Treehouse Shakers was awarded
"Best of Manhattan" by New York Press!

COYOTE'S DANCE
TREEHOUSE SHAKERS' NEW YORK SEASON

Public Performances:
Sundays, APRIL 13th and May 18th, 2008
11:00 AM

School Performances:
APRIL 8th, 29th, 30th, 2008
10:00 AM

Tickets: $15, cash or checks only
Reservations: 212-715-1914 or
contactus@treehouseshakers.com
Call for school discount rates and info.

The Ailey Citigroup Theater
The Joan Weill Center for Dance
405 West 55th Street
New York City, NY

Special Benefit Reception following the APRIL 13th Performance
Tickets: $100 includes ticket to show and reception RSVP by April 1st

Subway Directions:
A, C, 1, B, D to Columbus Circle or Q, N, R to 57th St./7th Ave.

Treehouse Shakers Celebrated 10 Years!
Pictures by APOL DE LA TORRE Photography
Party Details

Click to see the Shakers...in the press!

Audience Praise See why people love the Treehouse Shakers.


Birthday Parties: Looking for something new for your next birthday party.

Buy your Treehouse SHAKER now.
Hand Carved in Africa. $20

Get your Treehouse Shakers T-shirt today.

All colors and sizes $20
Women's Pink: S,M,L,XL and Lavender: S,M,L
Men's Hazelnut: S,M,L,XL,XXL
Youth Lime Green: S
Child Pink: 3T,4T, X-S, S
Child Blue: 4T

T-shirt Design by Appolllo

To buy a SHAKER or T-SHIRT
Add $5 per item for Shipping
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Send a check to the Treehouse Shakers, Inc.
PO Box 186
New York, NY 10101
For questions email: contactus@treehouseshakers.com

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ABOUT THE COMPANY

Mission Statement

Treehouse Shakers Treehouse Shakers is a dance-theater company committed to creating work that encourages people to experience their feelings and their connection to the greater community. Treehouse Shakers achieves this by creating humanistic stories, experimenting with narrative styles and exploring the story's elements through the abstractions of modern dance.

Our children's programming is a natural outgrowth of these artistic goals and techniques. The company begins each performance with a workshop in which the performers teach the audience parts of the dance they will view. Treehouse Shakers is unique in its offering young audiences a guided look at modern dance through meaningful and fun storytelling.

Treehouse Shakers was named for the wonders of nature, the power of imagination and the excitement of dance. The treehouse, like the theater, is a sacred space where imagination is the most potent currency and stories are the roots of the world.

History

Treehouse Shakers, Inc. is a non-profit dance and theater company recently awarded “Best of New York” by the New York Press. Co-founded in 1997 by collaborators Emily Bunning, choreographer/dancer and Mara McEwin, writer/actor, Treehouse Shakers has performed works for children and adults in many of New York City's established performance venues, as well as schools, theaters and community centers across the nation. Treehouse Shakers has produced original dance-plays that include; Dance of My Daughter at the Ensemble Studio Theater, He, She and The Way You Kissed at the Producer's Club and Touching Illusions at Todo 45.

In 2002, they created Outside Of Kissing Rock, Bunning's and McEwin's autobiographical story of growing up wild in Wyoming. Excerpts have been presented at numerous dance venues around New York and premiered with a full length run on December 2002 at HERE Arts Center in Manhattan. Rebecca Longworth of On and Off Broadway Review wrote, "It is an emotionally intimate but accessible piece created by artists who clearly cherish the fullness of their hybrid medium as well as their own friendship and collaboration." Their fifth adult dance-play, Lost Arroyos, follows several characters as they explore class struggles, race boundaries and blurred identities woven within the American cultural tapestry. Lost Arroyos, will premiere at HERE Arts Center in NYC in June 2007.

In March 2004, Bunning choreographed Under Covers, which premiered at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange for which she was awarded a space grant. Using five dancers, Under Covers, is a carousel of movement that is corralled, manipulated and tangled into the material of a "larger than life" circular skirt. In the fall of 2004, Under Covers was presented in the Dancenow/NYC Festival at the Joyce SoHo and in July 2005 performed in the International Dance Festival at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.

In 1999, Treehouse Shakers created its first children's production, Flying Through Rainbows. This dance-play about the letter "O" in search of her true identity, premiered with a successful run at Nada 45 during the 1999 Niño Nada festival in New York City and has since been commissioned for art communities throughout the tri-state area. Flying Through Rainbows has also been a featured segment on Fox 5-TV's Good Day NY and received praise from The New York Times. The End of Winter, a play about saving the Earth from Peuwina Pollution, has been performed throughout Manhattan including; The Children's Museum of the Arts, Manhattan Treehouse, L.I.F.E. Homeless Shelter, and the Rye Arts Center in Rye, New York.

Animal Rhythms: Two African Tales premiered in February 2002 at the L.I.F.E homeless shelter and has toured across the United States ever since. Notable venues include: Jacob's Pillow, Tribeca Film Festival, World of Nations Festival in Florida, Battery Park City's Go Fish Festival, and Manhattan's Calliope Playhouse, to name a few. While performing Animal Rhythms in Brooklyn, New York Magazine exclaimed, "Even Manhattan chauvinists have to admit there's reason to cross the East River." Animal Rhythms introduces audiences to rhythm, modern dance and storytelling.

