XYZ NYC Competitive Dance Series Celebrates Third Installment Tonight

xyz nyc competitive dance series celebrates its third installment tonight, December 13th. Modern dance-makers from across the city are invited to come together, meet for possibly the first time, and take on the difficult task of creating a new piece and showing it for an audience in a single week.

3-4 choreographers are chosen randomly each month, and the remaining interested dancers are assigned randomly to them. Every month has a different theme to be woven into the nascent dances, as well as last-minute choreographic challenges that are required to be incorporated into the pieces. The theme for this round will be "the real and the imagined." The secondary challenge will be to use an improvisational score coupled with previously choreographed material.

The public performance that happens a week after the initial meeting is a competition between these 3-4 pieces. Guest judges will provide feedback and commentary for each piece, but the winner is ultimately decided through an audience vote. Each audience member will need to justify their vote by giving a reason on a sheet of paper. The best of these are passed on to the choreographers who received the votes- giving them positive feedback not just from the judges but from the "regular" audience as well.

Catie Cuan was declared the winner of xyz nyc: Round 2, on November 18. She will perform again in the championship round in 2013, along with first-round winner Nehemoyia Young and the winner of Round 3.

The presentation of the work will be tonight, December 13 at 9:30PM. Tickets are $10 and availabe at http://xyznyc.brownpapertickets.com. The performance is at 151 W 46th Street, 8th Floor. Visit http://xyz-nyc.tumblr.com for more information.

Photo Credit: Patrick Rousseau