Visual art, technology, science, artificial intelligence, cognitive thinking—all of these elements can be found in dance performances throughout Chicago in the next few weeks. The theme of collaboration has made its way to the forefront of dance in the month of March, with several dance companies working alongside artists in a variety of mediums. These relationships result in textural and multilayered explorations of motion, humanity and space. Be sure to check out the following performances that delve into how the body works and moves.
The Seldoms will debut their new work, entitled "Marchland," at the Museum of Contemporary Art, March 12-14. The company's major project for the season, this work explores endurance, border/boundary and contested spaces. Artistic Director Carrie Hanson describes the piece as very high energy, frantic, fast paced, and a bit relentless. She goes on to explain how the piece works a lot with proximities between bodies and creates contrast within the space. "Marchland" is collaboration with a number of artists, including visual artist Fraser Taylor. Hanson was inspired by Taylor's video CREVICE, an animation-and-sound work that was made by creating minute drawings directly onto 16mm film. The video was later captured with digital film, and serves as the backdrop for The Seldoms' evening-length work. Other collaborations include costume design from Lara Miller, percussion/sound design by Tim Daisy and lighting design by Julie Ballard.
The Seldoms will perform at the Museum of Contemporary Art ( MCA ) , 220 E. Chicago, March 12-14, Friday-Saturday 7:30 p.m., and Sunday 4 p.m. Tickets are $25 in general, $10 for students. Call 312-397-4010 or visit mcachicago.org/performances.
For an added experience, join The Seldoms to celebrate their debut at the MCA and help send them to Russia. The March 13 afterparty benefit includes tapas by Puck's Catering, cocktails, live music and festivity. Raffle prizes and a silent auction will include artwork, theater and dining certificates and much more. Tickets are $50-$75; visit www.theseldoms.org/upcoming.
Random Dance
Wayne McGregor | Random Dance is a company that has become known for its radical approach to new technology—incorporating animation, digital film, 3-D architecture, electronic sound and virtual dancers into live performance. This London-based dance company comes to The Dance Center with "ENTITY," an evening-length work inspired by the connection between the mental and the physical. McGregor began to explore the concept of non-verbal and kinesthetic intelligence and the relationship the brain has to the body. He developed a fascination with the "technology of the body" and how science is already embedded into the way that choreography moves. ENTITY has been described as technically astonishing, uncompromising, hard-hitting and a piece that breaks boundaries and defies categorization. The dance is set to a soundscape created by Coldplay and Massive Attack collaborator Jon Hopkins and award-winning composer Joby Talbo.
While researching Entity, McGregor consulted with an international think tank of individuals working in cognitive science, including psychology, neurosciences, linguistics, human- computer interaction and robotics. Random Dance also has a research department of the company, R-Research. Since 2002, Scott deLahunta has been coordinator of R-Research, working to develop the company's interdisciplinary research projects. I talked with deLahunta about his research and work with Random dance:
Windy City Times: What led you to start working with Wayne McGregor and Random Dance?
Scott de Lahunta: Wayne and I met about 10 years ago; I was coming a bit more from the research side, working on researching choreography and technology. We met at a conference and we were both interested in the kinds of things each of us were saying and that's how we got started.
WCT: Tell me a bit more about R-Research and its role in Random Dance.
SdL: R-Research is a new development within the company structure. It takes more of the responsibility not only is conducting the research but also making it accessible to others. The tools and approaches we developed and even our approach to interdisciplinary exchanges and research are things that we can share alongside the performances themselves.
WCT: The Choreographic Language Agent ( CLA ) is a project that has been in development with R-Research. How did the CLA play into the making of ENTITY?
SdL: We ( R-Research ) were in the process of developing CLA, and developing the concepts for the agent, through a series of meetings that happened just before Wayne was going into the creative process for ENTITY. Wayne was part of all those meetings, and I think that the thinking, the development of the concepts for the CLA, it informed his creative process, but the tool itself was not developed then. I do believe it helped to get him thinking about those things, thinking about artificial intelligence, and how that could work with his creative process.
WCT: What was your role in the creation of ENTITY? Did you play a part in any of the technology that created the piece?
SdL: We worked on the ideas for developing the technology, and then my role was to start putting together the team to actually develop the technology. In the meantime, Wayne was busy making the dance. So we both worked on the idea, but my job was to set up the team alongside Wayne making the dance.
WCT: Do you see science and dancemaking as a collaboration that will become embraced by more dance companies in the future?
SdL: There are different directions it can go, you can discover stuff in dancemaking that informs science, and you can also discover stuff in science that informs dancemaking, or you can do both. I think that, under the right conditions, we might see more collaborations of this kind. The deeper these relationships go, the more time that is spent ( researchers and dancemakers ) working together, the less the relationship becomes about science working with dance. The longer we work together, the less boarders between sciences and art appear. You deepen your understanding of the other's work, and it just becomes about creating together.
Wayne McGregor | Random Dance is performing at The Dance Center of Columbia College, March 18-20, 8 p.m.; tickets are $24-$28. Call 312-369-8330 or visit colum.edu/dancecenter.
