› Jess Curtis

« Symmetry Study (#12-Solo) »

« Nous Tube-Symmetry Study (#12-Solo) is the intersection of two separate ongoing research projects Jörg Müller’s Nous Tube and Jess Curtis and Maria Francesca Scaroni’s Symmetry Project. For this installation Jess Curtis will enter Müller’s tube environment in a highly structured improvisational score, constricted in a specific physical habit; the one of moving symmetrically in relation to the central axis of the body. In this space of temporary « habitus », the body is constantly tuning, reformulating the perception of the itself. In the creation of a central axis, spine, mouth, genitals, face, and anus reveal their interconnectedness and centrality in our experience as embodied beings. In the « Test tube » of Müller’s 3 meter tube the biological nature of our existence will be brought to the fore, examining the body as cultural artifact, revealing the body’s awkwardness, it’s monstrosity, its potential failure and finiteness, but at the same time creating space for the possibility of the unknown, the wondrous, the ecstatic, the infinite. »

› CV

« Jess Curtis has created a body of work ranging from the underground extremes of Mission District Warehouses with Contraband (1985-1994) to the formal refinement of European State Theaters with Jess Curtis/Gravity (2000-present).

Along the way Curtis has co-created groundbreaking circus works with the Franco-American Circus project Cie Cahin Caha, Cirque Batard; collaborated with the renowned FabrikCompanie in Potsdam, Germany on the award-winning fallen; and been commissioned to create works for companies such as Artblau (Germany), ContactArt (Italy), and Blue Eyed Soul Dance Company (England.) He founded Jess Curtis/Gravity in 2000 as a research and development vehicle for very live performance, With Gravity he has created three full-evening performance works, No Place Like Home (2000), fallen (2001), and Touched: Symptoms of Being Human (2005).

In 2000, Curtis was a Wattis Fellow at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. In August 2002 Curtis received a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for fallen, which in 2003 was also awarded San Francisco’s Isadora Duncan Dance award for Best Company Performance. Curtis has twice been recognized by the James Irvine Foundation/Dance USA California Dance Initiatives, having been awarded a California Dancemakers Fellowship (2001) and a Dance: Creation to Performance Award (2005). In 2005 he was the recipient of a prestigious CHIME (Choreographers In Mentorship Exchange) Fellowship with José Navarrete, and was one of 20 American choreographers nominated for the extremely competitive Alpert Awards in the Arts Fellowship. He also teaches Dance, Contact Improvisation and Interdisciplinary Performance throughout the US and Europe. »

http://www.jesscurtisgravity.org/