Please join us Nov.14-18 at The Clouet Gardens, 710 Clouet in the Bywater, at 4pm each day for “A Lovely Picnic, or almost serious, totally magical, rose-colored teatime” at the New Orleans Fringe Festival.
After selling out houses with “domestic variations” at last year’s Fringe, ticktock artistic director Liza Rose is excited to return to New Orleans to present this charming half-hour site-specific contemporary physical exploration. Backed by two musicians and a tree with a swing, Ms. Rose delicately investigates the challenges of self-sufficiency, the revelations of simplicity, and the small joys of solitude that surface while preparing a picnic in the garden. With a generous helping of aerial antics and gorgeous dancing, a side of spontaneous singing, and a whimsical rococo ambience, this playful ritual makes the mundane into magnificent in true ticktock style. Matthew Echert of The SunBreak says to watch Liza perform is to witness “An incredible display of agility, strength, and grace.”
A Lovely Picnic was conceived by ticktock Artistic Director Elizabeth Rose and created with director Jennifer Zeyl while in residence at the Smoke Farm in Arlington, WA, a secluded 350-acre former dairy farm on the Stillaguamish River, cradled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The piece was inspired in large part by their experiences, conversations, and meditations on the Farm. It is directed by Ms. Zeyl (The Itiman Theatre, Washington Ensemble Theatre, On the Boards), and features music composed and performed live by New Orleans native Bruce Salmon (The Inheritance, THAT Damned Band). Violin virtuoso Austin Smith joins the picnic as well, to round out the live music component. ticktock, in its third year as a company, has brought new depth and possibility to its formerly self-directed ensemble of circus performers by reaching out to include new collaborators of a directorial and musical focus. The results have already been heralded as “magical” by local audiences.
We are beyond excited to bring this piece to what is quite possibly the most magical city on earth. Come join us in the garden! A Lovely Picnic waits.
Here’s the short answer to what has been happening: Things have exploded in ticktockland.
Starting where we left off…
New Orleans was amazing. Our show was very well received, and they told us that we drew the largest audiences in the history of the NOFringe. Here is a little video of what that looked like… the NOLA vid starts about 30 seconds in:
Thank you to everyone who helped us get there and back. Thank you to Jennifer Zeyl, Wes Hurley, Keri Kellerman, John Boylan, Nikolai Lesnikov, and every single person who donated to our fundraising campaign. Thank you the the amazing people at NOFringe: Kristen, Emilie, Phil, and Damon, as well as Adam (volunteer manual labor), Jeff (lighting), Ray (incredible host at the Den). Artists, if you want to, and if you can… DO THIS FESTIVAL. Do it.
Here we are backstage at the Den of Muses with Denny, the house cat:
We returned from New Orleans and launched ourselves full force into the Holiday season, which included a bunch of parties and random gigs for everyone. Things were busy.
Last month, our friend and ticktock superfan Goldie Jones at Subversionz Media released a mini documentary she did of us while we were working on the Alley-Up show last September. Check it:
As for this year, the company is officially on hiatus until September.
We are all still very much in love with each other and the work, but we have all been pursuing various other equally exciting personal and professional projects. I asked each of the girls for something to put up here for all our peeps to see, and here’s what they sent me:
Rachel just debuted a new act using a 180 gallon tank full of salt water – this here is it:
She’s “headed to europe for the summer to do a lil work, and a lil travel, working with Fidget Feet, a company based out of Ireland.”
Rachel. You are so beautiful. I can’t wait to squeeze you.
Sage is off and traveling the world kicking ass at circus! She sent me a little list of where she’s been and who she’s seen:
-Personal intensive with the cast and director of C!RCA, Montreal, CA
-Personal training with Irina Naumenko, Montreal, CA
-Workshop with Firenza Guidi and NoFit State, Cardiff, Wales
-Workshop with Maksim Komaro and NoFit State, Cardiff, Wales
-Traveled through Bristol and London to check out the circus/performing scene for a week
That’s a sweet list!
