Dance and Body Arts Studio in Ledyard, CT
Dragon’s Egg Presents
The Hygienic Egg
On March 9th, 2025, at the Hygienic Galleries of New London
A nearly annual collaboration with the Hygienic
We provide the performers, they provide the amazing venues, as we promenade through the Galleries, taking in the art, and creating our own.
This yea’s work is in response to the prompt of Pygmalion.
There will be dance, music, puppetry, theatre, hooping.
“Tonka”
performed by Clare Byrne
music: “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” by Lerner and Loewe
‘Play God’ by Ani DiFranco…performed by Serena Judge, hooper
An Exploration of Transformation and Empowerment Through Dance
Choreographer & Director
Alison Cook-Beatty—
Dancers: Eliza: Ioanna Ioannides; Maddie Burnett, Ava Trochiano
Musical Selections: “The Hours” by Philip Glass,”Experience” by Ludovico Einaudi, “The Piano” by Michael Nyman, ”Arrival of the Birds” by The Cinematic Orchestra
Puppets: Alison Cook Beatty, Dan Potter, Dan Cook
“Change” performed by Maia Ramnath music: “seal” by Ganavya, with text from Octavia Butler
“Waiting for the teacher”. Puppet, creation, performance by Bobbi Nidz
This piece uses text from George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, as a wild boar marionette (as close as I could get to a Pyg) awaits a teacher to arrive.
“Pygmalion” by Shaw, an exchange between actors Milt Angelopoulos and Marya Ursin
“Aphrodite’s Inspiration”
Written and performed by Ara Fitzgerald
“Gimme The Word”: composed, written, and performed by Bernadette Golden
The Hygienic Egg: dreamt and assembled by Marya Ursin of the Egg, and completed by You, the Audience. We thank you for your presence, for your attention. We thank the Hygienic for its gracious sharing of its spaces. We deeply thank all the performers, who play with the idea presented, and bring their impressions with generosity and artistry to benefit all of us!
And – We wish for you, and for all beings, peace and well being.
BIOS – based on the order of the performers
Clare Byrne is a songwriter, dancer, and bandmember of The Celestials. Her choreography and songs have been performed in venues across New York City, New England and beyond. She has taught in the dance programs at Muhlenberg College, Long Island University, and University of Vermont, and currently teaches at Emerson College and Neighborhood Music School. Her creative and scholarly work investigates religion, music, dance, and ritual with reverent irreverence. She is thrilled to be performing with The Celestials the Dragon’s Egg Presents again in NYC’s historic University Settlement
Serena Judge is a creative stuck in a business casual world. A poet and story teller, an avid crocheter of whimisical things, and a flow artist/hula hooper. While she has no formal training in any of her creative endeavors she doesn’t let that diminish her excitement or passion. She creates many of her performance props herself. All she needs is a plastic circle, a bit of yarn, and a song.
Alison Cook Beatty Dance/Dancers
Ioanna Ioannides hails from Port Washington, NY, where she began her dance training at Berest Dance Center. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.F.A. in Dance from Adelphi University. Ioanna has performed works by various renowned choreographers and joined Alison Cook Beatty Dance as a guest artist in 2021, becoming a full Company member in 2022.
Madelaine Burnett, originally from BC, Canada, studied at the Ailey School’s Scholarship Program before joining Graham2 in 2018, performing principal roles in notable productions. Currently in her fourth season with Alison Cook Beatty Dance, she has appeared across NY, CT, MA, and NJ, and has been featured in Dance International Magazine. Madelaine is a certified ballet teacher and is involved in various projects, including being featured in “BC to NYC.”
Ava Trochiano is from New Jersey and began her training at The Academy of Dance Arts. She has a diverse training background, including prestigious institutions like Juilliard and ABT. Ava graduated summa cum laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program in 2024 and has performed in significant events, including the Ailey Spirit Gala. This is her second season with Alison Cook Beatty Dance.
