1980: 5 Dances, a solo concert:
In 1980 Neri was awarded a MCA Creative Artist Grant and on September 28, 1981 "5 Dances" premiered at Saginaw Valley State University Theater. This first concert of "5 Dances" consisted of four works by Barbara (Zivich) Neri: "Shawl Dance" 1978, "Songs and Dances" 1980, "4 Movement Studies" 1981, "Shadow Dance" 1981, and a work choreographed by Jose Limon: "La Patria" from his "Dances for Isadora" (1972). Ms Neri is indebted to Laura Glenn, one of Limon's most beautiful dancers, for graciously consenting to teach her the work under an Artist Consultancy grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts. In 1982 Neri choreographed a fifth solo: "White Dance" collaborating with sound artist Jesse Melcher. "White Dance" premiered Nov. 6, 1982 at the Pontiac Art Center, Pontiac, Mi.

Barbara (Zivich) Neri pictured above left in her "Shawl Dance," and above right in Jose Limon's "La Patria" from his "Dances for Isadora." (Photos: Linda Alaniz).

1982: Khoros:
A contemporary ensemble of dancers and artists.
Formed by Barbara (Zivich) Neri, Khoros Created and performed multimedia works of choreography, video, sculpture and sound in galleries and theaters throughout Michigan.

The original group of dancers from left to right: Deborah Breuleux, Susan Rexford, Lynne Vela and Barbara (Zivich) Neri rehearse in the Khoros studio in Saginaw, Michigan.

Khoros in the stairwell leading up to the Saginaw Studio (left to right): dancer Lynn Vela, sculptor Gary Laatsch, dancer Sharon Bonhoff, sound artist Ralph Neri, dancer Katy Davenport, Artistic Director and dancer Barbara (Zivich) Neri and dancer Melissa Deisig (Photo, Dennis Ullrich).

Khoros premiere performance at the Saginaw Art Museum in May 1983. Sculpture/set designed by Gary Laatsch is seen lining the walls of the gallery where the premiere performance of "Collaboration I" (Dance-Sculpture-Sound) took place. On the walls are the paper jumpsuits that Laatsch painted for the dancers to wear in "Collaboration II" (Dance-Music-Video).

Dancer Barbara (Zivich) Neri poses in Gary Laatsch's painted jumpsuits for "Collaboration II" within part of his sculpture/set for "Collaboration I" (Photo, Kelly King).

"How Did We Get From There To Here?" 1984:
Choreography, Costume and Artistic Direction: Barbara (Zivich) Neri, Sound: Ralph Neri. Above left and right: Dancers Sharon Bonhoff and Lynn Vela (Photos, Don Demers).

Left: Barbara Neri and Melissa Deisig in a performance of "How Did We Get From There To Here." Paradigm Dance Theater Detroit, Mi., June 1984 (Photo, Ralph Neri).

"Sticks" 1984:
Neri was one of 12 choreographers selected nationally by the artistic directors of Pilobolus to take part in a colony in Washington, Conn., summer of 1984. While visiting the studio and home of a wood sculptor and Pilobolus collaborator, she noticed a pile of sticks and asked if she could have them. She began improvising with two other dancers and eventually brought the material back to complete with Khoros. Below left: Dancer Sharon Bonhoff during a Khoros studio improvisation with the sticks. Below right: Premiere performance of "Sticks" at the Saginaw Art Museum (Photos, Ralph Neri).

"Fence" 1985

"Fence" Choreography and Artistic Direction: Barbara Neri, Costumes: Lynn Vela, Sculpture/set: Gary Laatsch and Sound Ralph Neri). Performances at the Paradigm Dance Theater (Detroit, Mi.) are pictured above and below. Performed by: Melissa Deisig, Barbara Neri, Sharon Bonhoff and Lynn Vela. Photos, Lynn McGee.

"Offering" 1986: Sculpture/Installation/Performance. Detroit's Chene Park Artist Residency. During "Offering" artists Barbara & Ralph Neri performed a slow side-to-side motion on a sculptural structure placed in Chene Park pond. The park is small oasis on the edge of the Detroit River. "Offering" was a rite of centering and balancing for the artist and viewer, a bridge between nature and humankind.

