SUMMER 2019 /  by Jesse Factor

AUGUST 2019

August 22: Inside/Out at Jacob’s Pillow CELEBRATION (Martha Graham) Reconstruction danced by SRU

August 3-10: RELIC at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, Crane Theater, 2303 Kennedy St. NE #120, Minneapolis, MN 55413

August 3, 10:00pm

August 4, 4:00pm

August 6, 7:00pm

August 7, 5:30pm

August 10, 5:30pm

JULY 2019

July 12, 13: Fresh Fruit Festival NYC presented by All Out Arts @ The Wild Project, NYC

JUNE 2019

June 24-July 12: Teaching Martha Graham Intensive

June 22: Fail Safe Performance Series at the Glitter Box Theater, Pittsburgh, PA

June 8: DONATELLA Queer Variety Show, Arcade Comedy Theater, Pittsburgh, PA

June 5: pearlPRESENTS @ the New Hazlett Theater, Pittsburgh, PA

MAY 2019

May 10: Marthagany Headlines Fierce Queer Festival, Columbus OH

Photo: Christopher Duggan; courtesy of Jacob’s PillowSRU Dancers in Martha Graham’s Celebration

Photo: Christopher Duggan; courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow

SRU Dancers in Martha Graham’s Celebration

REVIEW: RELIC @ MIDWEST RADFEST 2019 /  by Jesse Factor

Closing the first show, Jesse Factor of Slippery Rock, PA offered “Relic,” a fantastically divalicious solo channeling Joan Crawford. Factor’s the star here, backlit by an old-fashioned can light and made up in white face make-up with exaggerated eyes and lips. But it must be said that Andy Hasenpflug’s looping of a 1975 interview Crawford gave at Town Hall makes all the difference. (Indeed, Chicago misses you, Andy.)

There’s another layer, though, to “Relic” which relies on Hasenpflug’s cheeky repetitions of Crawford’s text. They provide a perfect excuse for Factor’s contractions in the collar bone and gut. His dancing is unmistakably informed by Martha Graham — long skirt, top knot and all — creating a harmoniously fabulous hybrid of two queens in what was, for me, the most memorable piece of the night.

http://www.artintercepts.org/2019/03/10/saturday-at-the-epic-center-beware-the-dance-echo-chamber-come-to-rad-fest/

RELIC (Image: Ben Viatori)

RELIC (Image: Ben Viatori)

“a harmoniously fabulous hybrid of two queens”
”the most memorable piece of the night”
— Lauren Warnecke, Arts Intercepts

REVIEW: MARTHAGANY@PHILADELPHIA'S KYLD INHALE PERFORMANCE SERIES /  by Jesse Factor

Closing out the evening was Jesse Factor’s Marthagany: The Spectre-Acle which left me speechless in the way it not only subverted my expectations but then subverted the expectations set by the initial subversion. It rode the line between tribute for and a parody of the late Martha Graham, beginning as a nearly identical recreation of her Lamentation before morphing into a bombastic lip sync performance, and again into a striptease. However, through all the insanity, Factor’s physique and technique shone through making it not only an effective piece of theatrical comedy but also a kinesthetically enrapturing work of dance. It left the audience in an uproar and was the perfect finale to the evening.

Copyright - The Dance Journal: An Eclectic Array of Works at KYLD’s InHale Performance Series https://philadelphiadance.org/dancejournal/2019/03/03/an-eclectic-array-of-works-at-kylds-inhale-performance-series/

Marthagany @ PHILADELPHIA’s KYLD INHALE PERFORMANCE SERIES (image: Mike Hurwitz)

Marthagany @ PHILADELPHIA’s KYLD INHALE PERFORMANCE SERIES (image: Mike Hurwitz)


“Factor’s physique and technique shone through making it not only an effective piece of theatrical comedy but also a kinesthetically enrapturing work of dance. It left the audience in an uproar and was the perfect finale to the evening.”
— Winfield Maben, philadelpjhiadance.org

SPRING 2019 /  by Jesse Factor

MAY 2019

“Marthagany” Headlines Fierce Queer Arts Festival in Columbus, OH

APRIL 2019

“Celebration” Joyce Theatre, Martha Graham University Partners Showcase

“Mommie Queerest” 2.0 at Kaleidscope Arts Festival, Slippery Rock, PA

MARCH 2019

“RELIC” 3.0 Premiere at Midwest RADFEST

Guest Artist, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA

Guest Artist, Western Michigan University, Kalamazzo MI

“Marthagany” at InHale Performance Series Philadelphia, PA

FEBRUARY 2019

“Celebration” (Martha Graham, Regissuer) at Slippery Rock University Dance Theater Winter Concert

