Catherine Egan, Celine Bouly and Doug Theriault

Improvising to a structured score created in collaboration with composer Doug Theriault;
Catherine is joined in performance by Celine Bouly – examining, twisting and reshaping the fruits of current studio work.

Catherine Egan is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on performance. Recent work fuses societal themes with her signature choreographic style and timing, creating sensitive performances full of depth and humanity.

Living in Portland since 2009, Celine Bouly performed in ‘Reasonable Doubts’ choreographed by Esther LaPointe (2012), in ‘So I Married Abraham Lincoln…’ choreographed by Randee Paufve (2012), in a trio choreographed by Catherine Egan (2014), in ‘Blue Wheel’ choreographed by Susan Banyas (2015), in a duet choreographed by Catherine Egan ‘Et Voila’ (2016). She choreographed and danced a solo ‘Turn inside out to wash’ for the Blue Sky Festival, DCO (2011), and choreographed with The DreamTeam ‘I am not going to jail !’ (2013).

Doug Theriault is a long time Portland improviser, composer and instrument builder.

Tahni Holt and Luke Wyland w/ Eliza Larson

The Work:
We, Tahni Holt and Luke Wyland, have been in collaboration together of some form or another for the last couple of years. In this particular iteration we are playing with some material surrounding our current projects: Materiality of Tahni’s female identified body, messy sensuality and complicated body, intuition as main instigator, not resisting being defined by the gaze of the other, constant morphing into identifiable/indefinable parts, emotionality, embodied expression. Perhaps some of these things will show up in this iteration, we choose not to predict.

Bios:

Luke Wyland is an interdisciplinary artist and composer working in the fields of music, performance and dance. He is know primarily for his work behind the art-pop band AU, but has been composing music for dance, film and commercials for over 10 years now. A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art (Studio for Interdisciplinary Media), he has presented his work live throughout North America and Europe to critical acclaim.
Tahni Holt is a choreographer, teacher, and organizer who has been creating performances for the past 18 years. She is deeply invested in the ecology of her field. Her work is shaped out of her curiosity around her relationship with what she thinks she knows along with counterbalancing against the political demands that are embedded in this field.

Her creative practice follows her curiosities by asking questions that demand rigorous specificity yet remain open to a terrain of inquiry – inviting rather than prescribing interpretation. She actively uses her intuition, improvisational forms, collaborations with other artists, her on-going somatic practice and any other thing that she obsesses about that catches her fancy to create work.

She is fascinated with how an audience sees to what a performer does and is always trying to keep the complexity of this relationship. Her work deals with perceptions of both audience and performer-always with the desire to never quite be in the know so as to avoid being something that is consumed.

In regards to her choreography her work has been presented throughout the United States, at On The Boards (Seattle), Fusebox Festival (Austin), and The Lucky Penny (Atlanta), and PICA’s TBA Festival (Portland) to name a few. In 2010 Tahni was curated into the PORTLAND 2010 Biennial and is an Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship awardee (2007). She has had the pleasure of being an artist-in-residence most recently at Caldera, as well as Anchorage, Boise, Atlanta, Walla Walla, France, Greece and, in 2013, Romania, with Bucharest choreographer Madalina Dan, funded through the Suitcase Fund of New York Live Arts. She is honored to be a 2014-2015 NDP Touring Award recipient for Duet Love, which toured to Velocity Dance (Seattle), Pica’s TBA Festival and DiverseWorks(Houston). This past year Holt received the Barney Award from White Bird Dance. The award commissions her latest work, Sensation/Disorientation, to premier Jan. 18th-22nd, 2017.

Holt is founder and director of Portland’s newest dance center, FLOCK housed in the Disjecta Arts Center. FLOCK is a dance center for movement exploration, creation and artistic practice, dedicated to Portland’s contemporary and experimental dance artists.

As a composer Vinny Golia fuses the rich heritage of Jazz, contemporary classical and world music into his own unique compositions. Also a bandleader, Golia has presented his music to concert audiences in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the United States in ensembles varying dramatically in size and instrumentation. Mr. Golia has won numerous awards as a composer, including grants from The National Endowment of the Arts, The Lila Wallace Commissioning Program, The California Arts Council, Meet the Composer,Clausen Foundation of the Arts, Funds for U.S. Artists and the American Composers Forum. In 1982 he created the on-going 50 piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble to perform his compositions for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles.

