Dance'n Feet @ DWC Saturday

by karen Krolak

Saturday is a special day for me filled with performances by some of my favorite dancers. Over the course of the afternoon, my choreography will be presented by second graders on up to seniors...both the kind that are graduating high school and ones in their seventies. While I will spend the day in Natick cheering on my students from Impulse Dance Center, the mighty women of Dance'n Feet will be showing off their splits, lifts, and head stands at the 6th annual Dance For World Community festival in Harvard Square.

If you have never seen Dance'n Feet before, I think they will surprise you with their chutzpah and acrobatics. Between the group of twelve women in their 60's and 70's, they have dozens of grandchildren. Some members have survived cancer while others have endured through the loss of a spouse. One of them performed on Broadway before she settled down to raise a family. Each week at their rehearsals, I marvel at their willingness to embrace challenging physical exercises. They do not obsess about mistakes and they relish their rapid progress. They dance because they can.

I am so proud of Dance'n Feet and wish that I could be there as they perform to Uncle Monsterface's take on Madonna. If you attend this free event, please hoot, hollar, and just shout strange sounds for me.

Danceʼn Feet
SATURDAY, JUNE 14
2:10 PM

Massachusetts Ave. between Remington and Bow Streets
Harvard Square, Cambridge

Happy Birthday Marty Allen!

by Marty Allen

Monkeyhouse's Birthday Boy of the Month is Marty Allen! A veritable jack-of-all-trades, Marty is a working artist, writer, musician, puppet maker, and liker of life hailing from Massachusetts. Marty's artistic endeavors have been numerous and uniquely creative, leaving a distinct footprint on the world of art. Thrice he has taken on the Songaday Project, composing a total of 90 songs in as many days. Balancing his musical
talent is Marty's obvious and distinct aesthetic. Dotting the walls of collectors and sock puppet enthusiasts across the world are Marty Allen's critically acclaimed puppet
portraits. The only sock puppet portrait salesman in the world, Marty has filled a very unique niche by marketing photographs of his own hand-made characters. Each comes with a detailed backstory, both of the character's life and the thought process that led to Marty's creation of each character.

Uncle Monsterface by Marty Allen

The love of character and story construction that first inspired Marty's sock
puppets has recently developed into his newest project: writing. His latest series of sock puppets is the cast of the upcoming novel, "Theodore and The SEVEN LAYERS OF SPACE Part 1: The Search For Mozzarella Botticelli." Marty's passions for story, puppetry, and music combine for his largest claim to fame: the multimedia rock band, Uncle Monsterface. Uncle Monsterface, named for the puppet member of the band, has toured nationally and released two full albums and EPs (available on iTunes!). Marty has been a tremendous supporter of Monkeyhouse, even featuring us in Songaday's blog, and
continues to inspire us with his perpetual creativity.

Happy birthday, Marty!

p.s.  Looking for amazing and creative holiday gifts?  Marty can be found at the Union Square Holiday Market in New York City selling his amazing sock puppet portraits right up until the big day!  Not in NYC?  Don't worry!  You can buy them online too, although you must order by December 15th in order to get them by Christmas!

Monkeyhouse would also like to wish the happiest of birthdays to these lovely December babies:
 
David Makransky, Thomas Durand, Sarah Grace, Todd Shanks, Jon Lavalley, Marty Allen, Sammy Davis Jr., Ralph Farris, Mara Blumenfeld, Barry Duncan, Rowan Salem, Jenna Dewan, Jennifer Beals, and Jose Greco.

If you don't know who all these fabulous people are make sure you take a minute to check out some of the links!  Whether they are famous choreographers or local supporters our birthday boys and girls do some really amazing things.

Want to be on the birthday list?  Click here and let us know when your birthday is!

The Against the Odds Rockstar of the Day - Marty Allen

by karen Krolak

Sock Puppet Manor's Bob Lollybottom

Even though Marty Allen has been mixed up in Monkeyhouse in multiple ways almost since we started, I still can't figure out how to describe him. I remember how Amelia O'Dowd (another Against the Odds Rockstar of the Day) used to rave about his student projects at Mass College of Art and yet struggle to categorize what exactly he was creating. Suddenly, I feel that I should not have teased her quite so much about this...karma is a kick in the pants.

Recently, Marty's genius has been focused on sock puppets. He has toured the nation with Uncle Monsterface, a band that will rock your socks off and transform them into future musicians. Frequently, you can find him hawking charming sock puppet portraits on New York street corners too. (They are quite an addictive way to build an art collection. I purchased a few when he started selling them at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center (yet another Against the Odds Rockstar of the Day) and they are proudly interspersed between my wedding photos in the entryway to our condo.) In less than 100 hours, he will unleash Sock Puppet Manor, an online sock soap starring Dr Vampire and Phineas Von Cliven. Bwa ha ha ha ha.

