SUNY & Hartwick College

Presents

Internationally Acclaimed Maureen Fleming Dance

"Transcends the material world and enters a realm of pure spirit . . . wondrous choreographic metamorphoses." The New York Times

The Hartwick College and the State University of New York at Oneonta present Waters of Immortality and Other Works by Maureen Fleming on September 11, 2010 at 8:00 PM at the Goodrich Theater located on the SUNY Oneonta campus honoring this day of days. Ms. Fleming's multidisciplinary performance juxtaposes her singular movement with three dimensional video projections, lighting and visual design by Christopher Odo and features the music of Philip Glass performed live by pianist Bruce Brubaker. Please note: This performance contains partial nudity. 

Waters of Immortality and Other Works is a sensuous multimedia celebration of the feminine archetype. Maureen Fleming invents exquisite movement poetry, sculpting her body into nearly unbelievable, shatteringly beautiful shapes. 

She pushes the boundaries of the body’s expressive potential and challenges the definition of what is physically possible. Part dance, part dream, part sculpture, Fleming explores our never-ending search for what is universal about the journey of the soul.

Information: Call 917.575.4969 or Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts (607) 432-2070. 

This presentation is made possible with support from the Foreman Institute for the Creative Arts and the O'Connor Foundation and the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Facilities courtesy of the SUNY College at Oneonta.

Traumatic Childhood Accident and Influence on Dance Vocabulary

Born in Japan to American parents, Fleming was involved in a violent car accident at age two, which

ironically initiated her into dance. While driving her child, Fleming’s mother is confronted by a cyclist

who suddenly darts in front of her. She slams on the brakes and the child flies through the windshield

causing her to lose a disc between her fourth and fifth vertebrae—a condition that would normally

confine a person to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Fleming recalls that in an intuitive sense of

survival as a little girl she began to create little dances with slow, twisting movements. The twisting

and untwisting of joints increases blood flow, which perhaps became a gradual method of

regeneration, and also made her body extremely flexible.

Collaboration with Philip Glass and David Henry Hwang

To grapple with the trauma of this accident, the incident became the subject of two works by

Fleming, Eros and After Eros, bringing together the composer Philip Glass, the playwright David

Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), and the dancer in two artistic collaborations. Hwang states that wedding

Fleming's story to the myth of Eros and Psyche touched him as an intriguing way to explore themes

of human transcendence. Fleming does not demonstrate transcendence. She accomplishes

transcendence. Like a master sculptor, she uses her extremely supple body to mold images that

reach beyond the mind’s eye and into the subconscious. Pleasure, pain, ecstasy, and love are

presented not as feelings or emotions; they are the states of a body, alive, vibrant, and pulsating.

This is in part due to the legacy of her extensive training with two butoh masters, Min Tanaka and the

late 103-year-old dance legend Kazuo Ohno.

For more information on Maureen Fleming visit: www.maureenfleming.com