<breathe>> - is a contemporary movement piece that is rooted in how nature takes us to the realm of the transcendental. How nature itself is an arsenal of sound and makes us question the sacred and the secular. Dancers Isolde Edminster-Genet, Allison Knuth, Samantha McKinney, Hanna Moreno, and Lauren Renteria move as one life form to articulate the experience of bliss through movement. How does a mover wear sound? How do I transport the audience to the otherworldly and discover personal blissfulness through the interpretation of my individual experience? These were reoccurring questions that led to the understanding that in order to have the opportunity of bliss and contentment, one needed to come from discord.
Utilizing an organic arsenal of sound, inhales, exhales, snaps, cracks, scrapes, and ticks were collected through movement improvisation by Myers. Then stretched, manipulated, and reversed to create a field of disdain which then understand and transitions into waves of serenity - an escape. The luring and meditative orchestration of natural sounds from sound artist Karima Walker, the sound collaboration of Myers and Walker gives a framework to the movement and art. An atmospheric art installation, <<insufflate>>, immersed the audience in an ethereal cloudscape.
FIELD NOTES
SOUND COLLABORATION
CORRESPONDING ARTWORK
<<suffocate> - The <breathe>> project marks as both a catalyst and heir within my art practice. Simultaneous with the movement research and conception of <breathe>>, I was creating the installation <<suffocate>. Housed within the Monsoon Collective, the installation embodied an air-less, desolate environment; an experience to undergo to then be able to recognize and articulate bliss within the <breathe>> choreography.
<<insufflate>> - was an installation of a series of ethereal cloudscapes which breached the environment of both the dancers and the audience. Immersed in glowing ether, the structures floated amongst the rafters, up the stairs, and suspended above viewers in peripheral encapsulation.
<>> - a collection of headpieces made for the dancers of <breathe>>. Manipulated plastic used for radiation treatment was treated and formed to create otherworldly and sonic waves as if to give heightened senses.
CORRELATING PROJECT
diøscuri - The premiere, <breathe>> laid the foundation for my second choreography project, encouraged by the Dean of the College of Dance of the University of Arizona. Premiering in the Spring of 2019 at the Biosphere 2, an earth and space science research facility, inside “The Lung”, dioscuri, was an evolution to the concepts and movement of <breathe>> in continued collaboration with Karima Walker.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Three new works for Artifact Dance" | Arizona Daily Star. <breathe>>
"Fresh New Moves" | Tucson Weekly. <breathe>>
"UA alumnus masters the art of movement" | Arizona Daily Wildcat
"Dancing Across Societal Divides" | Arizona Daily Wildcat
