Christopher Walken and Karole Armitage need your cast-out pointe shoes

Do you know Armitage Gone ! Dance ?

Maybe you do, maybe you don't but we don't mind actually !
What is important to know and think about, is their need for your old pointe shoes. Yes, you know, those you have thrown away "you don't know where" or kept "as a souvenir". Perhaps also those that are now dirty, unusable because broken too much, ...

So, in short, Armitage Gone! Dance and Christopher Walken want your pointe shoes for an upcoming perfomance at The Joyce Theater on January 22-27, 2008. Choreographer Karole Armitage will premiere her latest work that promises to expand the possibilities of movement and energy by combining the geometry and rhythm of dance steps with the sensuous sweep of classical ballet.

It is a good idea actually, having a little piece of yourself on stage, and knowing that you've done somehting right, helping this company make its creation.

This is Christopher Walken's message

This is different enough from usual fundraisings to make every dancer think "Hey, why not me" and, maybe, decide to take part of this creation. The interesting aspect of this raising is that it does not involve money in our opinion.

More informations about Armitage Gone ! Dance, on their website http://armitagegonedance.org/

You may also find the original video on http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=e41fne9WIXY

We, at dansephoto, plan to send them about 10 old pairs of Audrey's pointe shoes. To reduce shipping costs, we may arrange a global shipping. So, if you want to take part of this effort, please contact us.

Last, if you want to get in touch directly with Armitage Gone ! Dance, You may contact :

• Diane Rosenblatt , Executive Director
• Andi Stover, Administrator
• Andi Stover, Administrator
• Ilter Ibrahimof, North American Touring Representative

Thanks for Armitage Gone ! Dance, and most of all ... Thanks for dance !

A few more about Karole Armitage (from http://www.performances.org/performances/performances.asp?PerformanceID=656) :

Armitage Gone! Dance was launched in 2005 when Karole Armitage returned to the U.S. after 15 years of working abroad. The company is known for its poetic, dreamlike stage productions that combine new dance, music and art.

Armitage formed her first company in 1979. In 1981 the New Yorker dance critic Arlene Croce wrote, It is seldom that a young choreographer makes a debut doing a new thing that is exactly the right thing. Karole Armitage's debut, two years ago, was so startlingly new and so right. In 1985, Armitage formed The Armitage Ballet, a company of twelve that toured to festivals and venues worldwide. In 1993, Time magazine declared, Armitage has emerged as a mature, original choreographer.

Throughout the 1990s, Armitage chose to maintain her company on a project basis while accepting commissions from European ballet and opera companies. In 2004, The Joyce Theater in New York invited Armitage to create a new ballet and she formed a company of dancers for the project. Of this performance, Jennifer Dunning wrote in the New York Times, Karole Armitage's Time is the echo of an axe within a wood is one of the most beautiful dances to be seen in New York in a very long time.

Inspired by the passion and skill of her dancers and the warm reception of her 2004 New York Season, Armitage decided to form a company in New York on a full-time basis. The new company consists of seven members. They come from several countries and have diverse dance backgrounds, though all are primarily trained in classical ballet. They have performed in major companies and now seek to do innovative work that has personal meaning for them.

Armitage will further her investigation of new dance vocabularies wedded to significant contemporary music. She will continue to collaborate with visual artists in her ongoing pursuit of creating great stage design. The company will expand and contract in size depending on the project, though the corps of seven dancers will remain consistent. This fluid company model allows different ideas and theatrical experiences to take shape. Intimate works will continue to play a major role in the company's future while large-scale collaborations will create opportunities for exceptional events.

enjoy,
Audrey & Olivier