Tom Pearson with the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers at Theater for the New City

Tom Pearson in Ceremony; Photo by Richard Termine, © 2003

Tom Pearson will perform his contemporary dance solo, Ceremony, which originally premiered in 2003, as part of this year's Thunderbird American Indian Dancers Concert and Powwow at Theater for the New City.

In addition to Ceremony, which deals with issues of identity, inheritance and reclamation, Pearson also performs in several of the traditional works on the program including a special Hoop Dance duet with Donna Ahmadi.

For more information on the full program, or for tickets, contact information, and directions click through to Theater for the New City.

PLEASE NOTE: Ceremony will only be performed on the evening programs, not the 3pm Children's Matinees. See dates, times, and ticket prices below.

More About Ceremony:

Describing the work in 2003, The New Yorker wrote: "In 'Ceremony,' the evening's standout piece, Pearson (who is part Cherokee and Muskogee) grapples with his Native American heritage. Emerging from an over-sized dream catcher, he twists abruptly, responds to the chants of a drum circle, hinges backward to the ground, and finally returns to his dream catcher sanctuary, where family photographs rain down on him." Additionally, Tobi Tobias praised the work in The Village Voice, describing it as "...a brief, ritualistic solo that combined a rapt mood with movement suggesting a fierce form of martial art." For more on Ceremony and the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers concert this month, read Eva Yaa Asantewaa's current interview with Tom Pearson on InfiniteBody.

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue
(between 9th and 10th Streets)
New York

Friday - Sunday, January 29 - February 7, 2010
Friday - Saturday at 8pm
All Tickets $10 Adults

Children's Matinees Saturday & Sunday at 3pm
$1 Children Under 12
(Must be accompanied by paying adult)

NOTE: Ceremony will only be performed on the evening programs, not the 3pm Children's Matinees.
Video Trailer of Ceremony as performed in 2005:

MultiShow: Undercurrents & Exchange

MultiShow: Undercurrents & Exchange from Third Rail Projects on Vimeo.
This is a segment from a Brazilian TV show which focused an episode on site-specific performances in New York City. "Undercurrents & Exchange" by Zach Morris and Tom Pearson was featured as part of this program which aired in April 2009.

Undercurrents & Exchange was a month-long engagement with the employees and visitors of the World Financial Center. During February 2009, artists presented a new dance every workday during the lunch hour, unearthing the hidden, interpersonal undercurrents of our daily routines. Each short dance was a world unto itself but also accumulated meaning over the course of the month as the performances revealed the often veiled, but perpetually possible connections within the transitional spaces of the Winter Garden.

arts> World Financial Center presented Undercurrents & Exchange by Zach Morris & Tom Pearson, also featuring choreography by Marissa Nielsen-Pincus and Tara O'Con, with art installations by Zach Morris

Performed by Morris, Pearson, Nielsen-Pincus, and O'Con with Donna Ahmadi, Kris Bauman, Elizabeth Carena, Mayuna Shimizu, and other surprise guest artists.

We're Open!!!!!!!

Elizabeth Carena; photo by Darla Winn

So...The Steampunk Haunted House opened on Wednesday and the response has been overwhelmingly positive!!!

After talking to many, many tour groups that have come through, the biggest "complaint" was they wished they could've spent much, much more time to explore and look at all of the detail. People have been raving about it.

Great responses from press too!

If you haven't check out the slideshow on MSNBC

The Village Voice, Time Out New York, & New York Magazine.

We've already sold out some timeslots for tonight...so If you wanna come BUY TICKETS NOW!!

And, Finally...Halloween is in ONE DAY! if you are strapped for ideas/and or need a costume, bounce over to Halloween Adventure/NY Costumes (the nice folks who sponsored the haunted house and helped it be what it is) Amazing selection...and even some steampunky goodness! Check 'em out!

Checklist of Things That Are Scary:

A creepy, century-old building—Check.

A playhouse that is possibly already haunted—Check.

Boiler rooms—Check.

Steam pipes—Check.

Hundred-year-old pully-operated creaking metal doors—Check.

Dank cellars—Check.

Labyrinthine hallways—Check.

Victorian parlors—Check.

Twitching multi-eyed things—Check.

Gasmasks—Check.

Droves of inhuman beasties —Check.

Antiquated mechanisms—Check.

Lots and lots of darkness—Check.

Things that jump out at you in said darkness—Check.

Creepy thing in corner with teeth—Check.

Wicked-cool, eerie soundscape—Check.

Big, big men who chase you—Check.

Little tiny rooms that we lock you in—Check.

Half a Week Away

We are roughly half a week away from our opening night, and I’m thrilled at how the Haunted House is coming together. The artists and collaborators on this project have continued to floor me with their vision, talent, and penchant for creating exquisite and horrible scenarios.

photo by Chad Heird

From its inception, I wanted the Haunted House to be as dense, saturated, and startling as a bad dream. An immersive world that you can’t ever quite see the edges of. The combination downtown installation and performance artists - whose work walks that fine line between the unsettling and the sumptuous - and a team of ridiculously talented performers and collaborators has created a sprawling, fully designed experience chock-full of terrifying, stunning scenes and settings.

I am amazed at what they have done.

In rehearsals I feel like I’m in a beautiful nightmare.

Our fantastic team of collaborators includes: Nikki Berger, Elizabeth Carena, Andrea Dohar, Colleen Ehrlich, Geoffrey A. Ehrlich, Arianne Gallagher, Andres Gonzalez, Jesse Green, Kat Green, Chad Heird, Natalia Johnson, Russell Kaplan, Sara Kipp, Marissa Marshall, Dan Meltz, Zach Morris, Meiko & the Light Module, Marissa Nielsen-Pincus, Liz Sargent, Brigid C Scruggs, Debra Stunich, Ava Szilagi, Phebe Taylor, Matthew Wagner, Carlton Ward, Barry Weil, Kryssy Wright, and the utterly rockstar ensemble from Abrons Urban Youth Theater.

...stretches of desolate hallways, claustrophobic encounters with shifting forms, hidden menaces, parlors of monstrosities, gear powered mechanisms, rooms full of creeping, inhuman beings, and mobs of slowly encroaching horrors...

Dude, I'm so stoked

-Zach

The Making of the Steampunk Haunted House

(photos by Liz Sargent & Zach Morris)

Hey all! We thought we'd give you a sneak peak at the making of the Steampunk Haunted House. Following are some behind-the-scenes shots of the costuming process.

Costume Designer Colleen Ehrlich and Marissa Nielsen-Pincus laying out costumes for various sections of the House

Gloves, cuffs, hats, metal-y bits, odds and ends that were the basic elements that we started with.

...and here's an example of what that all turned into...

photo by Chad Heird

Buy Tickets Now

Trailer for Steampunk Haunted House

Steampunk Haunted House Trailer from Third Rail Projects on Vimeo.
October 28, 29, 30, 31
at the Abrons Art Center
For more info and tickets visit
thirdrailprojects.com