Push Dance Company

	WORKS-TO-SEE

Photos by Sinru Ku

Choreography by Raissa Simpson
Community partnership: 3rd St Youth Center & Clinic
Music: Kyle Canfield and various artists
Sets & Costume Design: Marlon Sagana Ingram

Mixed Messages (Two-year exploration process premiering in 2011) is a lush 40-minute multimedia septet able to be excerpted or shown in its entirety. Audience members pass through a series of intricate mixed-race imagery bound by isolation, identity, self-image, and acceptance.

"In Mixed Messages, dancers will investigate ideas, time and space through the body movements of mythical creatures in an urban environment." ColorLines Magazine

Credits: Co-commissioned by San Francisco Arts Commission Exlporation Grant 2009 & Realization Grant 2011, the Zellerbach Family Foundation in association with William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

The work is also backed by Dancers' Group Lighting Artist in Dance award.

[top ^]

Photos by Sinru Ku

Choreography: Raissa Simpson
Music: JooWan Kim
Lyrics by MC Kirby Dominant
Costumes: Simone Van Der Meer
Light Design: Desiree Carrillo

Black Swordsman Saga (2010) is a 1-hour millennial allegoric hip-hop opera set to the rapping of MC Kirby Dominant and music of JooWan Kim. A post-apocalyptic setting is created as dancers sift through dynamic storytelling and an Ariel dance flying sequence.

“Simpson reinvents classical ballet and modern dance aesthetics with a sleek and sexy edge. Ultimately, her sleek style transcends confining categories. While her movement style refuses to be pinned down...” SF Guardian

Credits: Black Swordsman Saga is made possible in part with funds by Margaret Jenkins Dance Company's CHIME, the Zellerbach Family Foundation in association with William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Read the
Black Swordsman Libretto

[top ^]

Photos by Sinru Ku

Choreography: Raissa Simpson
Media & Music: Marlon Sagana Ingram
Costume: Jamielyn Duggan

Judgments In Milliseconds (2008) is a humorous 8-minute multimedia solo inspired by the simulation facing African American hair in today’s culture.

"Wry study of African American identity." San Francisco Chronicle

Credits: Co-commissioned by Zellerbach Family Foundation in association with William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and Theatre Bay Area CA$H Organizational Grant

[top ^]

	ARCHIVAL WORKS

Post Meridian
Choreography: Raissa Simpson
Music: Unwoman
Live Feed: Raissa Simpson
A10-minute sextet for men and women with live cello-singer music
Funded in part by Zellerbach Family Foundation

Andinfinitum
Choreography: Raissa Simpson
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
An ardent solo that investigates reckless hope and loss.

Foyer Project (2007)
Original Composition: Keith Moore
Film: Joie Rey Cohen
Premiere: CounterPULSE
8-minute energetic display of interpersonal relationships and mass movement through city surroundings
Funded by Zellerbach Family Foundation

Inner Cinema (2007)
Video & Soundscape: Joie Rey Cohen
Text: Raissa Simpson
Film: Elizabeth Mendana
A quartet showing reflective histories of the Harlem Renaissance
Commissioned by the Black Choreographers Festival

Buried Alive (2007)
Original Composition: Unwoman
Animation: Joie Rey Cohen
Premiere: CounterPULSE
A quartet for women with commentary on the subservient roles in society
Peoples Choice Award” honoree, San Jose State University
Commissioned by Zellerbach Family Foundation

Grasp (2006)
Group work evoking memories of an ocean wave coming to shore.
Music: Tarika Sammy
Premiere: Dance Mission Theater

Fable (2005)
In Collaboration with: James Atkinson
Premiere: CounterPULSE
Fable is a 7-minute solo for Oakland Ballet dancer James Atkinson

Headliner (2005 restaged 2006)
Original Composition: Keith Moore
Premiere: Cowell Theater
Fiery 10-minute heavy metal music piece for men and women
Commissioned by Collaboration Dance & Music

[top ^]

	Bitter Melon
	Mixed Messages
	Black Swordsman Saga
	Judgments In Milliseconds
	Works-to-See
	Archival Works
	Media