Last modified: Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Award-winning dance program to transform science building
WHAT: "Dancescience Lab"
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 18, at 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Jordan Hall atrium, 1001 E. Third St.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 3, 2010
Bloomington, Ind. -- The two-story atrium in Indiana University Bloomington's Jordan Hall, home to the Department of Biology, is usually filled with displays related to scientific explorations. During ArtsWeek 2010, the atrium will form the backdrop for "Dancescience Lab," a contemporary dance performance designed specifically to relate to the architecture of the atrium and the content of the cases displaying life forms in varying stages of development.
It will be performed Thursday, Feb. 18, at 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., in the Jordan Hall atrium.
Choreographer Selene Carter created the event, which received ArtsWeek's first annual Anya Peterson Royce Showcase Award for its artistry. The Royce award honors IU faculty member Anya Royce, under whose leadership the ArtsWeek winter festival was created in 1984. ArtsWeek is presently organized by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research in Bloomington.
Carter, a visiting lecturer in the IU Contemporary Dance Program, also has received a Fran Snygg Grant for Artistic Collaboration from the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs at IU Bloomington. This award honors the late Fran Snygg, professor of modern dance and associate dean of the faculties who founded IU's ArtsWeek.
The theme for this year's ArtsWeek is Arts and the Environment. The choreography of "Dancescience Lab" is generated from the movement patterns of living organisms, centering on humans. The intent of the piece is to reveal the universality of movement among all life forms on planet Earth. Visual and sound design will accentuate features of the atrium space and the dancers' clothing will relate to the biologic specimens displayed in the cases. Students from the IU Contemporary Dance Program will participate in performing the dance.
"Site-specific performance often transforms the viewer's relationship to the spectacle in the space," says Carter, who also created the ArtsWeek show "Body Politic," which transformed the Monroe County Courthouse atrium in 2008. "We believe the choreography in the space will enliven the viewers' awareness of their universal connection to movement. All human movement shares underlying patterns of organization and initiation with the biology of life."
ArtsWeek
Begun in 1984, ArtsWeek is a significant annual showcase for the creative work of artists from Indiana University and the city of Bloomington, with prestigious performers, artists, and writers from across the country taking part. For more information and a complete schedule of events, see the www.artsweek.indiana.edu.
The IU Contemporary Dance Program
The IU Contemporary Dance Program hosts more than 60 undergraduate dance majors engaged in serious and comprehensive study in the art of dance. Under the direction of Professor Elizabeth Shea, the program has received five New Frontiers grants to produce collaborative dance events, including hosting the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange. The program also was recently awarded an American Masterpieces: Dance-College Component grant by Dance/USA and the National Endowment for the Arts.