Alison Cook-Beatty, Artistic Director of Alison Cook Beatty Dance, a nonprofit in NYC for 13 years, will create a compelling 5-minute classical modern dance adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” for three female dancers, capturing Eliza Doolittle’s transformative journey while highlighting themes of identity and societal expectation. Alison attended the Boston Conservatory of Music at Berklee, earning a BFA in Dance with high honors and receiving the Ruth Sandholm Ambrose Scholarship Award and the Jan Veen Scholarship. She danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Taylor 2 before founding her company in 2012, with a mission to create and share accessible and emotionally engaging dance for all.
Maia Ramnath’s occupations include aerialist, dancer, choreographer, historian, writer, teacher and NYC walking-tour guide. As Constellation Moving Company (group collaborations)/Constellation Moving (solo work), Maia has been creating circus-dance-theater assemblages since 2010, and has performed freelance with various choreographers and companies including Pat Catterson, Fly By Night Aerial Dance Theater, Lisa Natoli, Molissa Fenley, Hybrid Movement Company, Yonder Window Theater Company, and the Merce Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group. Maia has taught aerial rope and silks at Vital Climbing Gym, Circus Warehouse, and The Muse; and history at New York University, Penn State, Fordham, and Barnard.
Bobbi Nidzgorski: MFA in Puppet Theatre from Connecticut College and the O’Neill Theatre Centre. Teacher in CT Public Schools 38 years
Milt Angelopoulos: Hails from Norwich, New London, East Lyme, Greece, and the realms of the imagination. Employed as an entertainment industry rigger and stagehand, he still enjoys performing and is grateful for the opportunity to be here today.
Ara Fitzgerald is a choreographer, improvisor, writer, performer and educator. Known for solos with original text, she revels in collaborations with photographer/filmmaker, Peter Cunningham, composer, Wall Matthews, Clare Byrne, Paris based choreographer, Martha Moore, and the honor to perform reconstructions of work by renowned dancer/clown, Lotte Goslar. A graduate of Connecticut College and Wesleyan University (MALS), she taught at Connecticut College, Trinity Square Conservatory, the National Theater Institute, and served as director of dance and theater at Manhattanville College. She’s proud to be on the board of The Mystic Paper Beasts. Her work has been seen on and off Broad and is way, in dance spaces and museums. When she told her grandmother, a retired vaudevillian, that she would pursue modern dance, her grandmother retorted, “A modern dancer is just a vaudevillian with an education.” Ara’s work leaps from stage to page in her book, Slow Dancing Is Easy, Scripts for Solo Performer, available on her website: arafitzgerald.com Thank you, Marya, for gathering us together today!
Bernadette Golden has been possessed by Euterpe for many years. Let the music melt like chocolate for your soul, and take you to all the places relationships can go, and a few they shouldn’t. All music is about love – too much, not enough, the wrong kind, and, hopefully, sometimes, it all comes together for a moment, so let’s love and laugh
Marya Ursin is a dancer/theatre maker (actor, director, producer, writer)/mime/yogi who has, performed in over 1000 venues as a dancer and mask performer, is the current co-director (with artist Dan Potter) of the Mystic Paper Beasts, and is executive director for the Dragon’s Egg. Recipient of two NEFAs. She has taught widely, including 40 years at Conn College, and 42 at the O’Neill, and is the author/co illustrator of two story books, A Bowlful of Ladoo, and Skytails. Her primary mentor was Merce Cunningham. BA, MA, eRYT, MsT/Reiki/Reflexology. She is originally from NYC.
Donations are welcome: https://paypal.me/dragonseggstudio
Or by cheque to the Mystic Paper Beasts, 8 Hancox, Stonington, Ct. 06378
For information about the Mystic Paper Beasts/Dragon’s Egg and our many and varied activities, please be in touch with Marya at mybeasts@aol.com
www.dragonseggstudio.org
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