Dreams of The Animal Machine
The Modern Dance Awareness Society and The Missioncreep

The modern dance awareness society, in collaboration with The Missioncreep, create a whimsical, futuristic, sonic and visual experience that the audience is invited to interact, participate and co-create. In their production, Dreams Of The Animal Machine, animal psychology is imagined through the lens of an “animal machine”. The animal machine is represented by silver robot animal heads and silver mannequins in a room with silver elements which convey a futuristic, dream-like atmosphere. This environment will function as a conduit for an exploration through music and dance as we fantasize about our world and its inhabitants. The study of animal behavior is a cornerstone of psychology for several reasons. Ethology, or the study of animals in their natural habitats, sheds light on how animals interact with each other and their environments, and why they behave the way they do. By studying animal behavior, humans can also learn more about their own behavior – a field known as comparative psychology. By imagining and fantasizing about our own unique ethology, Dreams of The Animal Machine is an abstract and imaginative projection of the future possibilities of the behavior and interaction of animals and humans.

The Missioncreep generates industrial electro soundscapes, which include mischievous and often upbeat, downtempo glitchy disco. There is no software involved in his musical creations, only hardware. By layering textures, broken beats and found sounds, singing through a vocoder, and running a guitar through a guitar synth, he creates a wide ranging emotional palette.

About the Artists

The Modern Dance Awareness Society is a collaborative, improvisational, site-specific dance project begun in 1998 by Despina Sophia Stamos. To date, TMDAS has produced 28 works that have been performed in spaces outside of dance venues. TMDAS invites dance colleagues to work collaboratively on short term site projects. Despina Sophia Stamos is a dancer/choreographer/ Pilates instructor living/teaching/making in NYC since 1989. Her work has been presented at venues such as Dance Theater Workshop, PS122, PS1 and in Brazil, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Puerto Rico and Italy.

For more information on Despina visit her website and follow her on Instagram

The Missioncreep has performed throughout New York City and beyond, and in a wide variety of venues: Re-Vision (bar) in the LES, Pine Box Rock Shop (music venue) in Bushwick, and the Eye Witness (gallery) in the Garment District. He has done benefits for Industrial Workers of The World (labor union) and Das Handler (art handlers’ magazine). Recently, The Missioncreep performed live on JokerJoker TV in Athens, Georgia, where he is originally from. The International Digital Art Festival in Berlin included his music videos in 2020.

For more information on The Missioncreep visit their website and follow them on Instagram