In 2004, Treehouse Shakers created Desert Travels: Tales from the Middle East which premiered in New York City and continues to be performed nationwide. Desert Travels gives young audiences a mesmerizing taste of life in the Middle East by portraying the sights, sounds and stories of this remarkable and distinguished culture. In 2004, Desert Travels received a Meet The Composer Fund Grant for the performance at DeBaun Auditorium in New Jersey as well as a BOCES and Wyoming Arts Council Grant for the 2004 tour to Wyoming. In 2005, Desert Travels was awarded grants from LMCC's MCAF and the Puffin Foundation, for performances at the Ailey Citigroup Theater in New York City.

In 2006, Treehouse Shakers presented Coyote’s Dance: Tales of the American Indian on tour in Wyoming. In April 2006, Coyote’s Dance had its New York City premiere at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The performances received funding from LMCC's Fund for Creative Communities/NYSCA and LMCC's Manhattan Community Arts Fund/DCA. Coyote’s Dance follows Coyote, who is both clown and teacher, on a humorous journey of deceit and adventure. Performed in native-influenced costumes, headdresses and a lively mixture of movement-styles, Coyote’s Dance was praised by the New York Times and featured in New York Magazine, Time Out Kids, NY1's Parenting Report, Village Voice, and The Daily News. Bunning and McEwin were interviewed by New York Cool and Small World Productions both online for their collaboration. Coyote’s Dance is currently touring in notable venues across the nation.

Board of Directors

President: Joseph Stecher
Vice Presidents: Julia Morris and Mara McEwin
Treasurers: Geri Pell and Emily Bunning
Secretary: Atul Singh
Other Directors:
Jeffrey Mousseau
Linda Novak
Lara Stein

Co-Founders' Bios

Emily Bunning (Artistic Coordinator, CO-Founder) graduated from Stephens College and is a Wyoming native. As a co-founder of Treehouse Shakers, she has choreographed, created and produced several dance-plays for children and adults. Her work has most recently been presented at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, Jacob's Pillow, The International Dance Festival, Dancenow/Joyce SoHo, HERE Arts Center, BAX and Tribeca Film Festival, as well as in Wyoming, New Jersey, Arizona and Florida.

Emily performed with Aviva Geismar/Drastic Action Dance Company for 8 years. They toured to Germany in July 2006 and have also performed in Canada, Milwaukee, and at the West End Theater, WAX, Joyce SoHo, and Symphony Space in NYC, as well as attending Djerassi Artists Residency in CA. She received a scholarship to attend the Trisha Brown Repertory Workshop in 2001. Emily has also performed with Gotham Group Dance, Dura Mater and Valerie Green/Dance Entropy, which included a tour of Serbia in 2001. She was invited back to Serbia to teach, choreograph, and perform with the ERGstatus Dance Theatre.

Her teaching experience includes numerous guest artist appearances at Western Wyoming College, as well as conducting workshops while on tour and teaching dance to girls living at the Euphrasian Residency in New York City. Emily's approach to dance is based on finding the most organic and continuous ways of moving while exploring unpredictable patterns. The shapes of her abstract movement define the emotional, literal, and cultural map of each dance.

Mara McEwin (Artistic Director, CO-Founder) is a writer, actor, director and storyteller. Originally from Wyoming, Mara holds a B.F.A in Theatre from Stephens College in Columbia, MO. She taught grades k-eighth while serving as an actor in residence and assistant to artistic producer of Southwest Children’s Theatre Productions, Rebecca Morgan. Since living in NYC, she co-founded Treehouse Shakers with Emily Bunning. She has written and directed and sometimes acted in all of Treehouse Shakers dance-plays. In 1999, Mara also created Ninopalooza, an all day rock concert for kids of all ages as well as Nino Nada, a summer festival of children’s work.

Some of Mara’s favorite acting credits include Bloomsday on Broadway with Frank McCourt and Stephen Colbert as well as The Sandpiper at Symphony Space, NYC. She has also performed with numerous companies such as Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Theater, Eugene O’Neill by-the- Sea- Festival, 13th St. Theatre, Grove St. Playhouse, Todo Con Nada, Cypreco Theater, Cinasphere, Ridicu-Fest 2000, Chekhov Vaudeville Festival, among others. She has worked in films, print ads, television and commercials.

Mara is proud to be a storyteller in residence for the organization Early Stages, Inc. She has performed as a storyteller at assemblies throughout the nation's private and public schools, festivals, theaters and private events. She had been a featured storyteller for Baby Gap stores in both Manhattan and Connecticut and the Tribeca Film Festival. She is an adjunct faculty member for the English department at Dowling College as well as an affiliate of Manhattan Writers Coalition and a past board member for The Storytelling Center in New York. Most recently Mara was awarded “Best Storyteller of New York” by the New York Press.

If you would like to make a donation to Treehouse Shakers please contact Emily Bunning at (917) 749-2909, or email us at contactus@treehouseshakers.com

Become a leaf donor to our tree today!

Treehouse Shakers
Radio City Station
P.O. Box 186
New York, NY 10101-0186
(212) 715-1914
contactus@treehouseshakers.com

Emily Bunning, Artistic Coordinator "Mover"
Mara McEwin, Artistic Director "Shaker"

site design:
Wade Hampton
wade@transflux.com