Ariel Grossman grew up in New York City. David Homan grew up in Gainesville, Fla. She is a dancer; he is a composer. As a compromise between urban and suburban, the artistic couple ended up in Jersey City, where they hope to raise a family while pursing their careers.
They are scheduled to take part in a series of performances from Thursday to Saturday, May 28-30. They are among several diverse artists to find common ground in a performance series of cutting-edge contemporary dance that includes Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Sean Curran, Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch, and Paul Dennis at the New York Live Arts Theater.
Their company, called Ariel Rivka Dance (ARD), will premier “Ori,” which is their collaboration.
Meaning “my light” in Hebrew, Ori manipulates fast- paced lighting shifts and their consequent shadows to create a raw, energetic performance by seven contemporary ballet dancers and four electrifying cellists.
The husband and wife team founded Ariel Rivka Dance in 2008 as a contemporary ballet company based in New York City, committed to creating work that explores raw emotion in the context of strong technique and form. ARD’s most recent work, “The Book of Esther,” tours nationwide including performances at the Gershman Y in Philadelphia, Pa., and the Center for Jewish History in New York City
“In a lot of my music, my intention is to get to the core emotional as quickly as possible.” – David Homan
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A romantic comedy
Although the couple met as a result of their art, the details sound like something out of a romantic comedy.
She was working for a dance company right out of college. When she injured her knee she worked in a ticket booth while she recovered.
Homan came up to her, saying that he was supposed to have complementary tickets. When she checked, he was not on the list. He insisted he was supposed to have the tickets.
The back and forth that continued became something of a joke a year later, when they met again and began to talk, and date. They married in 2006, but struggled to figure out where to settle.
“I kept thinking that we could raise a family in a small one-bedroom apartment in New York,” Grossman said. “David was different. He was used to living in a house.”
Now residents of Dixon Mills, a community Grossman described as supportive, the couple has evolved artistically as well, working together to develop musical and dance routines.
“In a lot of my music, my intention is to get to the core emotional as quickly as possible,” Homan said.
“We’re very direct in what we’re trying to show,” Grossman added.
Grossman said in “Ori” she wanted to get away from narrative line.
“I just wanted to dance,” she said.
She liked the idea of exploring light, and said this became the starting point for the performance exploration.
“We’re very connected to our Jewish identity,” she said.
While she and Homan may have their disagreements at times, he has a lot of experience in drama and music.
“The language [of dance] is very different than in music,” she said. “Sometimes words mean different things.”
Over the years, they have built a stronger understanding of what each other means.
“We’re blunt with each other,” she said. “He’s kinder to me than I am with him.”
Getting it right
Homan said the biggest challenge with “Ori” is time. He said he completed the music in mid-March, but only recently managed to have it played by live musicians to refine it and to actually know if the whole thing will come together.
“It takes an incredible amount of time to write, notate and rehearse,” he said. “Even a small change later might cut away what took hours of work to create.”
He said their piece is 18 minutes long, and in four movements.
Grossman said she wants to draw in people who might not otherwise come to see a dance performance.
“Many people have never seen a major dance work, and how beautiful it can be,” she said. “This is moderately priced and the theater is near to the PATH. People should come even if they’ve had a bad experience in the past. I believe they will feel positive about this and will be motivated. Some people don’t understand dance and feel stupid because they don’t get it. Our mission is to break that line, and that they don’t always need to understand, just enjoy the art.”
The show will be held on Thursday, May 28, Friday, May 29, Saturday May 30, at 7:30 p.m. with a special matinee for children on Saturday, May 30 at 2:30 p.m. New York Live Arts is at 219 W 19th St. in Manhattan, a short walk from the W. 23rd Street PATH station. Tickets cost $30 or for $15 for students. To purchase, contact New York Live Arts at (212) 924-0077 or at newyorklivearts.org.
Grossman trained in ballet at Joffrey Ballet School and others
Grossman began her dance training at the Joffrey Ballet School under the direction of Gerald Arpino. She trained there for ten years with Eleanor D’antouno (American Ballet Theater), John Magnus, and Dorothy Lister. During this time Ariel was a dance major at LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts and studied with performers associated with Zvi Gotheiner Dance, The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theater and Martha Graham Dance Company. She earned a B.S. in Dance with honors from Skidmore College where she studied with and performed works by Robert Battle, Alexandre Proia (NYC Ballet), Denise Warner Limoli (ABT), Debra Fernandez, and Mary Harney (Martha Graham). At Skidmore, she began choreographing and upon graduation was commissioned to set a work on Skidmore dancers.
Her work has been presented at the Saratoga Dance Museum, Baruch Performing Arts Center, From the Ground Festival, University Settlement, the Derriere Guard Festival, Works in Progress at Dance New Amsterdam, the Cunningham Studios, Chen Dance Center, and as a recipient of a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) grant. ARD will premiere “Book of Esther,” earlier this year at Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater.
She also teaches pre-K school in Jersey City. She received her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education. She teaches at the Jewish Community Project Early Childhood Center in lower Manhattan and has developed and currently administers an arts curriculum incorporating dance, visual art and music for young learners.
Homan work has been performed world wide
Homan is a composer and collaborative artist. His work has been performed in the United States, Europe, and Israel in places like Carnegie Hall/Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, CAMI Hall, the Thalia at Symphony Space as well as major dance venues such as DTW, Joyce Soho, the Di Capo Opera Theatre, MMAC, and the Joyce Theater.
He has also toured Europe (Florence and Budapest) as a playwright/composer/actor, composed the music for the award winning 2001 Fringe Festival Production “Einstein’s Dreams,” and has written theatrical scores for “As You Like It,” “Hamlet,” “King Lear,” “Twelfth Night,” “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Orwell’s 1984,” and “Great Expectations,” among others.
Major groups such as the Di Capo Chamber Players, the Colorado String Quartet, and the American Symphony Orchestra have performed his works, as well as dance commissions with former ABT and Joffrey Ballet dancers, Randy James, Catherine Miller, Ariel Rivka Dance, and choreographers around the US. He is the founding director of the Live Arts Collaboration and executive director of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.