In conjunction with the Beach Birds: A New Arrangement screening, Patricia Lent will conduct a movement workshop designed to invite participants to experience Beach Birds themselves.
In August 2023, a special arrangement of Merce Cunningham’s iconic 1991 dance Beach Birds was performed on New York’s Rockaway Beach as part of Beach Sessions Dance Series. Beach Birds: A New Arrangement, a film by Alex Munro documenting this performance, will be screened on January 24th at Soundscape Park.
In conjunction with this screening, Patricia Lent will conduct this movement workshop designed to invite participants to experience Beach Birds themselves. The session will begin with a short warm-up, followed by learning selected phrases from the dance. Lent, who taught the dance for the Rockaway performance, will also share ways in which the choreography was adapted for the shoreline.
The workshop is designed for intermediate-level dancers, but movers of all levels are welcome to participate.
Patricia Lent was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1984-1993) and White Oak Dance Project (1994-1996). She later taught elementary school at P.S. 234 in Lower Manhattan (1998-2007). In 2009, Lent was named a trustee of the Merce Cunningham Trust, and currently serves as the Trust’s Co-Director. Lent began teaching technique and repertory workshops at the Merce Cunningham Studio in the late 1980s. In recent years, she has staged Cunningham’s work for numerous companies, conservatories, schools, and museums worldwide. Lent was the principal stager for Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event, presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in April 2019 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Merce Cunningham’s birth. In the summer of 2023, she collaborated on an arrangement of Beach Birds performed on the shoreline at Rockaway Beach.
To request materials in accessible format and accommodation to attend an event, please contact Eventz Paul at 305.576.4350 or email us, at least five days in advance to initiate your request.
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We are accessible and assistive listening devices are available. To request materials in accessible format and accommodation to attend an event, please contact Eventz Paul at 305.576.4350 or email us, at least five days in advance to initiate your request.
Eventz Paul is currently the Technical Director and Productions Manager at Miami Light Project. He has been a part of this organization since 2011. He participated in Miami Light Project’s first class of the Technical Fellowship Program held at The Light Box. He joined this program hoping to improve his existing theater skills. He received training from experts in the industry that mentored and further his theater technical skills. Now, he has successfully used his professional knowledge and has had the opportunity to work with various arts organizations and venues throughout Miami including Miami Theater Center, National Young Arts Foundation, the Colony Theatre and many more. He has become an instructor and conducts audiovisual classes to incoming technical fellows.
Beth Boone has been the Artistic & Executive Director of Miami Light Project since 1998, developing critically acclaimed artistic programs that have asserted the organization as one of the leading cultural institutions in South Florida. These programs include: the establishment of Here & Now, South Florida’s most respected commission and presenting program for community-based artists; premiere presentations of internationally acclaimed; pioneering historic international cultural exchange with Cuba; and the creation of The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, a multi-use performance and visual art space in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District. She previously served as Associate Director of Development for Florida Grand Opera, Deputy Director for the Department of Cultural Affairs at Miami Dade Community College, Wolfson Campus, co-founded an Off Broadway theater company (New York Rep), and served for six years as a Program Associate in the Arts & Culture Program of the AT&T Foundation. She received a B.A. in Fine Arts from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and a MFA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University in Boston, MA.