about
the company
Pony Box Dance Theatre is an award winning contemporary dance company. Comprised of diverse male artists, the troupe’s performances – set to original scores – are recognized for their physically powerful, visually compelling and soulful aesthetic.
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Led by visionary founder and Artistic Director Jamie Carabetta, the company presents an annual season in New York City and Los Angeles and regularly tours throughout the United States and internationally. Audiences are drawn to the sheer physicality and immediacy of Pony Box’s performances.
artistic statement
Jamie Carabetta, Artistic Director
My artistic vision has to do with following the code of the Dandelion, always pushing UP through whatever hinders its growth; cultural, spiritual, societal and personal. My artistic vision has to do with bridge building, as I look around and see an increasingly divided world poised to fall into an abyss. My artistic vision has to do with the struggle to maintain self expression in an increasingly dogmatic and inexpressive world. My artistic vision has to do with exploring the place between group dynamics and the individuals longing for personal connection. My artistic vision seeks to affirm the importance of human beings acting in support of other human beings. To understand the work that I do, you have to know that in
my youth my own bodily autonomy was violently taken from me and you have to know that Dance is the healing counter force for that trauma.
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Who is a part of the work? Those who possess the strength of their artistic vulnerability, and a personal drive to express themselves through movement. They are Survivors who have swapped their own oppression for self expression and for the mastery of their craft.
How do we go about doing it? Through Collaboration, Exploration, Investigation, Liberation, Integration, and Implementation. We work quickly. We often have to. A theme is decided. A working (usually final) title is assigned, discussions follow, and an outline takes shape based on initial mental sketches. Free, improvisational sessions reveal the "thrills,"
which are strung together like pearls along the line of the theme. Draft ideas are passed on to the composer. An original score is introduced, further inspiring the movement.
Refinement takes place. Minimum rehearsals are usually the maximum realized, based on
the peripatetic schedules of our excellent dancers. This is a thumbnail of how we go about
doing it. We surmount the mountains, and rise to the challenges. We keep pushing UP.
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