Dragon Dance Theatre in Montpelier, VermontBeginning Saturday, February, 6, 2010 Dragon Dance Theatre will exhibit a series of large masks at the City Center in Montpelier, Vermont. The City Center is open every day. This mask exhibit will be open to the public and free of charge until Saturday, March, 6. This exhibit comes to you thanks to the Artist Resource Association and the invitation of Jane Pincus.
The masks on exhibit will be, a selection of larger masks, from Dragon Dance shows that you might have seen during the early part of the last decade. The masks are made of papier maché, and painted with acrylics, making them light weight and durable.
Dragon Dance Theatre was founded in Vermont in 1976. Many local artists have participated in Dragon Dance production over the years both in Vermont and in Mexico. Since 2004 Dragon Dance has been on tour, crossing back and forth from Mexico to Europe and performing in France and Finland as well as Queretaro and Puebla, Mexico.
Usually we make new masks for each show and leave the masks with our hosts. We have considerable collections of masks at different sites where we have created theatre works; here on Hunger Mountain, but also in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico and Jalpan de Serra, Queretaro, Mexico and in Ii, Finland. Not to forget a formidable collection of masks in Montpellier, France. As more and more characters appear and as the number of masks grows we begin to imagine an exhibit of all the masks with a fanciful title like, People of the World. Imagine giant space with hundreds of masks lining the halls but also climbing up the atriums filling the spaces, hanging from the ceilings, covering all the windows, and representing not only the multitude of humanity but also the brotherhood of humanity.
This exhibit at city center can be seenas a first step in the process of organizing such a big show. Here we have brought together masks of people from the Americas; people from Mexico, some of them recognizable and people from the Caribbean, plus a few personalities from literature, the long nosed adversary from The Master and Margarita, the guide and companion from Marlowe’s Dr Faustus, the accuser from The Devil and Daniel Webster.
We hope you enjoy the exhibit. If you would like to know more about Dragon Dance and our activities please visit our webpage;
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samkerson4@gmail.com and send us your e mail.
