Cabeen currently performs in her own work, in which she is exploring the connection between her scholarship and creativity. A new solo project, “Crystallizing Space ” that investigates choreography as a form of public scholarship, will premier in 2011. She also frequently performs with Richard Move's MoveOpolis!, and as a Guest Artist with various choreographers.
Cabeen was a member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 1998-2005. She is also a former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Pearl Lang Dance Theater, among others. Cabeen has performed as a guest artist with Spectrum Dance Theater, Moving People Dance Theater, Pig Iron Theater Company, and Collage Dance Theater. While completing her Masters at the University of Washington, Cabeen was a member of the resident Chamber Dance Company.
Click here to see Cabeen performing her 2009 solo work, BreezePRESS
“Last evening, Baryshnikov Arts Center residency artists Greg Tate, Germaul Barnes and Gabri Christa presented an invitation only, informal showing of their improvisatory Burnt Sugar/DANZ project… And given that most of the dance artists involved last night have sizzling dance skills and presence, that sugar was burning… The evening belonged to extraordinary, imaginative movers like Barnes and Christa and like Daniel Gwirtzman, Kyle Abraham, Ayo Jackson, Catherine Cabeen, Nejla Yatkin and Christian von Howard, who know how to get a groove going, or take full advantage of whatever's already happening on the floor.”
-Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Infinite Body, A blog on arts culture and whatever by EYA, 6/30/2010
“Late in the performance, as Cabeen moves centerstage, the relentless soundtrack fades to birdcalls, and a calm melody. Cabeen gracefully extends her arm, her fingers relax and unfurl, a brief counterpoint to all that clenched salutation. She is an angel in repose, and the audience finally gets a chance to ungrind the loins weve tensed in self defense against 90 minutes of nonstop stimuli. It was guest artist Catherine Cabeen who shone on opening night.”
-Marcie Sillman, Art Dish Northwest Forum on Visual Art, 2/23/10
“The strongest pieces on the current program are the two solos. “Lust” derives from a production of “The Seven Deadly Sins” first seen at Jacob’s Pillow in 2001. It consists of the commanding Catherine Cabeen in slow, controlled poses, glacial yet remarkably difficult to sustain in their stretched, balanced, twisted positions. Ms. Cabeen, dressed in a striking unitard by Pilar Limosner and accompanied by insistent club music from DJ Savage, looks like a goddess caught between ecstasy and terrible vengeance, frozen into a statue. The solo ends with her hands splayed and shaking and her mouth open in a silent scream.”
-John Rockwell, New York Times, December 21, 2006
“The most compelling pieces shown at DTW by his company, MoveOpolis!, are solos. Lust premiered in 2001 at Jacob's Pillow as part of The Seven Deadly Sins (dreamed up by Robert la Fosse). Catherine Cabeen is stunning in the role Move created for New York City Ballet principal Heléne Alexopolis. If Uma Thurman could dance, this is how she might look. Wearing an elegantly cut unitard by Pilar Limosnes, with a faux-nude upper part, Cabeen slowly twists and arches her tall slim body to a pounding beat by DJ Savage. Repressed erotic hunger molds her into improbable positions. Her feet claw the air like those of a butoh dancer. She stands on tiptoe, knees bent, hovering forward, and reaches her long, winging arms so far behind her that you imagine them straining at their shoulder sockets. Golden, almost translucent in Donalee Katz's lighting, she crumples to the floor from a long balance in arabesque. Shuddering, she opens her mouth in a silent howl and instantly covers it with one hand.”
-Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice, January 10, 2007
“The most riveting work of the program, “Lust.”… which was originally a solo performed by Helen Alexopoulos
as part of a multi-choreographer Seven Deadly Sins project at Jacob’s Pillow in 2001. Now danced with searing intensity and diabolical focus by Catherine Cabeen, it seemed to embody the inner monologue of a performer on display — perhaps a go-go dancer, something Move knows something about. Positioned downstage and mostly rooted in place, Cabeen twisted, balanced, reached and stretched with fiercely slow
deliberateness as a loud, incessantly pounding score played. Her sleek simple unitard left her body open for inspection. The solo was sensual in a disturbing way, as her blank, distanced presentation undercut the physical allure of her long, pliable body. A sense of horror — at the plight of being scrutinized, or at being
unable to escape from voyeuristic eyes — intruded when she opened her mouth wide into a grotesque expression, or when she extended her hand with splayed fingers.”
- Susan Reiter, danceviewtimes, 2006
“The highlight of the program's first half was Catherine Cabeen's riveting tour-de-force performance of ``Lust," originally commissioned for the 2001 Jacob's Pillow program ``The Seven Deadly Sins." Retooled to omit the original's stark bobbed wig and paparazzi, the new version is a startling, slow-motion study in
self-absorption. Cabeen, who danced with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, displays extraordinary control and flexibility, as she seems to explore the outer limits of what her body can do. There is almost a sense of masochism as she distends, forces, hyperextends, and over-rotates her body into grotesque contortions, as if pain will lead her out of a drug-induced haze.”
-Karen Campbell, Boston Globe Correspondent, August 12, 2006
“Yet, the unpredictable element representing the transformation spiral of the kundalini from the heel to the crown of the head, where the sacred marriage takes place, is the androgynous sky goddess. The archetype appears in the form of the bare breasted Catherine Cabeen, wings represented by sleeves of white fringe. This is the embodied icon of an authentic feminine liberation.”
-Lisa Paul Streitfeld, NY Arts, July/August 2006
“Ayo Janeen Jackson's Deconstruction With a License to Ill (powered by Tupac Shakur's rage) mutated a white woman—dutiful Catherine Cabeen—into an admixture of B-boy, Hindu deity, Marcel Marceau, and Nadia Comaneci faster than you can read all that.”
-Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Village Voice, January 28 - February 3, 2004
“The most riveting individuals proved to be a tall, blonde woman with a pony tail, Catherine Cabeen, and a petite, nappy haired African American woman, Ayo Janeen Jackson. Cabeen was often featured in solo set apart from the company. And in the varied groupings and pairings that appear to be the signature of the company, (Tall and Short, Male and Female, Male and Male, Female and Female) when the two performed together the result was just stunning.”
–Maverick Arts Magazine 2004
“This motif resurfaces amid the later dancing when Catherine Cabeen enters upstage in the same walk and balances for what seems like forever, before creeping back off stage, only to repeat the same sequence again. Of course, Jones picked the perfect dancer for this role. With her long, pliable legs and exquisitely arched feet that, when raised into releve, resemble the strokes of calligraphy, Cabeen is a pleasure to watch.”
-Vanessa Manko, The Dance Insider, 2002
Photos by Tim Summers and Julietta Cervantes