Surveillance cameras are an ever increasing part of our society. These cameras observe and record all kinds of everyday actions, but their primary function is to prevent crime. We are interested in expanding the idea of surveillance to include watching other aspects of our culture. As a first step, Baltimore based choreographer Mikey Thomas and visual artist Aaron Henderson are creating performances that explore possibilities of moving in public, which are captured by existing surveillance cameras.

Live Performance
Wang Center Theatre at Stony Brook University, Long Island, NY
Wednesday, March 24, 2010, 7pm

This live/audio/visual performance will be a part of Stony Brook University’s HYBRID GEOGRAPHIES concert on March 24, 2010. This concert examines the transformations of space that have taken place with the advent of digital technologies.

Collaborators

Choreography: Mikey Thomas
Video: Aaron Henderson
Sound: Ted Coffey

More information:

www.hybridgeographies.net

Primary contact email: info@aaronhenderson.com

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The Art Institute of Chicago’s New Blood Festival
Links Hall, Chicago, IL

Related posts:

1. Back to school
2. Over and Under
3. Metamorphoses in Cover Blown (Graduate Exhibition)

“Three-peat” examines the intricate balance between improvised and rehearsed movement.

Excerpt of 10 minute loop

Five trained dancers repeat choreography they created in new and surprising ways. The resulting 3-channel video follows their struggle to remember, react and re-invent each dance. Through their pauses, changes, and exuberant imagination, they reveal small truths about the body, intelligence and forgetting.

Performers:
Kumi Dikengil – Dance for Six from William Tell, Rossini
Kumi Dikengil began dancing at age 6 with the School of New Jersey Ballet. During high school she regularly performed as an apprentice with the professional company. They toured the East coast performing the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and La Bayadere among others. In 2002 she recieved a BFA in dance from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Upon graduation she danced briefly for a modern company called Refractions in NYC. She has currently been teaching pilates in the Chicago area. This fall she will be returning to NJ to begin a doctorate program in physical therapy at Seton Hall University.

Jennifer Meek – We Got Our Own Way, Prefuse 73
Jennifer Meek graduated magna cum laude from Point Park University where she received a BFA with a concentration in jazz and modern dance. She has had the privilege of performing the works of many world-renowned choreographers including Sean Curran, David Parsons, Robert Battle, Daniel Ezralow, Joseph Mooradian, Margo Sappington, Ann Reinking, Lauri Stallings, and Lar Lubovitch. She performed, taught, and choreographed for Thodos Dance Chicago for four years. Jennifer is currently honored to be working with Lucky Plush Productions, Concert Dance, Inc, and Hedwig Dances. She also enjoys teaching and choreographing various styles of dance throughout the Chicago land area. She received a teaching certificate from the Temple of Kriya Yoga and has been sharing the benefits of yoga ever since…
www.luckyplush.com
www.hedwigdances.com

Yolanda McKenzie – Control, Janet Jackson
Born and raised in Chicago, Yolanda has entertained audiences for over ten years with performances in theatre, dance and modeling. With roots in African and Jazz dance, Yolanda has performed with the Langbodo Dance Theatre of Chicago and many independent dance projects. She has also recently acted in plays such as “The Dawg In Me” and “The Colored Museum”. Yolanda continues to model for various hair companies and Chicago fashion designers. Yolanda currently dances with the Creative Soul ensemble in Chicago which features Modern and Hip-Hop dance. Interested in many dance styles throughout contemporary history, Yolanda enjoys coordinating dance movements relative to eras of time.

