Monday, March 4, 2019

Rova and inkBoat to Reunite for CounterPulse

Those who follow Bleeding Edge columns regularly are sure to be familiar with both the Rova Saxophone Quartet and inkBoat Physical Theatre and Dance. Indeed, these two ensembles collaborated a little less than a year ago to create a performance based on the Beowulf epic. The end of this week will see the beginning of the second CounterPulse Festival; and, while the overall theme of CounterPulse is dance, particularly improvised, Festival programming will include a work-in-progress presentation of inkBoat’s latest project, in which two Rova saxophonists, Bruce Ackley and Steve Adams, will participate.

Dana Iova-Koga (photograph by Shinichi Iova-Koga, from the Facebook Events Web page for Second Storm)

The title of the project is Second Storm, and the inkBoat performance will be directed by Shinichi Iova-Koga. Iova-Koga describes the piece as “a response to inflamed social issues in contemporary America: economic inequality, displacement, and deterioration of the social safety net.” The unifying theme is that of home: its absence, its presence, and the feeling of home as a physical space, identity, or culture. Rather than taking a narrative approach, the performance has been conceived as a landscape, interleaving the music with sounds of field recordings and a variety of text sources. Performers will include Dana Iova-Koga, Kamerin McDonald, and Amy Rathbone; and percussionist Suki O’Kane will join Ackley and Adams.

This performance will begin at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 16; and it is expected to run for about one hour. The venue will be Grace Cathedral, located at 1100 California Street at the top of Nob Hill. General admission will be $24.99 with a $19.99 rate for students and seniors. There are also Patron of the Arts tickets, which are being sold for $34.99. Tickets are currently available for sale online from a Web page on the CounterPulse Secure Ticket Portal. For those wishing to purchase tickets at the door, the box office will open at 4:15 p.m.

No comments: