Bitahkiz Ayeli are Navajo and Cherokee words
literally meaning Inbetween Inbetween.
Germaul Yusef Barnes former dancer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for nine
years, where he received the 2003 New York Dance and Performance Award-The Bessies. Mr.
Barnes received the Arts International Grant in 2003 that fostered his anthropological studies
in a small village called Kwahu Tafo in Ghana, West Africa. One of his highest achievements
is assisting and demonstrating for legendary choreographer/anthropologist, Katherine Dunham.
As Viewsic Expression-VE artistic director Mr. Barnes mission is to promote and present multi-
media dance performances, art exhibitions, and educational residencies. A new venture for
Viewsic Expression is Dance 4U Project that presented Black Bones in a showcase of works by
Eleo Pomare, Bill T. Jones, Leni William, and Germaul Y. Barnes. The Lublin International
Dance Festival in Poland invited Mr. Barnes to performer a shared program with Andrea E. Woods/Souloworks.
In 1993 Mr. Barnes moved to Berlin, Germany to performed with Tolada Dance Company
(Joseph Tmim, choreographer) and taught throughout Europe. He has received brilliant
acclaim as a dance instructor from prominent dance academies throughout Germany
(TanzFabric, Ballet Centrum, Milton's TanzSchool, among others). Mr. Barnes has taught
at Skidmore College, University of Buffalo, Black College Dance Exchange, Ghana National
Dance Theater, Dance Masters/New York, COCA, Cleo Parker Summer Intensive, 92nd
Street Y, Harkness Dance Center, le Regroupement Quedecois de la danse (Montreal,
Canada), Lublin International Dance Festival (Poland) and Dance Olympus (National Tour)
as well as many others.
Returning to the United States in 1995, Mr. Barnes joined the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance
Ensemble. Mr. Barnes has also danced with Philadanco--Philadelphia Dance Company,
Movement Source Inc. Dance Co. and Group Motion Dance Company.
Mr. Barnes has received
many commissions to create new dances for (New York)-Judson Memorial Church, Aaron Davis
Hall, P.S.122, Danspace Project/St. Mark Church,DanceNow/New York, Saratoga Arts Gallery,
Dixon Place, (Arizona)-Phoenix Arts Commission and has created eight new works for Movement Source Dance Company, (Ohio)- Cleveland Contemporary Dance Company, (Africa) Ghana
National Dance Company, and (Toronto, Canada) Dance Immersions/ The Orphan Boys. Mr.
Barnes' nine year collaboration with South African composer Bongani Ndodana, he
choreographed, danced and directed Uhambo an opera-oratiorio in Graham Town, South
Africa. In January 2003, Mr. Barnes choreographed and danced the opera Lâ'Histoire du
Soldat in Toronto, Canada.
Bitahkiz
Movement Inbetween Germaul Barnes
Ayeli And Sound Inbetween Thollem McDonas
Through exploratory piano music and contemporary dance Bitahkiz Ayeli draws on sources
from many parts of the globe and throughout
time they expose their world of conflict,
harmony, revolt, beauty and personal identity by interlinking music and dance. This
performance
leads audiences through a powerful combination of knowledge, skills,
and passion. Both were born in the Western part of the United States; one
from
Irish/Cherokee descent and the other from African-American/Navaho descent.
Previous performances City Center • NY, NY
Sound/Movement workshop • Gap, France
Centre Municipal Culture et Loisirs • Gap, France
Teatro do Campo Alegre • Porto, Portugal
University Of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL
Summer Stage Festival, Central Park, NY
Thollem tours perpetually as a solo pianist, vocalist and collaborator
regularly covering much of North America and Europe playing free music
and free free free music. In the past 6 years, he has added 23 albums
to his discography on 10 different vanguard record
labels in 4 different
countries. His musical experiences are extremely diverse and his ever
expanding variety of approaches to making music result in dramatically
new and different outcomes. He plays in punk clubs, museums, concert
halls and riots. He works regularly with film makers, dancers, poets
and painters as well as a wide array of divergent musicians. He has
won numerous awards and is the founding director of Estamos
Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical
exchange.
Not long after birth, Thollem began studying the keyboard repertoire
from the medieval to the 20th century. After graduating with degrees
in both piano performance and composition, he dedicated his time for
years in grassroots political and ecological movements before returning
to his own music with his full focus in 2006. He is currently touring
perpetually as a soloist, in collaboration with many other individuals
and groups, as well as leading large ensemble free improvisation
workshops.
Thollem performs in theaters, art galleries, universities, elementary
schools, concert halls, jazz clubs, rock clubs, festivals, warehouses,
house concerts, streets, prisons, forests, riots and on television,
radio and the internet. He has performed piano concertos with
symphonies, played in West African drumming troupes, Javanese
gamelan ensembles, punk bands, free improv ensembles, and
regularly collaborates as a comproviser for film and modern
dance.