UN ELEPHANT TERRIBLE is primarily a duet with Taryn Griggs, whom Yon met while they were both in residence as dancers at the 2002 Bessie Shonberg Residency at The Yard, an arts colony on Martha's Vineyard. They have been working together ever since. The dance also features Eleanor Bauer and Adam Carpenter. Last season, Yon and Tara Griggs appeared at The Club at La MaMa in "AGITPROPS: the Recycling Project" by Yoshiko Chuma. Following the engagement, Nicky Paraiso, "cultural minister" of The Club, asked Yon to put something together for this season.

The evening will also include, as a curtain-raiser, a five-minute solo, "Equinox-Run (a reconstruction)," which is a revival of a piece by Rudy Perez. Perez is a choreographer rooted in the Judson Dance Theater of the '60s, and has been an ongoing mentor to Yon. This piece was the last solo Perez did in New York; he taught it to Yon in L.A. last year.

Yon describes his flavor of Dance Theater as "a hybrid of physical slapstick and esoteric postmodern dance." He says this project combines his distinctive "stamp" with the very abstract, esoteric stoicism of Rudy Perez' work. Yon is hitherto best known for a series of dances her did with Justin Jones: the "Chris and Justin Medicine Show," which was presented at the Gershwin Hotel, the Knitting Factory, CB's Gallery and the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space. It was called a "unique blend of classic ballet, modern dance and physical shtick, all informed with a pop culture sensibility."(Nate Grove, itsrandom.com).

Yon is co-founder with Karinne Keithley, of "Ur: Your Neighborhood Dance Palace," a storefront dance space in Williamsburg. Yon and Keithley started the place as a home for their own work, but opened it up to "the community of like-minded artists of our generation who are independent and rambunctious."

Yon has also been an underwater puppeteer in basil Twist's "Symphonie Fantastique," posed as a priest in Ann Carlson's "Night Light," was David Neumann's doppelganger in Neumann's "Sentence." His own work has been presented at DTW (Family Matters), Danspace Project (Food for Thought) and the Kitchen (Dance-In-Progress). Yon's fellowships and residencies include a 2002 Bessie Schonberg Artist Residency at the Yard and a 2003 NYFA Fellowship for Performance Art/Multidisciplinary Work. Brian McCormick (Gay City News) wrote that Chris Yon's "approach to creation and choreography is rich and exhilarating, full of intelligent and intriguing movement decisions and dynamic contrasts. The integration of theatrical elements is also effective and adds meaning to the dance."

Taryn Griggs graduated with a degree in Dance from North Carolina School of the Arts. She appeared in Yon's "Teardrop Terror" at Ur in October, b2003. She has most recently been seen in Susan Rethorst's "oh oh oh" at DTW, her second project with Ms. Rethorst in the last three years. Other choreographers she has worked with are Ivy Baldwin, Yoshiko Chuma, Anna Sperber and Johannes Wieland. She currently lives in Brooklyn and works at a yarn store.