John Michael Kohler Arts Center presents Ephrat Asherie Dance

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center presents the critically acclaimed Ephrat Asherie Dance performing its newest work, Odeon, in two performances, October 16 and 18.

Odeon is a high-energy, hybrid layering of street and club dance styles including breaking, hip-hop, house, and vogue with a live performance of the buoyant music of 20^th-century Brazilian composer Ernesto Nazareth.

The Boston Globe tagged Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie a “bona fide b-girl.” For Odeon, the Bessie Award-winning choreographer and dancer collaborated with her brother Ehud Asherie, lauded by The New Yorker as “a master of swing and stride.” The duo reimagines Nazareth’s signature compositions that meld classical music with popular Afro-Brazilian rhythms.

Featuring seven dancers and four musicians, Odeon brings together the extended legacies of street and club styles and remixes them to challenge choreographic contexts. Praised by The New York Times as being “...versed in seemingly every style of street dance,”Ephrat uses the expansive narrative qualities of street and club dance to tell stories, develop innovative imagery, and find new modes of expression through Ephrat Asherie Dance.

The Tuesday, Oct. 16, performance is a family-friendly show beginning at 6:30 p.m. It includes an abridged version of Odeon with an audience engagement activity following the show. The Thursday, Oct. 18, performance begins at 7:30 p.m. and offers the full-length work. A social gathering with Ephrat Asherie Dance follows the performance.

Tickets are available at jmkac.org, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center reception desk, or by calling 920-458-6144. Family show tickets (Oct. 16) are $15, $10 for Arts Center members. Tickets to the full-length Oct. 18 show is $20, $15 for Arts Center members.

Ephrat is a New York City-based artist and the recipient of numerous awards to support her work including a Mondo Cane! commission from Dixon Place, a creative development residency at the Pillow Lab from Jacob's Pillow. , Workspace and Extended Life Residencies from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, a Travel and Study Grant from the Jerome Foundation, and two residencies through the CUNY Dance Initiative.

Most recently, Ephrat received a National Dance Project award to support the development and touring of Odeon. She is a regular guest artist with Dorrance Dance and has worked and collaborated with Doug Elkins, Rennie Harris, Bill Irwin, David Parsons, Gus Solomons Jr., and Buddha Stretch, among others. She earned her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University in Italian and her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she researched the vernacular jazz dance roots of contemporary street and club dances.

Ehud is a jazz pianist who integrates the venerable New York piano tradition into his inventive style. He has toured clubs and festivals around the world, including South America, Europe, and Asia. Asherie’s playing can be heard on countless recordings, including the 2010 Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. He recently released his twelfth album, titled Shuffle Along (Blue Heron Records), a solo piano performance of Eubie Blake songs from the musical Shuffle Along.