The Other Side of Stillness
The Other Side of Stillness
ACT ONE
Concept and Direction: Alexx Shilling / alexx makes dances
Anita's Way
137 West 42nd Street
(The through block connecting W 42nd and W 43rd St. btwn 6th Ave and Broadway)
New York, NY
September 21-24, 2015
Screenings from 5-8pm each day
you are the pivot point
we are the dance
the dancers rest, they get tired, but the dance GOES ON.
A video installation for two channels on an infinite loop.
Created in collaboration with the Modern Dancers of America:
Barry Brannum, Alison D’Amato, Sarah Leddy, Madison Page, Gwynn Shanks, Alexx Shilling, Laurel Tentindo, and Devika Wickremesinghe
Original Sound: Jesse Neuman
Director of Photography: Taso Papadakis
Editing: Alexx Shilling
This project made possible with generous support from UCLA's Department of World Arts & Culture/Dance, UCLA's Hothouse Residency, CHIME Mentorship Grant, Henry and Susan Shilling.
Description:
The Other Side of Stillness is a collaboratively created, site-specific, 2 hour durational duet for five or more dancers that never stops moving. In brightly colored jumpsuits and Power accessories, one member of a duet is replaced after 15 minutes of continuous dancing. At 15 minute intervals, a new dancer enacts the ritual of replacement, and the dance goes on. This highly physical score utilizes and celebrates the performers’ collective history while exploring endurance, replacement and constancy amidst an ever-shifting environment of spectator, site and time.
In December 2014, The Modern Dancers of America practiced the piece in Wonder Valley, CA for the camera. This installation combines the rigor of our practice with the ancient / future landscape of Wonder Valley, stark portraits of the dancers about to enter or exit a performance state, and dynamic digital and acoustic soundscapes.
The piece has been performed in public spaces, private studio and theatrical spaces, for the camera, and in intermediate spaces where performance and spectatorship mingle loosely. Each adaptation thoughtfully engages with each context, its challenges, limitations and wonders. With each adaptation, the piece sprouts new layers and plays with loosening or tightening the 15 minute replacement, 2 hour durational frame work.
We are the Modern Dancers of America. We recognize the roots of our collective movement material: Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown, Michael Jackson, Bob Fosse, Bill T. Jones, surface through our dancing, reminding us that we are cellularly engaged with a folk form that our bodies pay regular homage to, while simultaneously innovating.
ACT ONE
Concept and Direction: Alexx Shilling / alexx makes dances
Anita's Way
137 West 42nd Street
(The through block connecting W 42nd and W 43rd St. btwn 6th Ave and Broadway)
New York, NY
September 21-24, 2015
Screenings from 5-8pm each day
you are the pivot point
we are the dance
the dancers rest, they get tired, but the dance GOES ON.
A video installation for two channels on an infinite loop.
Created in collaboration with the Modern Dancers of America:
Barry Brannum, Alison D’Amato, Sarah Leddy, Madison Page, Gwynn Shanks, Alexx Shilling, Laurel Tentindo, and Devika Wickremesinghe
Original Sound: Jesse Neuman
Director of Photography: Taso Papadakis
Editing: Alexx Shilling
This project made possible with generous support from UCLA's Department of World Arts & Culture/Dance, UCLA's Hothouse Residency, CHIME Mentorship Grant, Henry and Susan Shilling.
Description:
The Other Side of Stillness is a collaboratively created, site-specific, 2 hour durational duet for five or more dancers that never stops moving. In brightly colored jumpsuits and Power accessories, one member of a duet is replaced after 15 minutes of continuous dancing. At 15 minute intervals, a new dancer enacts the ritual of replacement, and the dance goes on. This highly physical score utilizes and celebrates the performers’ collective history while exploring endurance, replacement and constancy amidst an ever-shifting environment of spectator, site and time.
In December 2014, The Modern Dancers of America practiced the piece in Wonder Valley, CA for the camera. This installation combines the rigor of our practice with the ancient / future landscape of Wonder Valley, stark portraits of the dancers about to enter or exit a performance state, and dynamic digital and acoustic soundscapes.
The piece has been performed in public spaces, private studio and theatrical spaces, for the camera, and in intermediate spaces where performance and spectatorship mingle loosely. Each adaptation thoughtfully engages with each context, its challenges, limitations and wonders. With each adaptation, the piece sprouts new layers and plays with loosening or tightening the 15 minute replacement, 2 hour durational frame work.
We are the Modern Dancers of America. We recognize the roots of our collective movement material: Lucinda Childs, Trisha Brown, Michael Jackson, Bob Fosse, Bill T. Jones, surface through our dancing, reminding us that we are cellularly engaged with a folk form that our bodies pay regular homage to, while simultaneously innovating.
