BLEED is a large work that encompasses O’Connor’s love of complexity and layering in dance. It is the culminating work of a two-year project during which he constructed three other pieces, Secret Mary, poem and Sister, all from very different source material and each with an entirely different cast. He then collapsed these into this fourth work, simultaneously remembering and forgetting the previous dances. All 11 of the magical performers from the other works are here yet the movement material is gone.
Seattle wunderkinds zoe | juniper head in a new, streamlined direction as they explore technological methods for setting and triggering their raw tableaux of movement and stage design. BeginAgain forces different perspectives for dance on a proscenium stage using two juxtaposed video screens, the physical interruption of the normally flat dance space, live body casting, Shue
Following in the grand Montreal dance tradition of La La La Human Steps and Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Frédérick Gravel and his hot-blooded team of dancers/musicians mix genres in a performance where philosophy meets the dancefloor. Unstoppable physicality, live music and a pop-culture aesthetic work to create a profound rumination on sex and love.
Electric Midwife plays on symmetry and illusion as the performers pull the intimate audience into a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of movement and color weaving throughout the space with highly structured, minimalist dance. Beth Gill is a Queens-based artist, making work in New York City. She critically examines issues relating to the fields of contemporary dance and performance studies, through an ongoing exploration of aesthetics and perception.
Haunting images interface with a cast of three, juxtaposing the past and present, real and virtual, as a constant shifting illusion at the intersection of dance, visual art, and live music. The audiovisual elements engulf the audience, who is invited to make their own choices about where to experience the work. Blurred lines of presence and absence, memory and disappearance cannot possibly all be consumed. The Painted Bird fittingly focuses on nostalgia as a place of entrapment on a journey “home.”
Noted video and performing artist Michelle Ellsworth unleashes a one woman, multimedia portrayal of Clytemnestra, the woman left behind as her husband Agamemnon serves as leader of the Greeks in Troy. In Phone Homer she uses series of instructional videos, Skype calls with characters from The Iliad, a kinetic alphabet modeled after the Kinect, hamburger sacrifices, and an entire internet constructed specifically for this show to interpret this mythic character.
Choreographer Zoe Scofield and visual artist Juniper Shuey offer a surreal, visually arresting examination of the gap between cause and effect in A Crack in Everything. The evening-length work explores the enduring questions of justice posed in the Greek tragedy The Oresteia through dramatic video and costumes, atmospheric installations and lighting, and Scofield’s ritualistic movement. A Crack in Everything was made over a span of 2 years with production residencies at On the Boards and in Hungary, New Zealand and at the prestigious MacDowell Colony (New Hampshire).
Inspired by postmodern visual artist Yves Klein, Into the Void mixes visual arts, drag performance and precise choreography performed by 5 dancers to evoke the complex gender politics of Klein’s work. Juxtaposing ornate materials with open spaces and transparent fabrics, the stage environment and materials mimic Klein’s artistic ideals as re-envisioned by a creative team including Michael Cepress (costume design), Kane Mathis (music), Susan Robb (sculpture), Tivon Rice (digital media) and Connie Yun (lighting).
An angry puppet propels the action in this Frankenstein-esque tale from choreographer and OtB audience favorite Crystal Pite. Pite’s most ambitious work of the time features a heightened set, theatrical tricks and 7 talented dancers hand selected from around the world. Dark Matters has toured widely across Europe, including the prestigious Venice Biennale.
Faith is the first performance in Seattle choreographer Pat Graney’s Faith Triptych. Combining 3 iconic performances that investigate the lives of women and that were created over the span of a decade (1991-2001), the triptych creates a mini retrospective of Graney’s work. Faith (1991), Sleep (1997) and Tattoo (2001) were each originally commissioned by On the Boards and feature 12 of the original cast members.
