  | Ieva Misevičiūtė is a New-York based performance artist, working in both visual arts and theater. Her practice combines physical theatre, dance, stand-up, Butoh, and sculptural work. She has performed in such venues as (selected): The Kitchen, New York; Time-Based Art Festival, Portland; Beursschouwburg theater, Brussels; dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel; de Appel art center, Amsterdam; Center Pompidou, Paris; Western Front, Vancouver; Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius; Performa 09 at Swiss Institute, New York. Misevičiūtė’s recent curated projects include the 11th International Baltic Triennial (retitled Mindaugas Triennial), CAC, Vilnius (co-curator); a night of performances Alligators! at de Appel art center, Amsterdam. She has devised and lead Action Workshops (a technique uniting Action Theater, Butoh and action films) at a variety of institutions. Misevičiūtė worked as a clown in the circus throughout her youth, has backgrounds in various movement and improvisation techniques; holds a research MA in Cultural Analysis and MA in Political Studies from the University of Amsterdam; currently trains and works closely with Butoh master Vangeline. Miseviciute is a visiting movement and performance trainer at the Malmö Art Academy. LORD OF BEEF: http://vimeo.com/96439228 In this performance Misevičiūtė presents a series of impersonations--dance and speech acts depicting objects, people, phenomena, and philosophical concepts. LORD OF BEEF goes back to the primal mimetic act that lies at the very basis of theater and comedy. Enactment and impersonation -- is where theater begins, but also this is the point where theater is accused of its artificiality and inauthenticity. However, maybe the failure of the "realness" of theater is precisely its attempt to depict reality. Maybe the place where dance and language meet each other is the compromise of logic. In this performance impersonations go beyond the imitation of human qualities to concepts such as radical hospitality, soft knowledge, small face behind you, I don't care about friends I'd like some parents, and there is no stopping this institution. The last impersonation of the show is based on the Butoh tongue dance technique, where the performer's body gradually surrenders to the movement itself, inverting the mechanism of impersonation and thus the theatrical act finds its border with ritual. I WILL RIP YOUR ARMS OFF: http://vimeo.com/81894454 ...my favorite grab from this mixed bag [TBA:Works] was Ieva Misevičiūtė, whose difficult “I will rip your arms off” exists somewhere between theatre, dance and sketch comedy minus the easy laughs. Samuel Hanson, Slug Magazine Billing herself as a "former Lithuanian clown, academic, and practioner of unproductive gymnastics," she gleefully pokes fun at the heady conceptual nature of performance art, asking the questions we all wish we could ask but general don’t, because we fear they’ll make us look dumb. Really, why is there a box? What does that movement sequence mean? She’s joyfully satirical, she’s critical, she's a beautiful mover (her reed-thin body makes her seem almost a Pixar character), and at least in the first half of I Will Rip Your Arms Off, she’s taking some of the hot air out of the rest of the festival. Kate Holly, Portland Monthly Mag I WILL RIP YOUR ARMS OFF is a take on sketch comedy that lost its punch line and has been abstracted through dance and free-floating characters. This solo performance knits Misevičiūtė's former stand-up routines into a journey in which mood swings can replace a personage, where objects dictate what must be done to them, and where people leave behind their peoplehood for a single idiosyncrasy. from: http://www.ieva.co |