David Popalisky's 3rd Act Dancers
Press Release Contact: David Popalisky
For Immediate Release Contact: David Popalisky, Director
March 22, 2024 408-674-8800, dpopalisky@scu.edu
David Popalisky’s 3rd Act Dancers Challenge Ageism in Dance
SANTA CLARA, Calif. March 2024 - After an incredibly successful premiere in the SoloDuo Festival in New York last year, David Popalisky’s 3rd Act Dancers arrive in Pasadena with Old Man Adagio and three new dances on May 4th and 5th. Featuring Popalisky and Deborah Marcus, who both draw upon contemporary dance backgrounds, and Kim Gardner and Michael Hazinski who share notable ballet careers, this performance involves vigorous movement not afraid to poke fun at the vagaries of one’s life experience. Without acknowledging each performer’s six decades of life experience, the dances challenge assumptions that dancing is a young person’s game.
The evening’s repertoire opens with Old Man Adagio which embraces the joy of moving aesthetically, from harmonious flow to bursts of physical rambunctiousness.
Mary Seidman wrote in New York’s eyeondance:
“they elegantly portray two older men reminiscing on their careers, friendship, and longevity with humor, understanding, and poignancy… to convey years of body experience, knowledge, and love of the stage.”
Barnard Dance Professor Caroline Fermin wrote:
“Often in the dance world, performers move from stages to classrooms as they age, … implying they are beyond their allotted time to dance. … What Popalisky and Hazinski do, just by nature of being on the stage, is push back against that narrative. …This piece is a poignant and effective call to action.”
Hazinski will premiere a solo to a Chopin Prelude attuned to the music's romantic warmth and dramatic arc. Popalisky’s new solo From Oranges to Aubergines blends lighthearted irreverence through spoken and danced stories of the visceral connections between original dances and significant crossroads in life. In conclusion, a full company dance suite Been There, Done … Not Yet, to a John Adams score, pushes the envelope of dancing through life, from parenting mishaps to over-caffeinated days celebrated, endured and delightfully survived. The movements entitled “Hello,” “One of Those Days,” “Showoff,” and “Bring it Home” dare to laugh at what is laughable and move with power, precision and perspiration through the immediacy of the dancing moment.
Select performances by the Lineage’s Dance for Joy dancers will precede the 3rd Act Dancers suite of dances. A talkback “Dancing Over a Lifetime” that questions narratives of who “can” and when “should” one dance follows Sunday’s May 5 performance.
David Popalisky’s 3rd Act Dancers to perform at the Lineage Performing Arts Center (920 E Mountain St, Pasadena, CA 91104) on May 4 at (7 pm) and May 5 at (2 pm), 2024 at Lineage Performing Arts Center (920 E Mountain St, Pasadena, CA 91104, Phone: (626) 844-7008). A talkback “Dancing Over a Lifetime” that questions narratives of who “can” and when “should” one dance follows Sunday’s May 5 performance. Tickets are : $20, and can be purchased at the door or online at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/david-popaliskys-3rd-act-dancers-tickets-8…
About the Artists:
David Popalisky, an independent choreographer and Associate Professor at Santa Clara University, has choreographed over 90 dances, performed and taught throughout the United States, in Italy, Korea, Belize and China. Full evening performances include The Water Project (2021 (https://vimeo.com/625022340/62167b0cb9), Migrations (2010), The Fatherhood Project (2008) and Barred from Life (2004). Other dances have been presented in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City. He has shared his research on fathers in concert dance at Dance Studies Association conferences.
Michael Hazinski began dancing professionally with the Milwaukee Ballet Company and then danced with the San Francisco Ballet from 1980 thru 1984. He has danced in contemporary and classical works by George Balanchine and Michael Smuin among others in festivals around the world including performing in Smuin’s “Song for a Dead Warrior” on the PBS “Dance in America” series. After a second career in the water utility industry, Michael returned to dance through online ballet classes and performed with David Popalisky in the SoloDuo Dance Festival in New York City in February 2023.
Kim Gardner is a former ballerina and longtime ballet and Pilates instructor with over 35 years as a movement educator. She began her professional career performing many of the classics with Milwaukee Ballet, then contemporary ballet with Alonzo King’s LINES, and toured the United States in Oakland Ballet’s eclectic and Diaghilev era repertory. All together Kim’s performing career spanned 17 years to which she credits her Pilates training. After a 26-year hiatus and raising teenage twin girls, Kim is pleased and a bit astonished to be performing again, discovering new and familiar capabilities.
Deborah Marcus has enjoyed a 40 year career as a dancer, choreographer, and since 1997, a Pilates teacher. In NYC in the 1980’s she danced, choreographed and performed with her own intergenerational company called Marcus Dance Theater, which was produced by Dance Theater Workshop and Lincoln Center Outdoors, counting Liz Lerman as one of her mentors. Deborah earned an MFA in Dance from New York University and is a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher. She has enjoyed the challenge of learning choreography again with Third Act Dancers!!
For more information contact David Popalisky at dpopalisky@scu.edu or 408-674-8800. For information about David Popalisky”s 3rd Act Dancers’ performances at Lineage Performing Arts Center contact lineagedance@gmail.com
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FACT SHEET
What: David Popalisky’s 3rd Act Dancers
When: May 4 at 7 pm and May 5 at 2 pm
Where: Lineage Performing Arts Center
920 E Mountain St, Pasadena, CA 91104
Ticket Prices: $20
Box Office: (626) 844-7008), www.eventbrite.com/e/david-popaliskys-3rd-act-dancers-tickets-868555050…