Tanjuaquio’s experiences, shifting identities, emerging questions, and creative discoveries on her travels through Asia, which are represented in various intriguing film and video backdrops as well as spoken text. Dance collides with two unsatisfying realities of contemporary American life: homeland security measures and mainstream media. The former, under the guise of protecting and reassuring the people, sends a chill that stifles creativity and community. The latter devours everything it surveys, spitting up a pellet that in no way resembles what it consumed. In Thunder Against 1.2.3. , Tanjuaquio ignores and resists both of these agents of coercion, speaking for herself and remaining herself. Tanjuaquio dances with strength like a blessing arising from fervent discipline… Exuding serenity within constant motion, she’s Shiva, and every possible direction of space feels the clean, razor-sharp slice of her limbs.
A petite, elegant woman, Tanjuaquio dances with strength like a blessing arising from fervent discipline. In the first solo, Under the Middle Bridge (premiered in the spring of 2003 at Dance Theater Workshop), she moves with sharp accuracy and arms that draw back like bows or carve the air like sickles. Exuding serenity within constant motion, she’s Shiva, and every possible direction of space feels the clean, razor-sharp slice of her limbs. Dancing to Cambodia--premiered last December at Tanjuaquio’s TOPAZ ARTS center in Woodside, Queens–draws from her travel journaling. She briefly muses on her chameleon status as she enters one country after another–"In the Philippines, I am American"–and how being on holy ground makes her momentarily question the importance of postmodern dance at a time when traditional cultures are endangered. Her apparent solution creates in her accepting body a place for the Cambodian classical mode as she recalls admiring dancing figures depicted in stone. Her arms move in opposition to one another, her torso twists over her lower body, and a bent knee swings out to her side. She will hold and nurture this foreign culture within herself. Thriving there, it will inform her work. In the video for the new piece--To Be "Etre"–an "embedded" TV news reporter asks the question, "Is dance good for America?" and sets out to "intrude upon dance." Although the reporter makes it all the way into Tanjuaquio’s dressing room, the dancer maintains a slightly amused self-possession and an opacity that renders the imposition impotent. Beautiful and beautifully-trained, Tanjuaquio would be a joy to watch even without the themes and artifacts with which she surrounds herself in this suite of dances. To Be "Etre" ends without apparent choreographic resolution, as if simply snipped off. This ending disappoints but may be intentional, portending journeys to come: more process, more questions to explore.
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org
contact
pictured: Paz Tanjuaquio photo by: Todd Richmond
For more information: Contact: Paz Tanjuaquio Mailing Address: PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 Studio Address: 55-03 39 Avenue, Woodside, Queens th
ph/fax: 718-505-0440 email: info@topazarts.org Available upon request: High resolution photos and DVD of all works
www.topazarts.org TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. | PO Box 770150, Woodside, NY 11377 | ph/fax: 718-505-0440 |
www.topazarts.org