JANUARY 2019

Winter Intensive: Technique and Repertory, Martha Graham School

FALL 2018 /  by Jesse Factor

DECEMBER 2018

Winter Intensive: Technique and Repertory, Martha Graham School

NOVEMBER 2018

Restaging: Martha Graham’s “Celebration” at Slippery Rock University

OCTOBER 2018

Dancing Through College and Beyond-Hunter College

RELIC 2.0 premiere at the Slippery Rock University Faculty/Guest Artist Concert

MOMMIE QUEEREST ACCOLADES /  by Jesse Factor

MOMMIE QUEEREST was honored by the ACDA NORTH-CENTRAL CONFERENCE as 1st Alternate for the 2018 Kennedy Center Concert. Adjudicators Melonie Buchanan Murray, Gus Solomons, Jr., and Tanya Calamoneri remarked on the unique strangeness of the the piece, choreographic skill, and exceptional performance. Solomons commented that the piece "maintains dramatic tension without histrionics" and praised the performance as "amazing." 

For the Gala selection, the adjudicators described the piece as such:

Stunning, gender-bending performance that embodies iconic modern dance and film personas with an acid tongue in cheek (to humorously profound effect).

SUMMER 2018 /  by Jesse Factor

JUNE/JULY 2018

Martha Graham School: Teaching Composition and Technique

ELEGIES with Lauren Newman and Xiao Chuan Xie at St. Marks Church in the Bowery Sunday Special Series

MARTHAGANY at Blunderland Variety Show/House of Yes

 

MAY/JUNE 2018

CAMELOT (Choreographer) at New London Barn Playhouse

 

SPRING 2018 /  by Jesse Factor

MAY 2018

MARTHAGANY at Fierce Queer Burlesque, Toronto, CA

APRIL 2018

MARTHAGANY: ALL YOU CAN EAT at Flyover Festival

MARCH 2018

MOMMIE QUEEREST at ACDA North Central (Gala Selection) UW-Madison, WI

REVENANT MFA THESIS, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

FEBRUARY 2018

MARTHAGANY: THE SPECTRE-ACLE, OUTsider Festival, Austin TX

JANUARY 2018

Teaching Repertory, Martha Graham School

FALL/WINTER 2017 /  by Jesse Factor

DECEMBER 2017

Teaching Beginning Technique and Repertory, Martha Graham School, NYC

Marthagany 2.0 Work-In-Progress Showing, Iowa City

NOVEMBER 2017

Guest Teacher, The University of Iowa Youth Ballet

Dance Studies Association Conference, University of Ohio, Columbus, OH

OCTOBER 2017

Guest Choreographer, Maidenhead, Harvard Ballet Company, Cambridge, MA

SEPTEMBER 2017

Kween Kong at Harvest Contemporary Dance Festival, Ruth Page Center, Chicago, IL

AUGUST 2017

Marthagany at the Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Boston MA

Teaching Beginning Technique at the Martha Graham School, NYC

 

FORGE SUMMER DANCE INTENSIVE AT SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY /  by Jesse Factor

Delighted to be invited to teach at the FORGE Summer Dance Intensive by Lindsay Fisher Viatori. Held at Slippery Rock University, I introduced undergraduate and pre-college dancers to the Graham technique, restaged selections from CATS, and collaborated on a new group piece, Tracing 1.0.

Read an article about my involvement here: http://www.sru.edu/news/072517b-x28724

Technique Demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWV_aGn_Drw&feature=youtu.be

CATS restaging: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR3qkxKWNrc&feature=youtu.be

Tracing 1.0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsHaqru2fCI&feature=youtu.be

(ACDA) American College Dance Association @ Wichita State University /  by Jesse Factor

Marthagany: The Spectre-Acle garnered a standing ovation at the ACDA informal concert on Friday, March 31st, to my delight. I love continuing to perform this work and learning more about what I made and how viewers experience it. 

I also taught a class on Graham's fall on 10 counts, in which I incorporated Ellen Graff's When your Heart Falls: The Drama of Descent in the Martha Graham's technique and theater. A packed class quickly learned the sitting fall, standing fall, and a short phrase from 1936's "Celebration" incorporating elements of this particular fall. The students in the class were so phenomenal, committing fully to big dancing and taking risks. I left inspired and renewed.

(ISTA) International Schools Theatre Association Festival @ Atlanta International School /  by Jesse Factor

I served as a teaching artist for four days of ensemble-based learning around the theme of civil rights for High School students from Atlanta International Schoo (GA)l, Santa Margarita High School (CA), Hillel Academy (Jamaica), and WAM theater (MA). A visit to the stunning civil rights museum helped us hold current events against history, and allowed for profound and moving reflection. I worked with my ensemble on simple mirror and unison techniques, which we developed into more complex variations. I see the value of this work as creating physical learning opportunities for leading and following within the group, as well as maintaining one's agency. We devised two short studies, built from material we created in response to our museum visit. I learned so much from working with my ensemble and the wonderful teachers and guest artists ISTA brings together. The beautiful work generated by the students gives me hope for the future of this planet.