A multi-woodwind performer, Vinny’s recordings have been consistently picked by critics and readers of music journals for their yearly “ten best” lists. In 1990 he was the winner of the Jazz Times TDWR award for Bass Saxophone. In 1998 he ranked 1st in the Cadence Magazine Writers & Readers Poll and has continually placed in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll for Baritone & Soprano Saxophone. In 1999 Vinny won the LA Weekly’s Award for “Best Jazz Musician”. Jazziz Magazine has also named him as one of the 100 people who have influenced the course of Jazz in our Century. In 2006 The Jazz Journalists Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Golia has also contributed original compositions and scores to Ballet and Modern Dance works, video, theatrical productions, and film. As an educator Vinny has lectured on music & painting composition, improvisation, Jazz History, The History of Music in Film, CD & record manufacturing and self-production throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and Canada. He currently teaches at California Institute of the Arts. In 1998 Golia was appointed Regent’s Lecturer at the University of California at San Diego. In 2009 Vinny Golia was appointed the first holder of the Michel Colombier Performer Composer Chair at Cal Arts.

Vinny has been a featured performer with Anthony Braxton, Henry Grimes, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Joelle Leandre, Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Bertram Turetzky, George Lewis, Barre Phillips, The Rova Saxophone Quartet, Patti Smith, Harry “the Hipster” Gibson, Eugene Chadburne, Kevin Ayers, Peter Kowald, John Bergamo, George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennick, Lydia Lunch, Harry Sparrney and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra amongst many others.

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BIO

My name is AVA MENDOZA. I play guitars and stompboxes and write music. Currently I’m based out of Brooklyn, NY. I have played guitar for most of my life and been active for the last decade playing my own music and in many different groups. In any context I try to bring expressivity, energy and a wide sonic range to the music I play. I’ve toured throughout the U.S. and Europe and recorded or performed with a broad spectrum of musicians including singer Carla Bozulich (The Geraldine Fibbers, Evangelista), Fred Frith (Massacre, Henry Cow, Art Bears), Nels Cline, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Weasel Walter, Tune-Yards, and more. I’ve played on recordings released by labels Weird Forest, Tzadik, Clean Feed, NotTwo, ugEXPLODE, Resipiscent, New Atlantis, and others.

Friendly critics have called me “Oakland’s avant-jazz virtuoso” (Brad Cohan, Village Voice), “a versatile and virtuosic guitarist” (The San Francisco Film Society), “a wizard on a semi-circle of effects pedals, but… equally adept with FX-less technique,” (Lars Gotrich, A Blog Supreme/NPR Jazz). I was recently named one of Guitar World‘s “10 Female Guitarists You Should Know”.

My main project these days is UNNATURAL WAYS .

PERFORMED/RECORDED WITH:

Scott Amendola (Nels Cline Singers, Charlie Hunter Quartet), Liz Allbee, Vijay Anderson, Bran(…)pos, Carla Bozulich (The Geraldine Fibbers, Evangelista), Sheldon Brown, Tony Buck (The Necks), members of Caroliner, Nels Cline (Wilco), George Cremaschi, Tim Dahl (Child Abuse, Lydia Lunch), J.A. Deane, Marco Di Gasbarro (Squartet), John Dikeman (Cactus Truck), Thomas Dimuzio, Shayna Dunkleman, Marco Eneidi, Luc Ex, Ben Goldberg, Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Art Bears, Massacre), Vinny Golia, Phillip Greenlief, Franz Hautzinger, Jacob Felix Heule, Devin Hoff (Good for Cows), Gerri Jager (Knaalpot), Darren Johnston, Henry Kaiser (Crazy Backwards Alphabet), Annette Krebs, Thollem McDonas, Lisa Mezzacappa, Butch Morris, Matt Nelson, Hexlove aka Zac Nelson, Kanoko Nishi, Nick Podgurski (Extra Life), Porest aka Mark Gergis, Gino Robair, Aram Shelton, John Shiurba, SF Sound, Damon Smith, Moe! Staiano, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Raphael Vanoli (Knaalpot), Weasel Walter (The Flying Luttenbachers), Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE), Wobbly (Negativland), Tune-yards, William Winant (Mr. Bungle), Kenny Wollesen (Sex Mob), Theater of Yugen, dancers Leyya Mona Tawil, Yuko Kaseki, and Manuela Tessi.