Barbara Neri in performance and collaboration with sculptor Ralph Neri with costumes by Lynn Vela. Chene Park Artist Residency, Detroit, Mi., August 1986. (Photo, Robert Neumann)

1990s: Khoros evolves into Barbara Neri & Dancers after Neri moves studio to Ann Arbor Michigan.

Neri is seen on the cover of "Current" (left) and in a studio photograph taken by Linda Alaniz (right). Neri choreographed and performed a solo "Great Lakes Movement Study" to the sound of Lake Superior recorded by Ralph Neri. The work premiered at the UM Dance Dept. Alumni Performance, October 1991.

 

"4 Dances with Interludes" Choreography by Barbara Neri, Sound Ralph Neri, Costumes Lynn Vela. (Photos, Ralph Neri)

"Ancient Tableau" (above) from "4 Dances with Interludes." Premiere performance in Barbara Neri's Ann Arbor Studio, May 1992. (Left to right: Suzanne Willets, Lynn Vela, Anastasia McGlothlin, Beverly Dosh and Scott Read.

"Stream" 1993 (above) Choreography: Barbara Neri, Sound: Ralph Neri, Costumes: Suzanne Willets. Performed by: Barbara Neri, Anastasia McGlothlin and Suzanne Willets (photos, Ralph Neri)

1994: Neri returns to solo work and begins creating works in performance, installation, visual art and writing.

"Infinite Field" 1994
"Infinite Field" combined color 35m slides Neri took of a cornfield over a period of years as it changed seasonally along with a 16m film of an autumn walk through the same cornfield taken by Ralph Neri. After these images are shown, Neri begins sweeping a mound of 100 lbs of yellow kernel corn into ever expanding spiraling patterns. When the design is complete she sweeps it all back into the original mound. The work was performed at the Cleveland Performance Art Festival in 1995 sans the color slides and film of the field. (The color photo below right was taken of the Cleveland performance by Ralph Neri.) Neri performed Infinite Field in its entirety, with slides and film, as guest artist of the UM School of Art and Design in 2001 (B & W photos below, Glenn Bering). An Infinite Field DVD of the 2001 performance was created in 2007. Click here to see a six minute excerpt.

"Matter of Life and Death (Bolero)" 1995
Neri began collecting and flattening colorful food boxes/containers and saved them for years until one day she began putting them back together with a glue gun. There were so many they took over the studio. The idea of hanging a net in the studio and tossing them inside came to her. One day she decided to let them out of the net and began to improvise with them.

Above: Pre-performance Installation, (Michigan Gallery, Detroit, October 1995) Consisting of hundreds of empty food containers and boxes in a 14' x 14' net hanging above a chair. Viewers may sit in the chair and unlock and read a diary Neri kept while she created the work. The performance begins as one corner of the net is dropped and the boxes spill out forming a colorful cornucopia. As Neri arranges the boxes in a circle and performs various actions within it, Ravel's "Bolero" begins to play. The performance builds in intensity with the music. Neri is seen above right in performance for the Women's Caucus for Art Conference, Lyric Stage, Boston, February 1995 (photo, Julia Millis). Post performance Installation (above) at the Michigan Gallery, Oct. 1995 (Gallery photos, Ralph Neri). A "Matter of Life and Death (Bolero)" DVD of the Michigan Gallery performance was created in 2007. Click here to see a six minute excerpt.

An article detailing and documenting the creation of this work and its performances was published in August 2006. Go to Writing to download pdfs of this e-zine article.

See pictures from a recent installation of "Matter of Life & Death (Bolero)" and read the artist statement Neri wrote to learn how this earlier work connects to her current work.

Visual Art from the 1990's

"Who are these Men" 1994. In four parts, each piece approximately 21"H. x 26"W. mixed media.

"Mandala" 1994. (27"H. x 27"W.) Mixed Media

	"Drawriting" 1995 (36"H. x 30"W.) Mixed Media with text.
	"Neon Nicole" 1996 (19"H. x 11"W.) Mixed Media & pastels.