About the Show

Destroy// Dance artist Leyya Mona Tawil asks: Can a dance be destroyed?

Destroy// Manhattan was built at the TANK in 4-hours with local dancers and musicians Ava Mendoza (guitar) and Ryan Sawyer (drums). It is composed, but untethered. The artists attempt a work imbedded with mechanisms that make its execution increasingly impossible, forcing the material into stages of evolution and deterioration. In performance, the dance destroys itself.

Destroy// Manhattan, presented by The TANK, is part of DANCE ELIXIR’s international performance/research tour called Destroy// All Places – which has also traveled to Rome, Athens, Berlin, Amsterdam and on both US coasts. Information about Destroy// is located here: www.danceelixirlive.org/destroy

Cast

Samantha Carmean, Pauline Legras, Alice Pucheu, Kristen Klein, Annie Wang, Anthony Rosado, and Jill Hockett

Artist Bios

Leyya Mona Tawil Artistic Director of DANCE ELIXIR Concept and Choreography of Destroy//

Leyya Mona Tawil is a dance artist, educator, and the Artistic Director of DANCE ELIXIR. Under her direction since 2003, the company has enjoyed national tours and international engagements in 11 countries throughout Europe and the Middle East. She is currently touring Destroy// - a project that over 60 dancers and 18 musicians have participated in since 2012. 

Tawil has been awarded creative residencies in cities from Cairo to New Orleans, and is presented annually in New York City, Detroit, Amsterdam and San Francisco. International highlights include the Syrian National Opera House (Damascus), Bimhuis (Amsterdam) and Dock 11 (Berlin). Tawil’s work has also been produced in Rome by CORE at Duncan 3.0, the Beirut International Platform on Dance (BIPOD) and the San Francisco International Arts Festival. 

The mainstay of Tawil’s work is collaboration with artists from multiple disciplines. Her current research into location-based dance making has birthed projects such as The Grand Re-Map and Destroy// - works that are subject to variations defined by locality. She has been interviewed about these works by national press Art21 Blog, NEA Art Works and The Huffington Post. Leyya is also the director of TAC:Temescal Arts Center - an venue for experimental art in Oakland-California. She has taught at universities and professional schools worldwide. 

Quoted in the Press

"Tawil uses dance expression to develop the narrative of a culture coming up against a wall and going through that wall."

-- Roxane Assaf, The Huffington Post