CORE Performance Company performs “Absence/Presence”
at “Artful Thursday” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Based on Joseph Havel exhibition

Houston—May 1, 2006—The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents CORE Performance Company in "Absence/Presence," a dance work drawing inspiration from select pieces in the museum’s exhibition, “Joseph Havel: a Decade of Sculpture 1996-2006,” as part of “Artful Thursday” on May 11 at 6:00 p.m. CORE Performance Company will perform inside the Havel exhibit, sharing the space with minimalist sculptures, many formed from everyday fabrics: curtains, shirts and drapes, and appearing to be suspended in motion. The exhibition is on view at the Caroline Wiess Law Building located at 1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston.

CORE Performance Company navigates the gallery space of the exhibition with a riveting performance of new choreography. Havel’s work hovers between two realms: the absence and presence of the subject in each piece of art and the play between the symbolic versus the representational as well as between looking forward and backward in time. CORE Performance Company engages the human body specifically the dancer/performer, with these dualities, creating a kinesthetic bridge to the exhibition.

“Artful Thursdays” at the MFAH explore art in a friendly, informal atmosphere. Special performances such as this by CORE Performance Company, and other events surrounding the museum’s exhibitions including literary readings, behind-the-scene talks, walking tours and concerts highlight art at the MFAH. The program is cosponsored by KUHF 88.7 FM.

Havel said of his work in an interview, “I have always been interested in larger issues that can be given form and clarity through the discipline of art.” CORE Performance Company and Several Dancers Core share this viewpoint with the sculptor, believing that art can lead to a deeper experience of life, and can help one re-envision life and the future.

MFAH Hours and Admission
The Caroline Wiess Law Building is at 1001 Bissonnet Street. Admission is free on Thursday, courtesy of Shell Oil Company Foundation. For information in Spanish, call 713-639-7379. TDD/TYY for the hearing impaired, call 713-639-7390. The museum´s parking garage is in the MFAH Visitors Center, located at 5600 Fannin Street at Binz Street (entrance on Binz). Free parking is available in two lots on Main Street, at Bissonnet and at Oakdale.

CORE Performance Company
CORE Performance Company, the professional contemporary dance company of Several Dancers Core, focuses on the ongoing development of the artistic process through the creation of new work. Made up of individual artists, the company performs new choreography that evolves through experimentation, improvisation, and collaborations with artists from different mediums. For more information about Several Dancers Core and CORE Performance Company please contact 713-862-5530.

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Committed for 25 years to innovation, risk and collaboration, Several Dancers Core (SDC), a dance organization, creates, performs, and presents contemporary dance. SDC promotes dance awareness and education through performances, presentations, workshops, and classes in contemporary approaches to movement and is dedicated to opening new channels of communication between artists and the community. For more information about Several Dancers Core, please call 713-862-5530 or visit www.severaldancerscore.org.

Several Dancers Core’s 25^th Anniversary Season is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County, the Pattillo Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, Houston Endowment Inc., and AirTran Airways. Artful Thursday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is supported in part by KUHF 88.7 FM.

Photo URL: http://www.severaldancerscore.org/press/photos/havelkimjuana.jpg
Photo credit: Kim Coffman, Dancers: Kim Kleiber and Juana Farfan

Note: For interview requests, contact Susan Schmaeling at 713-349-0780 or saspr at swbell.net.