We is a moving performance focused on the human experience and our relationship to the natural world, presented by the Quick Center in an evening under the stars featuring acclaimed international choreographers and dancers.
Media Contact: Lori N. Jones, ljones@fairfield.edu, 203-254-4000 x2975
On April 13 and 14, 2023 at 7 p.m., Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts will present We, a two-night indoor and outdoor experience that juxtaposes the pieces from choreographer-dancers, Emmanuèle Phuon and Emily Coates. We is a multi-artist, hybrid performance/lecture that utilizes text, video, installation, and the body. The work is about common human emotions and artistic struggles that represent and connect with our natural world.
Having first met while dancing as part of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project and working with Yvonne Rainder, Coates and Phuon began collaborating on this performance during their time as Quick Center Artists in Residence in the spring of 2022, working with College of Arts & Sciences faculty members.
In “Atmospheric Pressures,” the section of We conceived and choreographed by Emily Coates and directed by Ain Gordon, dance collides with scientific discovery and the stars to demonstrate the inherent physicality of our human experience. Through surprising sources — 19th century weather journals, galactic 1930s choreography, reimagined ancient astronomical rites, and an astronaut’s 20th century spacewalk — cosmic dances drift across the centuries, embodying love and science. The performance includes line music by acclaimed violinist and composer Charlie Burham, and features Emily Coates, Derek Lucci, Emmanuèle Phuon, with a guest appearance by Fairfield University physics professor, Pierre Christian, PhD.
In Emmanuèle Phuon’s “Sacrifice” section of We, her focus is centered around the sentient body and encourages audience participation. Phuon seeks to revive ancient ecological interconnections and beliefs in a secular ceremony for the environment, fit for the here and now. Choreographer Phuon is joined in this performance by dancer Amelia Dawe Sanders, with direction by Vincent Dunoyer.
Emily Coates is a dancer, writer, performance-maker, and filmmaker. Coates has performed internationally and has been commissioned for her choreographic work by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Carnegie Hall, Danspace Project, University of Chicago, and more. She is a published author of multiple essays and with physicist Sarah Demers, she is co-author of Physics and Dance (Yale University Press 2019). Coates has been a member of the arts faculty at Yale University since 2006. She is professor in the practice and director of Dance Studies in Theater, Dance and Performance Studies at Yale. In 2010, she founded the Yale Dance Lab. She earned her BA in English in 2006 and an MA and MPhil in American studies from Yale; she is currently completing a PhD in American studies.
Emmanuèle Phuon is a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in New York and Brussels. She grew up in Cambodia and France, born to a French mother and a Cambodian father, which offered her the opportunity to engage with the cultures of Cambodian and Western dance. The central concern of her work revolves around issues of identity, diasporic cultures, and personal and collective histories. She is currently on faculty at Montclair State University and NYU Tisch Open-Arts/Collaborative Arts.
Tickets for We are on sale now at quickcenter.com for $50 to attend both performances and $30 to attend only one evening, or $30 for Quick Members to attend both performances and $20 to attend only one evening. Tickets can also be purchased by contacting the Quick Center Box Office at 203-254-4010, Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Posted On: March 22, 2023
Volume: 54 Number: 88
Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and across the globe are pursuing degrees in the University’s five schools. Fairfield embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. The University is located on a stunning 200-acre campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.