Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup and David Shenk: Moving Memory Project

Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup and David Shenk present The Moving Memory Project: what we share on Friday, April 5th at 8pm at Broadway Presbyterian Church, 601 W. 114th Street New York, NYC. Free Admission, RSVP required. RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-moving-memory-project-what-we-share-tickets-859732953407/

Launched in 2019, The Moving Memory Project embodies its founders’ vision of bringing together artists, caregivers, and seniors to create a community of care surrounding issues connected to memory loss and destigmatizing the diagnosis of dementia, with the goal of raising awareness, to increase funding, until a cure is found. “Works like this can help the world think and talk about Alzheimer's in important new ways” says co-producer David Shenk, whose writings on Alzheimer's and dementia garnered him international acclaim as an authority on the subject.

PROGRAM DETAILS

The evening begins with an interactive game designed to bring people together through unexpected discoveries about what they have in common, followed by a performance of Nelson’s latest iteration of Dea, a 30-minute extended version of the piece recently presented on Feb. 9 at the previous Moving Memory Project event. The evening culminates with a post-performance discussion led by David Shenk who will discuss exciting breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s related research.

Dea, performed by Paige Doku; soundtrack by composers Borut Krzisnik and Katie Jenkins; light design by Lauren Parrish, is inspired by the play Nostra Dea (Our Goddess), written by Massimo Bontempelli in 1925. The protagonist is memoryless. Multiple identities, traits, and appearances meet on this constantly renewed blank slate. Without any sense of self or past, Dea bridges the gap between human and other, questioning our sense of self and others with evolving identities and renewed behaviors. Previous iterations of Dea in solo, trio, and larger groups have been presented at the Festival Quartiers Danses in Montréal, Motore 592 in Lucca, Indiana University, and Les Champs Mélisey in Burgundy. This research will culminate into an evening length piece to premiere in 2025 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the play.

For more information, visit http://www.sndancegroup.org

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS

Stefanie Nelson (Concept, Producer) Stefanie Nelson founded and directs Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup (SND), a contemporary performance group based in NYC; DANCE ITALIA, an international summer dance festival in Lucca, Italy, and Motore592, a bold new contemporary arts center in Lucca, IT. She approaches her work, described as 'instinctual, untamed, and edgy' intuitively, distilling deeply personal ideas into highly kinetic, expressive, and provocative works rooted in cross-media collaboration with artists working in music, video, and visual arts. SND has been presented in Canada, Mexico, Italy, and the US. Entering the dance field as a performer, notably as a soloist with Anna Sokolow’s Player’s Project, Nelson is an accomplished teacher as well having been invited to many studios and educational institutions worldwide. The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) identified her as an ‘Emerging Leader’ in the field of dance providing a year-long mentorship. She's served as a Choreography panelist for NYFA's prestigious Artists’ Fellowship awards as well as for the Joyce Theater and local NYC-based dance festivals. Nelson collaborated with fashion designer Terrence Zhou / Bad Binch TONGTONG for his New York Fashion Week SS23 debut and SS24 performance. She choreographed Plan-B, a feature film starring Diane Keaton and has collaborated with AHRC NYC, a disabilities service org. to provide over 100 annual creative empowerment workshops free of charge to intellectually and /or physically disabled dancers since 2014. Additional community initiatives include the Moving Memory Project with NY-times bestselling author, David Shenk, a Young Artists program that specifically provides research and performance opportunities for movement-based artists between the ages of 15-23, and Creative Movement classes for children ages 5-7. 

sndancegroup.org, danceitalia.com, motore592.com

David Shenk (Co-producer) is the award-winning and national bestselling author of six books, including The Genius in All of Us ("deeply interesting and important" – The New York Times), The Forgetting ("remarkable" – The Los Angeles Times), Data Smog ("indispensable" – The New York Times), and The Immortal Game ("superb" – The Wall Street Journal). He is a popular lecturer, a short-film director/producer, and a contributor to National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Nature Biotechnology, Harper's, Spy, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, NPR, and BBC. PBS’s "The Forgetting," inspired by Shenk’s book, won an Emmy in 2004. In 2006, the book The Forgetting was featured in Sarah Polley's Oscar-nominated film "Away From Her." Shenk has advised the President's Council on Bioethics on dementia-related issues, served as a Senior Advisor to Cure Alzheimer's Fund, and is the Creator/Executive Producer of the "Living with Alzheimer's" film project. Shenk lives in Brooklyn. http://www.davidshenk.com

Paige Doku (Dancer) is originally from Leicester, Massachusetts. She received her early training at the Hanover Theater Conservatory, where she studied classical ballet, modern and contemporary. Doku proceeded to attend the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she received a BFA in contemporary dance performance in 2023. Along with her collegiate studies, Paige simultaneously trained with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company in Israel. She has performed works by Kate Weare, Victor Quijada, Stefanie Nelson, Maya Orchin, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano and Rami Be’er, among others.

This event is made possible, in part, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts; by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the West Harlem Development Corporation; and the New York State Council on the Arts.