Human Show Residencies

Letter of Recommendation

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA LAS VEGAS, PERFORMANCE RESIDENCY
Louis Kavouras, Chair

To Whom It May Concern:

It is with great pleasure that I recommend Kari Margolis and the Margolis’ Method to your organization or institution.  In 1999, the UNLV College of Fine Arts began a performance program at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, the largest performing arts festival in the world.  The emphasis of the festival is new, original and cutting-edge work.  Each year UNLV takes thirty to forty students to the festival for a month of performances.  In our discussions, several of us felt it important that we find an artist who could create a work for UNLV dance and theatre students that would embrace the caliber and the spirit of the work at the fringe.   

The work of Kari Margolis immediately came to mind.

Kari Margolis came to UNLV to develop an original work with six dancers, six actors, a stage manager, costumer and lighting designer.  The result of this unique collaboration wasThe Human Show. 

The Human Show is wonderful.  Rarely has an artist come to the university and created such a unique, poignant, hilarious, and touching work.  Kari Margolis did a masterful job incorporating dancers and actors into the work.  Many who saw the show were unable to differentiate the actors from the dancers, both moved and acted beautifully and ineffably.  I attribute this to Kari’s unique and clear understanding of movement technique, acting and voice technique.  She has synthesized this information into the Margolis’ Method.  This technique is clear, technically challenging and profound.  It allows the student to tap into their movement technique, vocal potential and acting style.  Rarely have I seen a technique based on solid principal, core strengthening and conditioning and solid flexible result and style.  The work both in technique and performance is simply put, profound.  Speaking for the students involved in the project, they will never look at a work of theatre or dance the same way again.

In our programs, Kari Margolis was able to create a magical work of theater and dance.  She gave the students the skills and technique to keep this work alive over the course of their month of performances in Scotland.  The piece was well-received by critics and public.  It transcended culture and language, effecting many who saw and experienced the work.  It was innately human.  

When the work returned to the United States it was entered into the American College Theatre Festival and was chosen as representative of the best work in the Southwest Region.  After being performed and receiving excellent feedback at this Regional Festival in San Bernardino, California,The Human Show was selected to be presented at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC, to represent the best college theatre of the year.  It will be also performed in Washington DC.

To say that UNLV is happy with the work of Kari Margolis and this project is an understatement.  Rarely has our Artist-In-Residency program produced such significant and profound results.  The process of creating the work, the training in the Margolis’ Method, and the performance of the work of art created are all incredible.

I highly recommend Kari Margolis to your program.  Projects such as these are unique and important.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

kavouras@ccmail.nevada.edu or 702-895-3827.

Sincerely,

Louis Kavouras, Chair
Department of Dance
University of Nevada, Las Vegas