http://avamendozamusic.com/

Battle Hymns and Gamble
This local 4-piece Portland group is an emerging force in the experimental and improvisational community. BHaG first formed in 20077 and from the beginning they have earned a reputation as one of the best improvised based ensembles in the greater Portland Area. Their music draws influences from improvised free jazz and we as various alternative rock influences. They have played at multiple local festivals and venues that cater to improvised music such as: the Portland jazz Festival, Pdx Pop Now Festival and Creative Music Guild’s Improvised Summit of Portland.

Portland, OR-based Thick in the Throat, Honey (Claudia F. Savage, poetry, and John C. Savage, flutes and saxophones) began in 2007 at The Atlantic Center for the Arts. Morphing the traditions of jazz, spoken word, experimental music, chants, and devotional intoning, the duo is known for their unique melding of the disparate. Claudia regularly collaborates with visual artists and has been awarded residencies from Ucross, Jentel, and Hambidge, among others. Her poetry and interviews have recently been in Columbia Journal, Denver Quarterly, CutBank, water-stone review, clade song, Forklift, Ohio, Nimrod, and Bookslut. She is the author of the forthcoming collection Bruising Continents (Spuyten Duyvil, 2017) and the chapbooks: The Last One Eaten: A Maligned Vegetable’s History and The Hour of Anjali. She teaches privately and as an associate poetry fellow at The Attic. John C. Savage has been compared to Rahsaan Roland-Kirk, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Noah Howard, Herbie Mann, and Colin Stetson. He is known equally as “a thoughtful and rigorous improviser” and “a badass, knock-down-drag-out force to be reckoned with” (Willamette Week). John has received honors from New York University (NYU), the Oregon Arts Commission, and RACC, and holds a Ph.D. from NYU in music performance. His most recent release, Cartridge’s Black Heron and the Spoonbill (PJCE Records), featured Claudia’s poetic work which “captured the feel of the album’s carefully layered soundscapes” (Willamette Week). Thick in the Throat Honey’s work has been supported by the Creative Music Guild, RACC, and Oregon State University. Their first album, Love Letters We Never Sent, was released on Thrum Recordings and is available at www.thickinthethroathoney.bandcamp.com

Holland Andrews and Chris Johnedis

“Holland Andrews has already slipped an explosive charge into the middle of Portland’s experimental scene with her darkly devastating work as Like a Villain. Her musical curiosity, though, remains unabated as she explores new avenues with her project I’d Rather Not Talk About It. A self-proclaimed “choral noise piece,” Andrews performs with drummer Chris Johnedis, stirring up soupy maelstroms of sound that recall some of Eric Dolphy’s late-period experiments. ” — ROBERT HAM

This is the electronic experiment from Matt Palenske. These high paced, high energy performances keep the audience engaged and alert due to the sheer charisma Palenske exudes while ferociously thrashes his keyboard and displays pedal footwork. The sporadic, guttural synth sounds with elements of predictability and spontaneity keep audiences constantly on their feet, but able to find a pseudo-constant beat to lock into.

CHOIR is a project directed by Jesse Mejía that re-frames contemporary choral music in new interdisciplinary contexts. CHOIR is process based and centers around the creation of a community. CHOIR meets weekly and any person, at any level of singing experience or commitment can join this practice to take part in an embodied, rigorous study of provocative and difficult works by contemporary composers. The improvised component of performance has physical arrangement generated by members & facilitated by Alyssa Reed-Stuewe.

Improvisation Workshop with Vinny Golia.

As a composer Vinny Golia fuses the rich heritage of Jazz, contemporary classical and world music into his own unique compositions. Also a bandleader, Golia has presented his music to concert audiences in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the United States in ensembles varying dramatically in size and instrumentation. Mr. Golia has won numerous awards as a composer, including grants from The National Endowment of the Arts, The Lila Wallace Commissioning Program, The California Arts Council, Meet the Composer,Clausen Foundation of the Arts, Funds for U.S. Artists and the American Composers Forum. In 1982 he created the on-going 50 piece Vinny Golia Large Ensemble to perform his compositions for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles.