It is with great pleasure that we invite you to see punkkiCo Dance Company’s new evening length choreography Salve Regina at the NOHspace, San Francisco. We will have two weekends of performances on January 8-17, 2016.

Salve Regina explores and celebrates the strength and beauty of the female form, and how for some, that strength and beauty is seen as something that should be covered or shrouded because otherwise it seems too potent, and by extension, too overwhelming or threatening.

The title refers to the Salve Regina, also known as the Hail Holy Queen, a choral work and hymn composed in the Middle Ages in Latin; Hail Holy Queen is also the final prayer in the Rosary.

Salve Regina is a celebration of the female spirit, body and mind through dance. It focuses on the profound strength that lies within the grounded female form, a form that has the ability to literally create life from within. In this case the term “grounded female form” refers to women who know where they stand, who they are and are looking for answers to a simple question: why?

Salve Regina will tackle this question through six original new pieces that present strong and sensual women in different stages of their lives. Dancers will range in age from 8 to 47 years, and include an expectant mother in a duet with her soon to be born baby. The cast also includes a grounded, sensual man, a boy and a girl.

Each dancer brings the combination of strong personality, life experiences, and emotional scars to bear in the execution of this grounded, full-bodied and at times, purposely and powerfully grotesque movement.

Ultimately these performances center upon the female voice. A voice that seeks to raise itself in any number of different ways beyond the body from which it originates.

I hope you can join us to celebrate powerful, nurturing and creative human spirit!

Choreography: Raisa Punkki
Original music: Mark Hertensteiner
Costume design: Alice Malia and Raisa Punkki
Performers: Mihyun Lee; Jennifer Meek; Sarah Keeney; Darius Sohei; Meegan Hertensteiner; Raisa Punkki; Pyry Miettinen (aged 11): Fanni Miettinen (aged 8)
Lighting design: Jack Beuttler

What: punkkiCo Presents Salve Regina
When: January 8 – 17
Where: NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2450358