Beverly Allan & Nur Elektra El Shami  present 

LIA CHAVEZ: LIGHT BODY

The Farm of Isabella Rossellini

Brookhaven Hamlet, NY

Saturday July 23, 2016

Wine reception at 6:30pm / Performance at 8:00pm

Beverly Allan and Nur Elektra El Shami are pleased to present “Lia Chavez: Light Body,” the inaugural performance in a summer series showcasing some of today’s most celebrated contemporary artists at Isabella Rossellini’s farm. The program is curated by Tali Wertheimer.

For “Light Body” — Chavez’s first live dance performance — the artist leads a balletic procession of effulgent bodies at sunset. She appropriates the practice of contemplative walking, which she encountered during a recent artistic pilgrimage to meditate in the cave monasteries of the Himalayas. The artist performs alongside dancers Troy Ogilvie and Djassi daCosta Johnson.

“Light Body” refers to the practice in which Tibetan Buddhist meditation gurus transform their physical bodies into new, rainbow-colored energy forms after many years of practice. For her performance, Chavez imagines this advancement into another realm through a process of visual choreography which conceives the live figure within the art-historical tension between pictorial form and abstraction. “This performance meditates on the primordial state that has no form but is capable of expressing all form,” says Chavez. “The foundation of originative movement is silence.”

Costuming for this performance is generously provided by the renowned fashion designer Mary Katrantzou. Styling and makeup artistry are courtesy of Richard Ives and Virginia Linzee, respectively.

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The Farm of Isabella Rossellini produces organic crops and natural honey, and is home to many rare and distinctive breeds of bird. The Farm is part of the Peconic Land Trust, a nonprofit organization established to ensure the protection of Long Island’s agricultural heritage.