Vanessa Voskuil: en masse
Performed by a cast of 80, en masse grapples with the collective animal power of the masses working in perpetual conflict against itself toward an elusive, undiscovered harmony. Vanessa Voskuil, a cofounder of Live Action Set, brings together a physical style of storytelling with a surrealist sensibility, translating simple movements into an impressionistic texture of human experience.
With an approach that is both visceral and interdisciplinary, Voskuil says her aim is to create work that speaks in a unique language, one whose “essence exists not in the movement, sound, image, or lighting within a piece, but in the spaces between those elements.”
Sachiko Nishiuchi: The Apple Tree
A member of Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre and Ananya Dance Theater, Sachiko Nishiuchi has created a new dance theater work that employs the riotous lens of flamenco to evoke the illusive “springtime of life,” as well as the tragic classifications people use to alienate themselves from one another.
Loosely based on John Galsworthy’s 1916 romance novel The Apple Tree, as well as personal experiences, she mines flamenco’s various expressions of emotionality to tell the characters’ stories and chart the paths of their sentiments. A longtime practitioner of flamenco, Nishiuchi has also trained in ballet, Indian classical odissi, and Japanese butoh. “I try to make dances I love and to be honest in their creation,” she says. The multimedia elements of this evocative performance are highlighted by local guitarist Ben Abrahamson’s original score, with vocals by celebrated flamenco performer La Conja.
Walker Commission
