NEWS

2010 Spring Season Announcement

22 NOV 2009

One Night Only!  Down and Dirty Series at Dance Mission Theater presents Leyya Tawil's Dance Elixir.  Full program featuring Grace On a Friday Night, Mercy Starts Now, and current draft of new work: You Are Now X- Duet for the Angel Apparent.  Performers include Tawil, Isabelle Sjahsam, Ken Scott and Jordan Risdon.  6pm show time.  For tickets.

San Francisco, California.

25 SEP 2009

Dance Elixir and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh offer an evening of duet improvisations and selected compositions.  Tawil previews a sketch of new work "You Are Now X, duet for the angel apparent"- as performed by NYC-based cast: Xan Burley, Jordan Risdon and Alex Springer.  Produced and presented by Alwan for the Arts.

New York City, NY

AUGUST 2009

Tawil has her Oakland performance homecoming at a benefit for Temescal Arts Center on a shared program with Zari Le'on Dance Theater and Micaela Gardner.  

Oakland, CA

JUNE 2009

Tawil tours Grace on a Friday Night to Overtoom 301 in Amsterdam and continues on to perform in Vanessa Mildenberg's "The Winter's Tale Project" at The Place in London.  

UK and Europe

Tawil is a guest artist with Ann Arbor Dance Works as part of the University of Michigan's celebration of 100 Years of Dance!  New work will premiere at the Duderstadt Center on June 10 and 11. 

Ann Arbor, MI

MAY 2009

Dance Elixir is a guest with EvoluciDanse's production at La Sala Rosa in Montreal, Quebec.  Radar, Tawil's duet for Omar Carmical and Caroline Rucker, will be performed.    Montreal, Canada

APRIL 23-26, 2009

Grace on a Friday Night will be performed at the Beirut International Platform on Dance 2009 at Monnot Theater.

Beirut, Lebanon

MARCH 3, 2009

Dance Elixir presents Grace on a Friday Night as part of the Dance Conversations at the Flea performance series.  The Flea  @ Dance New Amsterdam.

New York, NY

JANUARY 25- February 1, 2009

Dance Elixir and Dance Company of Middlebury travel to the Czech Republic for a performance residency at CESTA in Tabor. Performances will take place at SPEKTRUM Theater and will feature the work of Tawil, Isabelle Sjahsam (San Francisco) and Boris Willis (Washington DC). 

 Tabor, Czech Republic

JANUARY 17-19, 2009

Mike Khoury and Leyya Tawil perform at 51 Main and present a lec/dem on music and dance collaboration.  Middlebury, VT

OCTOBER 2-3 , 2008

Leyya has been granted the prestigious University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance 2008 Emerging Artist Award in Dance.  Her visit to Ann Arbor in October will include a Models of Cross Arts Collaboration presentation and a solo performance at Betty Pease Studio Theater on October 2, 7pm. 

Ann Arbor, MI

COMPANY HISTORY

Founded in 2003 by Artistic Director Leyya Tawil and Resident Composer Topher Keyes, Dance Elixir produces an annual home season in the San Francisco Bay Area and maintains a national touring schedule.  The company reaches a broad cross section of arts audiences, while showcasing the glamorous aesthetic and fierce technique that has become Dance Elixir’s hallmark.  Collaborations with professional artists from a range of disciplines have included composers Mark Gergis and Professor Stephen Rush, media artist David Szlasa, designers Jeffery Bauer and Malinda Trimble, lighting designer Matthew Antaky, costumer Leigh Anne Martin and violinist Mike Khoury.

Tawil’s work for Dance Elixir has been presented internationally in Amsterdam, Beirut, Montreal and London. Within the U.S., Dance Elixir has been presented by the San Francisco International Arts Festival 2008, MOCAD (Detroit), Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Arab American National Museum‘s Ford Comerica Performance Series (MI), Bohemian National Home (MI), Arts at Middlebury (VT), Alwan for the Arts (NYC), and The Flea/Dance New Amsterdam (NYC) and regionally by West Wave Dance Festival, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Oakland Art Gallery, and Dance Mission Theater, among others.  Tawil’s work with Dance Elixir has been featured on Future TV (Lebanon), WDET's "Morning Edition" (MI), NBC11 (CA), KRON4 (CA), KNOE-TV8 (LA), and KALX’s “Women in the Arts” (CA).

Tawil is currently touring a solo show entitled Grace on a Friday Night , which is part of her Saints and Angels series.  Grace has been performed in NYC, Beirut, Amsterdam, Middlebury VT, and Oakland CA. 

From 2005-2008, Dance Elixir’s work focused on a series entitled “Capital Life Triptych.”  The first work in the series, Media (2006), “a fast-paced, impressively structured explosion of pure movement,” according to Dance View Times, premiered at Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco, then toured to Detroit and Ann Arbor, MI.  The second work, Land (2007), a collaboration with renowned media design artist David Szlasa, premiered at the Oakland Art Gallery in July 2007.  The final section, Capital Life, was created in collaboration with Mark Gergis and premiered at the San Francisco International Arts Festival in the spring of 2008.

Dance Elixir is supported by the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program, the East Bay Community Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the W&F Hewlett Foundation, W A Gerbode Foundation, Theatre Bay Area's CA$H, the Clorox Company Foundation and other generous businesses and individuals.

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2007-2008 Season Highlights

JANUARY 2-12, 2008

Leyya travels to Beirut to work with Omar Rajeh's Maqamat Theatre Dance.  She will be researching and developing material for the new work, Capital Life. Beirut, Lebanon.

JANUARY 17-FEBRUARY 1, 2008

The company will reunite to create new work and rehearse our touring repertory before Leyya heads back to MIddlebury College to continue her Artist In Residence position.  San Francisco, CA.

FEBRUARY 16, 2008

Leyya will perform Map of the World #1-6 in Vernissage-Danse #137 at Studio 303 in Montreal, Quebec.

FEBRUARY 29-MARCH 1, 2008

Dance Elixir tours Capital Life Triptych (new) and Raincoat Rebellion (2007) to Dance New Amsterdam in New York City.

MARCH 2-9, 2008

Arts At Middlebury College presents Dance Elixir.  A full week of residency activities including master classes, Behind-the-Scenes luncheon, and performances on March 8 and 9.  These events are part of the Mahaney Center for the Arts anniversary celebration.  Middlebury, VT.

MAY 30 - JUNE 1, 2008

San Francisco International Arts Festival presents the official premiere of Dance Elixir's Capital Life.   Performances will be held at Dance Mission Theater.  San Francisco, CA.

JUNE  21, 2008

Leyya Tawil and violinist Mike Khoury at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD).  Detroit, MI.