2011 Alpert Award-winner andUC Davis Ph.D. candidate in performance studies Jess Curtis will perform his latest work, Jess Meets Angus, as part of the Department of Theatre and Dance’s Institute for Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance on April 5 and 6 in Lab A, Wright Hall at UC Davis.

Jess Meets Angus is a co-production of Jess Curtis/Gravity and Silke Z./resistdance. The second episode of Cologne-based choreographer Silke Z.’s Just Between Us – The Generation Project, the piece is set to premiere in the U.S. at CounterPULSE in San Francisco March 29 to April 1.

Curtis is joined by Scottish actor, dancer and director Angus Balbernie in an exploration of what it means to be men of a certain age and performers in their fifties. Through physical movement and dialogue, the two experience reflection, aging, nostalgia, regret, and anticipation of the future.

Just Between Us is made up of four episodes, each featuring two performers of a given generation, which explore each generation’s unique understanding of identity and life experience. The pairs are young adults age 20+, men 30+, working mothers 40+, and professionals 50+ (Jess Meets Angus).

The piece was first performed in Cologne in October 2010 and has toured to Bonn, Berlin and Essen in Germany and Vilnius, Lithuania.

Critic Thomas Linden, of the newspaper Kölnische Rundschau, said of the piece: “Curtis and Balbernie give us the chance to experience the fascination of the male body, without removing their clothing, just with their compact presence. They dance, carry each other, carefully; very male in their preparedness to accept this heavy body. They can wait; they have a target, without the needing to name it. They still have questions, but they don’t have answers anymore. Life is too complicated to be able to explain in a few words. A beautiful production, rich with experience…”

Jess Curtis recently received the prestigious 2011 Alpert Award in the Arts in dance.  The award recognized his impressive body of work ranging from the underground extremes of Mission District Warehouses with Contraband and CORE (1985-1998) to the formal refinement and exuberance of European State Theaters and Circus Tents with Compagnie Cahin-Caha and Jess Curtis/Gravity (1998-present). Often working within a paradigm of collaboration and co-authorship, Curtis has also produced thoughtful and engaging work with a number of innovative artists including Maria Francesca Scaroni, Claire Cunningham and the Fabrik Companie in Potsdam, Germany. He has been commissioned to create works for companies such as Artblau in Germany, Contact Art in Milan, Italy, Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company in England, and Croi Glan Integrated Dance in Ireland. Curtis and Gravity have received a total of six Isadora Duncan Dance awards and a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for fallen, which went on to tour over 40 cities in nine countries. Curtis teaches dance, contact improvisation, and interdisciplinary performance throughout the U.S. and Europe and has been a visiting professor at UC Berkeley and the University of the Arts in Berlin. He holds an M.F.A. in choreography from UC Davis where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in performance studies. 

The UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance’s lnstitute for Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance offers opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff from across the campus community to further research through practical exploration and application. The goal is to expand understanding of creative power, of different kinds of knowledge, especially the embodied, and of communication that offers insight into different cultures and peoples. The Institute encourages cutting edge research and production across fields of practice and in dialogue with the diverse community of Davis and beyond.

What: Jess Meets Angus, from SilkeZ./ResistDance’s Just Between Us – The Generation Project. UC Davis Ph.D. candidate Jess Curtis and Scottish performer Angus Balbernie reflect on being men “of a certain age” through theatrical dance and dialogue.

Where: Lab A, Wright Hall, UC Davis

When: 8 p.m. Thursday – Friday, April 5 – 6 

Tickets:  Free of charge with limited seating on a first come, first served basis.