Bridget is back to rocking out after taking 3 months off to heal. She recently returned from a tour in Germany where she took a fall. She spent her healing time rolling on the floor and finding her dance again. She has returned to her aerial training and to performing at The Pink Door and teaching at Emerald City Trapeze Arts.
Bridget… I love the sh*t out of you. Just saying.
Jill just finished dancing with our amazing sister company Manifold Motion in their new show, “Compos Mentis”. Her last performance for a while was March 25th, in which several feather pillows met their maker.
She is currently in production, creating…A HUMAN BEING!!!! Really!!! This work-in-progress will premier around June 7th. Until then she will remain “grounded”, but stay tuned for her post-partum aerial adventures late summer/early fall 2012. Jill is still available for private lessons (verbal feedback only!)
Jilly, we can’t wait to meet your baby girl. Congratulations and welcome to the Mommy club. 🙂
And as for me…
I have been performing here and there. I returned to New Orleans in February and will be back in May. I am collaborating with New Orleans-based sculptor and theatre maker Adam Tourek of New Noise to create a new site-specific performance installation, which we will debut in August in Seattle and November in NOLA. I can’t release all the details yet, but it is VERY cool. I’m beyond excited about working down there, and about this collaboration with Adam.
I also just returned from Austin, where I performed a piece commissioned by choreographer Sharon Marroquin at the Long Center.
2 days after I returned I began performing the Bathtub Solo in the Moisture Festival, which closed 2 weeks ago. Here’s a pic:
I’ll be doing the Bathtub again as part of SEAF in June, as well as choreographing a new ensemble piece commissioned by the Festival on a giant spider web. You should really come see it.
I’ve also been teaching at Versatile Arts, and loving every minute of it! Teaching is beyond inspiring and my students are wonderful! Click the link to check out the current session’s schedule and register for classes. I’ll be teaching Advanced Trap, Doubles, and my infamous Choreography class again, all beginning May 7.
As for the company and when you’ll see us together again… we have a few things coming up in the Fall, but nothing is set in stone just yet. We will definitely be performing excerpts from domestic variations as part of The Next Fifty at Seattle Center, and have received a request to produce dv in its entirety again at the Capitol Theatre in Olympia. All details are still forthcoming.
So there you have it, folks. The long-awaited blog update. Give us a shout. Say “hi”. We’re doin’ good, but we miss you tons. Hope to see you soon.
As you know, we are incredibly honored and excited to be performing at the New
Orleans Fringe Festival in November! As an emerging company, we don’t
yet have all the financial resources of a more established
organization, and we are depending largely on individual supporters to
get us to New Orleans. Get involved! Help us represent our remarkable
Seattle arts community at the NOFringe, where we will perform not only
for brand new audiences, but also an audience of our peers–theatre
makers from all over the country. We need to meet our fundraising goal
of $7000 by October 23 in order to send 3 performers, one stage
manager, one technician, and our entire set of custom apparatus to New
Orleans. Whew!
So don’t delay! We are a Partner Artist of Shunpike, a 501(c)(3)
umbrella organization. This link will take you directly to the online
form where you can make your 100% tax-deductable donation today:
And don’t forget to include your snail-mail address. We have special
thank-yous for donors who contribute $100 or more!
Thanks so much!
-Liza
PS: Special thanks to Wes Hurley for the video magic. ❤
Announcing Team NOLA: Liza Rose, Sage Cushman, and congratulations to the beautiful Rachel Strickland, who was selected from the auditionees on Saturday! We’ve got the inimitable Dani Prados of Gesamtkunstwerk! Theatre as our stage manager, and thank goodness. She makes me feel like I don’t have to do all the hollerin’. : )
The NOFringe schedule will be announced in a few days and we are PSYCHED! In the meantime, please consider a tax-deductable donation to help get us there. It’s easy!
We have to raise almost $7000 to make this trip happen, and frankly, we’re relying on you. As an emerging company, we don’t have all the financial backing of more established organizations. We are excited for the opportunity to show everyone at the NOFringe how we do it in the PNW. It is an important step for ticktock. Seattle represent!
We are perilously close to rolling out a new website– keep your eyes on ticktockdance.com.
toil and trouble 