Evento

Cacophony for 8 Players

Through the meshing of dance, music, video, sculpture and textural audio, Cacophony for 8 Players explores the porous interplay of performative history. Applying key texts by eight prominent figures Bharatamuni, Abhinavagupta, August Bournonville, Vaslav Nijinsky, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Maya Deren and Pina Bausch the work seeks to honor ideas in history, in a meeting open to both confluence and rebellion.

Celebrated dance artist Allie Hankins joins Ulrich, Graczyk and Baldoz in the performance, which unfolds in physical, imagistic and sonic vignettes that draw from historic ideas, such as Bharatamuni's concept of the Rasas (moods), Nijinsky's articulation of the ideal performance state and Deren's concept of the vertical and horizontal in drama. The concepts are embedded in the performance not through representation but as if digested, allowing new ideas to rise out of a cyclical consideration of what has come before.

The performers interact with four sculptures wrapped in perforated gut skin, pointing to the past, still vivid yet deteriorating. Each sculpture represents two of the historical figures and emanates textured audio recordings of their text-fragments, triggered by Baldoz inside her live music score. Baldoz's score also includes her live electric bass, trumpet, flutes, voice and electronics, and an overture both live and performed with a recording also featuring Tari Nelson-Zagar on violin.

The performance actively seeks to bring together dance, music and visual media, so that each component has an equal value and presence.

The sculptures were created by visual artists Steven Berardelli and Micki Skudlarczyk. Lighting design is by Amiya Brown, costume design by Mark Ferrin, scenic design by Corrie Befort and video work by Clyde Pedersen.

The presentation of the evening-length premiere is in part supported by a Group Projects grant from 4 Culture, artist-in-residence awards from Performance Works Northwest and Open Flight Studio, donors through Seattle Foundation's GIVE BIG, and 76 other individual donors. The project is supported through partnerships with Velocity Dance Center and Gamelan Pacifica.

Cacophony for 8 Players is an associated program of Shunpike.