FLOW ARTS AND ART THAT FLOWS WILL ENTERTAIN AT THE ROTUNDA
Poet-Tree En Motion Presents ‘Salutation To The Art Of Flow!
Celebrating Movement-Based Arts June 10 In West Philadelphia
The flow arts will take center stage when the seasonal performing arts showcase Poet-tree En Motion presents “Salutation to the Art of Flow!” 7-10 p.m. Wednesday, June 10 at the Rotunda in West Philadelphia.
The audience will feast on a variety of flow arts, which are movement-based arts centered on prop manipulation. These performances will combine with other art forms not specifically of the flow arts genre, but which also exhibit a flowing quality to the work.
Poet-tree En Motion is the brainchild of multi-award-winning Philadelphia performance artist and poet Gabrielle de Burke, whose stage name is Plum Dragoness. These free events, ongoing since 2007, present regional multidisciplinary artists while giving the community a chance to shine on the open mike and open stage.
“Poetry in motion is a lot of different things,” de Burke said. “It’s not just stuck on a page. It’s not just stuck on a stage. It’s moving in time. All of the artists are expressing poetry but just in different forms. I want the event to be an expression of the many different ways in which poetry is present in our lives whether it’s music, dance, art or visual performance.”
De Burke will give three flow arts performances at the June 10 event. In the collaborative piece, “Trinity Tribal Stomp,” she will wield a staff while Michelle Armour performs with poi and Angela Armour hoola hoops. During de Burke’s solo spoken-word piece, she will flow with a sword. She will also present a performance of the Yang Shi 36 fan form, which is based in the martial/internal arts of tai chi chuan and kung fu.
“Most of the movement flow that I do is influenced by the traditional Chinese martial arts and internal forms, based in Taoist mysticism,” said de Burke, who has been practicing since 1999. “But I am not presenting it like a martial arts form. I am doing it slow and flowing.”
Various indigenous cultures of the past have danced with objects that were also considered weapons or tools of divination, de Burke explained.
“I think the flow arts (movement) is a coming back to the various cultures that have used these props and objects in sacred dance and that then became secular in their communities.”
Another performance at the event will be by the group 7 Textures that’s hot off the heels of its Ghostly Circus at the Laurel Hill Cemetery. The artists will reprise a choreographed piece featuring the art of S-staves and buugeng. These are Japanese martial arts illusion flow tools that spin and create a kaleidoscope effect. Musicians Tom Phoolery and Josh the Architech of Research and Development will provide an avant-garde soundscape with analog synthesizers while the group performs.
The rock group the Dead Bishops is a teenage power trio that will perform songs inspired by Led Zeppelin, the Foo Fighters and Nirvana. Visitor 10 is an MC who will collaborate with the audience in a storytelling hip-hop style. And VJ Spooky will enhance the entire show with his multimedia visual projections.
“Working with an object is one kind of flow,” de Burke said. “But someone who works as an MC is using a mental type of flow. Someone who is using their prop is going to flow through their prop. The MC is going to flow through the microphone. The band is flowing through instrumentation.”
“Flow is connecting to your rhythm, to your connection to the life force,” she explained. “It’s when people find their own groove, whether it’s through music, dance, movement, theater, martial arts, internal arts, through their breath or through their voice.”
“We are saluting everybody’s different styles of flow.”
For information about Poet-tree En Motion and Plum Dragoness, email dragoness@earthtones.com, visit www.facebook.com/4plumdragoness, and join the Poet-tree En Motion Facebook event facebook.com/events/704175019711540 or group at facebook.com/groups/116980678334215.
The next Poet-tree En Motion event scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30 will feature fire arts and other various performances at The Rotunda.
ABOUT POET-TREE EN MOTION:
Poet-tree En Motion works to inspire both artist and audience to connect and work together toward cultivating the arts community in Philadelphia, welcoming artists of all kinds to experience performances local to the neighborhood, and offering the opportunity at each show for community participation to sign up in the all-genre open mike/stage and jam session component of the events.
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ARTIST LINEUP:
Plum Dragoness (a.k.a. Gabrielle de Burke)
Resident performance artist, event organizer and arts educator known for her “unique style” of spoken word/vocals, dance/movement theater, fire and flow artistry.
Trinity Tribal Stomp video
Yang Shi tai chi fan video
Spoken word featuring sword video
Research and Development
This is what happens when Tom Phoolery and Josh the Architech geek out on analog synths and avant-garde beats.
7 Textures
A creative styling group presenting beautiful and unique explorations of curved movement, featuring the art of buugeng (a Japanese martial arts illusion flow tool) and other flow arts and artist collaborations.
Buugeng performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voVyq6PEy1w
Visitor 10
A collaborative, shamanistic, hip-hop performance-art experiment where SSengam Niloc unfolds an enchanting demonstration of reflection and imagination via storytelling.
The Dead Bishops
This teenage power trio from Montgomery County, Pa. is inspired by bands like Led Zeppelin, the Foo Fighters, Nirvana and SpongeBob
VJ Spooky
This Philadelphia-based VJ enhances events with a multimedia projection experience.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Gabrielle de Burke (artist Plum Dragoness)
Founder/Event Organizer Poet-tree En Motion
484-557-9605
dragoness@earthtones.com
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FOR EVENTS LISTINGS:
Poet-tree En Motion Presents: “Salutation to the Art of Flow” 7-10 p.m. Wednesday, June 10 at The Rotunda, located at 4014 Walnut St. in West Philadelphia. The free event will feature performances by regional “flow artists,” spoken word, rock music, experimental electronic soundscapes, multimedia visual projections, hip-hop, performance art, an open mike/open stage and more. For information, visit the Poet-tree En Motion Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/704175019711540 or group at www.facebook.com/groups/116980678334215, or contact Gina Renzi, director of The Rotunda, at gina@therotunda.org or 267-934-3705.
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