A Dance in 48 Hours

Presented by Leymis Bolanos - Wilmott, Erin Fletcher, Shila Tirabassi, Travis Mesman & Friends

You're invited to witness the creative process and resulting choreography during "A Dance in 48 HOURS", July 8-9, 2011 at The Studio@620. Movement. Time. Collaboration. Memories. Four choreographers manifest their visions in an evening of dance conceived, directed, choreographed all in 48 Hours of time.

Rehearsals will be open to the public free of charge. Come by and view the cranial process Friday July 8 from 3-4pm and 7-8pm.

Two performances will be held on Saturday July 9th at 6:00 and 8:00 PM. General admission $20, students or seniors $15

"It is time to rescue the phenomenon of memory from being regarded as a psychological faculty and to see it as an essential element of the finite historical being of man" - Gadamer

About the Dancers

Shila Tirrabassi Shila was born in St. Petersburg, FL where she attended Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School. Upon graduation Shila moved to NYC to further her dance training. It was there that she received her BFA from The Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy and enjoyed a 10 year career with the Stephen Petronio Company where she served as Rehearsal Director and Assistant to the Choreographer both in NYC and abroad. Her other professional experiences include Battleworks, Ballet Hispanico, The Merce Cunningham Repertory Group, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group and Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects. Shila has recently moved back to St. Petersburg to be near her family and fulfill her dream of opening her own yoga studio.

 

Travis Mesman Travis was born and sun burned in the town of Mobile, Alabama until the ripe age of 20 when he decided that he wanted to become a professional dancer. Before that he trained as a gymnast and musician. While his dance training was very minimal, and through a stroke of luck, Travis came to St. Petersburg to train under Suzanne Pomerantzeff and Patricia Page as a guest of PCCA. After one year of painful transformation, Travis moved to the big city to get his formal education at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. There, he trained in most formal styles of dance including Horton, Graham, Limon, and Paul Taylor styles of modern dance. All the while, he was indulging in such movement forms as breakin', capoiera, Hip-Hop, improvisation, and circus arts. After college, Travis did exceptional work for many dance companies including Koresh Dance Company, MOMIX, SCRAP, Cirque, and many others including The Ultimate Thriller, a Michael Jackson tribute show. Such talents as standing on his head, hopping on his hands, carrying people on his shoulders, and looking very mean were just a few of the talents that allowed him to tour the US and many countries around the world. Travis is excited to be working with Erin Fletcher again after a the successful Look Tonight project and looking forward to continuing to collaborate and bring more dance to the Saint Petersburg community.

 

Leymis Bolaños Wilmott Leymis has been a dancing since in her mom’s womb andchoreographing since she was able to walk.  The past five years she has made her passion a reality as the ArtisticDirector of Fuzión Dance Artists – Sarasota/Bradenton’s 1st Contemporary Dance Company. She is a recipient of the 2008 Arts Leadershi tre. Wilmott received the esteemed Dance Magazine award for Southeast Best Choreographer and most recently, she was listed as one of the top 28 Most Powerful People In The Arts for 2009.

Her work has been performed nationally at the John F. Kennedy Center, Shaw Center in Baton Rouge, Chicago Theatre Building, Florida Dance Festival, Merce Cunningham Studio and Ailey City Group Theatre in NYC, the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Complex Theater, Koger Center of the Arts in South Carolina, and the Manatee River Front Theater in Bradenton, Florida.  Locally she recently choreographed for the Asolo Rep Las Meninas and has worked with Westcoast Black Theater Troupe and Kaleidoscope (Asolo Repertory partnership with the Community Haven for adults and children with disabilities).  Wilmott continues to collaborated with renowned composer Edward Cosla, percussionist Scott Blum,  A. Paul Johnson with the Hello Dali project at the Salvador Dali Museum, and with Francis Schwartz on Kinda Cage-y which has been seen all over the world as part of the John Cage Trust.

Ms. Wilmott was first in the state to receive a certificate in Dance and Healing from the University of Florida and has a Master of Fine Arts in Performance/Choreography from The Florida State University. Her deep love for education and community building continues as she advocates for dance as a Teaching Artist through the Sarasota Arts Council, Manatee Arts Council, and Van Wezel Performing Arts Center. She has taught at Booker High Visual and Performing Arts and is an Adjunct Professor of Dance at New College of Florida.  Ms. Wilmott is a certified Pilates Instructor and proud wife to a supportive husband Kavin Wilmott and mother to one year old Charles Edward. She is currently the Vice-President of the Florida Dance Association. To learn more please visit www.fuziondance.com

 

Erin Fletcher Erin graduated from The University of Florida with The New World School of the Arts, receiving a B.F.A. degree in dance. Ms. Fletcher began her dance experience performing children's roles with The Boston Ballet Company.  Upon moving to Florida she trained with The Florida West Ballet and graduated from The Pinellas County Center for the Arts.  Her experiences at PCCA enabled her to train at schools such as The Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Met, The Boston Conservatory, and The New World School of the Arts were she received scholarships.  Ms. Fletcher's interests in choreography have allowed her to showcase her talents in many venues including The South Beach Film Festival and Philadelphia's Fringe Festival with The Koresh Dance Company, and The Studio@620 with “Look Tonight” a collaboration with Helen Hansen French and Erik Wagner. While living in Miami Ms. Fletcher owned iDrops Entertainment, a successful arts entertainment company booking events requiring dancers, promotional models, art design, graphic design, and managing events.  Weekly in South Florida during that time clients included Level Nightclub (corporate special events), Crobar, Club Space, The Opium Group, and several Miami and Ft. Lauderdale venues.  Corporate clients also included Microsoft, Verizon Wireless, Bacardi, and Camel Cigarettes. Upon graduation Ms. Fletcher moved to the St. Petersburg area and has had the pleasure to teach at professional schools in the disciplines of ballet, tap, modern, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop and creative movement. The Fletcher Dance Project’s desire is showcase a multi-discipline diverse experimental theater experience, while building and educating the art community in the St. Petersburg area.