You might recognize him as the vainglorious voice reading my quirky text in Odds, one of the quartets we will be presenting tomorrow night at Against the Odds. Our show will also open with Caitlin Meehan and Nikki Sao Pedro performing Zizz, to Uncle Monsterface's Go! (Neither of these pieces were in last week's show and this week is your only chance to see Zizz during this festival. Curiosity is contagious you know.)

So seize a moment this weekend and seek out this marvelous mastermind.

 http://www.sockpuppetmanor.com/

Against the Odds: 

Stories of Adaptation, Translation & Survival

March 18th-April 15th

Springstep, 98 George P. Hassett Drive, Medford, MA

For more information and to purchase tickets please visit our website!

 

Against the Odds is supported in part by the Medford Arts Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Thank you to Springstep for its support of this event.

C2C, Episode Two!

For those of you who haven't heard, Monkeyhouse has a new television show (C2C) on S.C.A.T. tv in Somerville. (That's Channel 3 for all you Somerville residents!) Our latest episode, which focuses on building a movement vocabulary, is up and ready for watching!



Extra special thanks to S.C.A.T. & Bill Barrell, Caitlin Meehan, Uncle Monsterface and David Wechsler! Monkeyhouse Loves You!

First Night 2009 Online Program

At the end of our three previous performances at First Night Boston, there have been hundreds of programs left littering the theater. So, this year as part of our ongoing efforts to improve our enviromental impact and to focus our financial resources on programming, we are posting out program online.

366
- Inspired by adventures in Iceland, Italy, and England

Presented by Monkeyhouse
at First Night 2009
at John Hancock Hall in the Back Bay Events Center
December 31, 2008

Lighting design by Jason Ries
Costume Design by Karen Krolak

Pochemuchka (premiere)*
Created and performed by Karen Krolak and Jason Ries
Sound design by Karen Krolak

Zizz (premiere)*
Choreographed by Karen Krolak in collaboration with Caitlin Meehan and Nikki Sao Pedro
Performed by Caitlin Meehan and Nikki Sao Pedro
Music: Go! by Uncle Monsterface

Firk II (2005)
Premiered at First Night 2006
Choreographed and performed by Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris
Music: I'm Beginning to See the Light by Ron Surace

Knosp (2001)
Choreographed by Karen Krolak
Performed by Nicole Harris
Music: Mr Pushkin Came to Shove by Combustible Edison

Ingeniculation (premiere)*
Choreographed by Karen Krolak in collaboration with Julia Marx, Caitlin Meehan, Nikki Sao Pedro
Music: Cornelius by Boston Typewriter Orchestra and a sound design by Karen Krolak featuring Marty Allen and audience members from Monkeyhouse's concert, And, What Do YOU Want? in July 2007 at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center

* Pieces were developed with partial funding from Monkeyhouse's Bernie Wightman Dance Building Fund

Special Thanks to...
First Night Boston
WBZ
College Planners LLC
Impulse Dance Center
Arlington Center for the Arts
Google
Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston
Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center
GoodSearch
Exit Theater
Marquette Associates
Uncle Monsterface
Boston Typewriter Orchestra
Jacob's Pillow Choreographers' Lab

Pat and Rita Krolak
Steve Wightman and Peggy Wacks

Freya Bernstein and Dr. Martin Broff

Joan and Robert Parker
Richard Miner and Corinne Nagy

Tim Losch and Brandi Brooks

Susan and Gib Hammond

Tom and Viz Ries

Nicky Felix

Dot and Tom Christian

Joan and Roger Panek
LuAnn and Jim Pagella

Kathryn Stieber

Dr. and Mrs. Owen Bernstein

Jon Schaffrath

Drs. Carlos Estrada and Bita Tabesh

Paul Feiss and Margaret McKenna
Pat and Lizzie Krolak
Michael and Carly Krolak

Dr. Michael Shannon
Dave Pavkovic and Becca Rossen

Stephen, Meera and Cody Werther

Christina Augello
Pam and Steve Harris

Marjorie Freeman

Gillian Brecker and Seth Mason

Donna and James Rosenberg
Mike and Judy Panaro
Penny Penniston and Jeremy Wechsler
Tom and Dot Christian

Karen and Mark Slutsky
Amelia O'Dowd and Brian Eastman
Beth McGuire and Nathaniel Panek
Gail and Rick Fine
Adele Traub
Marty Allen
Eric Phelps
Margaret Hagemeister
Anne Howarth and Rick Frank
Martha Christensen and Neal Smyth
Michael Wissner
Julia Blatt
Suzanne Jenkins
Joanne Dougan
Mark Zuroff
Zach Galvin
Shelley Neill
John Aceto and Natalie Pino
Mara Blumenfeld
Irene Gaetani
Gaby Mervis
Sarah Friswell
Sarah Feinberg
Ashley Chandler
Janine Harrington
Leah Sakala
Michael Maggio
...and of course,
Lynne Anne Blom
Timothy O’Slynne

Please feel free to email us at MonkeyhouseLovesME@gmail.com with any questions or comments, if you don't want to post them here.