Choreographed + Directed by Hilary Easton
Original Music by Thomas Cabaniss
Costumes by Madeleine Walach
NY Premiere: Danspace Project, May 8-10, 2008

Praised by The New York Times for “its sly humor, abiding warmth, and choreographic gift for gutsy physicality”, Hilary Easton’s work is known for tackling timeless issues within a lush kinetic world. Noise + Speed mines the manifestos of the Italian Futurists, mirroring and commenting upon the often vitriolic screeds of these early-20th Century ideologues, and examining the ways in which rigid dogma can steer our thinking and actions. The actor Steven Rattazzi is the work’s polemicist, citing, and inciting with, increasingly reprehensible Futurist texts. This evening-length piece has a dynamic original score by longtime collaborator Thomas Cabaniss for strings, percussion, piano and melodica, and is performed by Obie-award winning actor Steven Rattazzi and dancers Alexandra Albrecht, Hilary Easton, Chelsea Glassman, Michael Ingle, Joshua Palmer, Emily Pope-Blackman.
Noise + Speed is one hour in length.

Selected Performances of Noise + Speed

• January 28, 2011: Excerpts of Noise + Speed performed at
  The Skirball Center, for NYU-Tisch School of the Arts Past Forward series.
  
  
• August 23, 2008: Mount Tremper Arts, Mount Tremper, New York. Read the audience reviews here.
  
  
• May 8-10, 2008: Full premiere at The Danspace Project,
  St. Mark's Church, NYC.
  

"Hilary Easton's creativity combines secure craft, sharp intelligence, hearty expression and fearless exploration."
Eva Yaa Asantawaa, May, 2008, Infinitebody.com

"The brainy downtown choreographer Hilary Easton created a new evening-length contemporary dance piece based on the ideas of the early 20th -century Italian Futurists. Presented at Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church (May 8-10), the bitingly satiric work, Noise + Speed, is set to a stunning original score by Thomas Cabaniss and features hilarious acting by Steven Rattazzi (who recites the Futurists' manifestos with perfect pomposity) and illustrative dancing by Easton and her five member company. The piece entertainingly demonstrates the madness that would ensue should society follow the absurd dictates of the Fututists, with their reverence for noise, speed, mechanization, militarism, and lust."
Lisa Jo Sagolla, May, 2008, Backstage

The creation of Noise + Speed was made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project 2007-2008 Commissioning Initiative, with support from The Andrew S. Mellon Foundation. Noise + Speed also received generous funding from The Bossak-Heilbron Foundation, Lehman Brothers, HSBC Banks, JP Morgan, The American Music Center, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, and The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.