Who's Who in The School of Hard Knocks?!

THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS (SOHK), founded in 1984, is a collaborative effort of multidisciplinary artists working under the Artistic Direction of Yoshiko Chuma. Over the course of the company’s history, more than 2,000 people have performed under her direction in situations ranging from theatrical dance concerts to street performances, parades, and large-scale spectacles in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, especially the Middle East.

Yoshiko Chuma has once again gathered a highly acclaimed cast and crew of talented performers to take the stage at LaMaMa Moves! Dance Festival this week. Take a look at some of the amazing performers and artists you don't want to miss in the World Premiere of Yushiko Chuma's π= 3.14.. NOTHINg, or EVERYTHINg - With dry tech endless peripheral border - Fukushima - Kabul - Amman - Ramallah - Berlin this weekend:

Megumi Eda (performer): 

Photo by: Ricardo Tinelli

"dreamy, meditative"

~ The New York Times

"She again added depth to the pyrotechnical ballet otherwise on display, offsetting a fitful musical passage of horns and percussion with dancing that was powerful but nuanced."

~ The New Yorker

2004 Bessie Award Winner

Born in Nagano, Japan, Megumi Eda had her professional debut as a ballerina with the Matsuyama Ballet Company in Tokyo. At 16 she moved to Europe and spent the next 15 years working and touring constantly with the Hamburg Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and the Rambert Dance Company where she worked with John Neumeier, Mats Ek, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Hans van Manen and many others. She is a founding member of Armitage Gone! Dance and has continued to collaborate with Karole Armitage for over a decade. Megumi has begun to incorporate sculpture, video and graphics into her freelance work, and is thrilled to be working closely with Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks.

Lance Gries (performer):

Photo by Bart Grietens

"Mr. Gries, a much admired former Trisha Brown dancer, is the connective tissue."

~ The New York Times

2011 Bessie Award Nominee, Best Production

From 1985-1992 he was a member of the Trisha Brown Dance Company. His work with that company has been honored with a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award and a Princess Grace Foundation Award.  Since 1990, he has created and presented solo and group choreography in various venues in New York City such as The Kitchen, Danspace, Judson Church, La MaMa and The State Theater, as well as cities throughout Europe. Gries is a renowned teacher, having taught workshops and master classes throughout the world. In 1994 he was a "founding teacher" of PARTS in Brussels, Belgium and continues there as a visiting teacher.  Amongst other awards and grants, he is a 2014 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Fellow.

Saori Tsukada (performer):  

Photo from Watermill Center

"a startlingly precise dancer."

~ The New York Times

Best Actress Nominee; 2005 & 2008 Dublin Fringe Festival

Saori Tsukada is a New York based performance artist who works in various genre such as theater, puppet/mask, dance, film and voice-over. Her collaborators of past & current includes choreographer Yoshiko Chuma, Catherine Galasso, composer/theater artist John Moran, video artist Katja Loher, playwright/director Aya Ogawa, theater company Hoi Polloi, Witness Relocation. She has performed at venues like The Kitchen, Brooklyn Museum, DTW, PS 122, Japan Society in NY, and has toured London, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Düsseldorf, Warsaw, Skopje, Bucharest and Istanbul among others. She is currently developing a silent film performance work called Club Diamond, with filmmaker/theater artist Nikki Appino.

Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin (live video painting): 

                                                                                                                                      Photo by The New York Times, Ayumi Sakamoto

"They are, for better or worse, moving forward."

~The New York Times

Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin are interdisciplinary artists who’s solo shows include “A MARRIAGE: 2 (WEST-ER)” (Invisible Dog Art Center, Brooklyn); “A MARRIAGE: 1 (SUBURBIA)” (HERE Arts Center, NYC, MCLA’s Gallery 51, North Adams, MA, Sleeping Weazle, Boston); and “Art/Slant Presents: Nick & Jake” (Chicago, IL).  Their collaborations with choreographers include creating the environments for Faye Driscoll’s “Thank You For Coming: ATTENDANCE” (Danspace, NYC); Yoshiko Chuma’s “Shredded” (Gallery 128, NYC); and Pavel Zustiak’s “S(even)” (New Hazlett Theater, Pittsburgh).  They are recipients of a 2015 NYFA Fellowship and recipients of grants from the MAPFund and mediaThe foundation, inc.  Nick & Jake are members of the devised theater company The TEAM with whom they have created five plays that have won numerous awards and toured throughout the world to venues such as The Shed at the National Theater, London; The Barbican Centre, London; The Public Theater, NYC; PS122, NYC; The Walker, Minneapolis; Culturegest, Lisbon; and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.  As a scenographer, Nick has designed over 70 shows for theater, opera and dance that have been seen throughout the US, Canada, the UK, Portugal, Romania, China, Japan, and Oman.  Nick & Jake currently live in Houston, Texas where they are researching and developing a series of work about pre-stonewall LGBT histories in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico.  These pieces will be shown at the Invisible Dog in 2016.


La MaMa presents

π= 3.14.. NOTHINg, or EVERYTHINg 

(World Premiere)

June 04 - June 07, 2015

Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 4pm

Ellen Stewart Theatre | 66 East 4th Street (2nd Floor)

Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors; ten tickets priced at $10 are available for every performance - pre-sale only, not available day-of-show!

For tickets & info click HERE!