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Commissioned by Miami’s Carnival Center for its inaugural outdoor performance in January, 2007, Flexion was created for Wise Fool New Mexico by Sydney’s David Clarkson. Recognized in the aerial and physical theater world as a leader in the field, Clarkson’s Flexion is an outdoor, aerial and stilt movement spectacle. Featuring five acrobats on stilts rolling into backbends, splits, and a myriad of sculptural forms, Flexion stretches one's perception of the human body. Strutting and dancing, suspended and flying the performers’ pincer-like metal legs slice the air as they spin and swim like fencers in a seas, barely missing each other in their fervent exploration of their metal home. Shedding layers of armor, the acrobats slowly transform from superhuman warriors to fragile nymphs balancing high above the audience, hanging precariously from straps, the cage, and each other and finally descending to earth.

Flexion is designed for outdoor venues and runs 25 minutes.

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Company & Artist Biographies

Wise Fool New Mexico

Wise Fool New Mexico (WFNM) is an award winning physical theater company that produces highly visual performances and public spectacles. WFNM reaches audiences over 10,000 annually, through tours of repertory and site specific productions across North America, and performances and educational programs in our local communities of Northern New Mexico. From Bumbershoot to the Bioneers Conference, International Dance and Visual Arts festivals to public libraries and prisons, WFNM has successfully engaged audiences of all ages in physical, thought provoking, and visually stunning theater for over 12 years. It is WFNM’s mission to ignite imagination, build community, and promote social justice through performances and hands-on experiences in the arts of circus, puppetry, and theatre. Our commitment to accessibility of the arts leads us to focus on creating work for outdoor events and alternative venues.

Wise Fool New Mexico’s outdoor aerial-stilt spectacle Flexion has reached over 20,000 audience members of all ages touring across the US and internationally to venues including Flint Hills Children’s Festival, St Paul, MN, B-Live, Miami FL, Detroit International Arts Festival, MI, Artown, Reno, NV, Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO, Santa Fe Opera, NM, Bumbershoot, Seattle, WA, Columbia Festival of the Arts, MD, Discovery Green, Houston, TX, Bayou City Arts Festival, Houston, TX, International Festival of the Arts, Valencia, Venezuela, and DansEncore, Quebec, Canada.

David Clarkson

Born in New Zealand, David Clarkson began his theatre career in Christchurch in 1982. He worked in several seminal theatre companies in NZ, developing his skills in physical theatre and theatre management. In 1985, Clarkson formed the Stalker Theatre Company developing it into one of Australia's top national and international touring physical theatre companies. Clarkson has performed in and co-conceived many of their works, involving stilt and aerial dance and acrobatics as well as ground-based choreographies.

Amy Christian

CHRISTIAN is a professional performing and visual artist, teacher and community activist. A founding member of Wise Fool, Christian has served as a co-Director, core artist, producer and administrator since 1989.

In her time with Wise Fool, Christian has conceived, organized and directed outdoor and indoor theatre events, taught public workshops in mask making, stilt walking, puppetry arts and processional theatre, performed throughout the US, Mexico and Europe, built hundreds of giant puppets and supported an uncountable number of cultural and social change groups and events.

Christian has also guided community and cultural organizations through the conception and creation of public events. In 1995, Christian founded IN THE STREET, the San Francisco Street Theatre Festival. A three-day free event, celebrating accessible theatre by bringing high quality performances into the streets of the Tenderloin. IN THE STREET is now in its sixth successful year, changing the face of this "dangerous" neighborhood by bringing the community together in dialogue and shared celebration.

Deirdre Morris

Currently Morris is working in her seventh year with Wise Fool New Mexico as a principal performer, teacher, choreographer, Production and Booking Agent, Studio Manager and she is in her fourth year as the Producer of the Women’s Summer Circus Workshop Intensive. Morris has also been a member of the Production team for a program in Miami, Florida titled “Walking Tall Circus”, where she has been working with at risk youth in the Miami county area. Morris is currently working on a new performance project to be premiered in September 2006, tentatively titled Ashes & Snow: a study in the Alchemy of Hope.

Alessandra Ogren

OGREN has been creating puppets, masks and performance works as a core member of Wise Fool since 1993. She is a professional performer, artist, lighting designer, teacher and accomplished aerialist.

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