Kid Jungle – B-Boy World mix tape
Everything that’ll keep my attention going. I like to do so many things. I’m a hibachi chef, dancer but b-boy to the heart. I love cars and driving. I love spinning music with my technics. I cook, clean, watch my nieces along with my own daughter. I LOVE eating. That’s my thing. Don’t get me started. I love life, meeting talented people that’ll keep me motivated.
www.myspace.com/kidjungle

Ashtar Shamoun - Heads High, Mr. Vegas
Amongst all the other people sharing the gift of life, what does God have in store for me? I find myself pondering the idea daily… looking through my mind’s eye nearly brings me to tears. God blesses me… From the first day I began dancing, it has been entirely about releasing myself- no bounderies. I started these sessions of self expression in my mirror and, for several years, my inner soul of dance stayed unobserved beyond my room walls. I am a Hip-Hop, Reggae, African & Pop choreographer/ dancer. It is my mission to be true to myself, for that is the only way I can repay the gift of individuality that God has given me. I believe the path he has laid for me is one of boundless self expression. I pray my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ guides my journey through life, for his will is best for me… God blesses me with unconditional love and support from Margaret & Evelyn Shamoun- their love and support has gone beyond that of family; they keep me strong, focused—they remind me of the truth in life. Thank you! Shout out to Aaron, Erin, and Alan! Also Dora and Fam!
www.myspace.com/ashtarshamoun

Credits:
Erin O’Brien (coordination)
Alan Strathman (camera)
Edward Salem (PA)

Exhibition History:
G2 Gallery
August 11-September 8, 2007
847 West Jackson, 2nd floor
Chicago, IL 60607

Related posts:

1. MFA!
2. After the Fall

Real-time, algorithmic and pre-recorded video unite with Elizabeth Streb’s aesthetic of grace and danger. The screen provides alternate viewpoints, both micro and macro, for the action at hand. Archival footage and reactive software fill the 20′ x 20′ screen

About the show:

“By exploring the frontiers of performance space, and creating works that reflect the spirit of our technological age, Ms. Streb is carrying dance into a new dimension.”
- The New York Times

Elizabeth Streb’s trademark risky choreography combines the visceral impact of extreme sports with the poetry and split-second timing of dance. Exploding with the suspense and energy of near-misses and imminent crashes, STREB Extreme Action’s daring performers explore the boundaries of force, gravity, action and reaction. Whether flying, falling, or seemingly suspended in mid-air, STREB fearlessly challenges nature, creating a new aesthetic of grace and danger. In this gripping new show, action-architect Elizabeth Streb takes her audience ringside for a match-up of human pitted against the phenomenal forces of everyday physical action. STREB materializes the unseen, ever-present, air-traffic controllers of our universe and puts those invisible action partners center stage.

Collaborators:
Elizabeth Streb: Action Architect/Choreographer
Michael Casseli: Set Design
Laura Flanders: Librettist
Aaron Henderson: Projection Design
Shelly Sabel: Lighting Designer
Maxim Safioulline: Sound Designer
Justin D’Apolito: Technical Director

Tour History:
World Premier:
July 12-15, 2006. La Guardia Drama Theater, Lincoln Center Festival, New York, NY

The Eccles Center for the Performing Arts (Park City, UT), Walton Art Center (Fayetteville, AR), The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (Great Barrington, MA), Flynn Center for the Performing Arts (Burlington, VT), FirstWorks Providence (Providence, RI), Williams Center for the Arts (Lafayette College), International Festival of Art & Ideas (New Haven, CT), Jackie Gleason Theater (Miami Beach, FL), Kravis Center (West Palm Beach, FL), Proctors Theatre (Schenectady, NY), Napa Opera House (Napa, CA), Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA), Britt Festival (Jacksonville, OR)

Related posts:

1. STREB – Wild Blue Yonder
2. STREB – BRAVE
3. Catapult Review – Village Voice

Blue Land Media and I worked on the video for Elizabeth Streb’s homage to the magic and mayhem of early flight.

About the show:
It is an age-old human dream to stretch the body into space and to venture into unknown territory where gravity just might lapse. Wild Blue Yonder is an action event for the rough of heart and deep of longing – people of all ages who are curious about escaping earth. STREB is inspired by Wilbur and Orville Wright, who a century ago made the first powered flight; by Amelia Earhart, who spanned the Atlantic Ocean; by Chuck Yaeger, who broke the sound barrier; by the Chinese MiG pilots who shrank the turning radiuses of their dog-fighting planes to create a physically impossible G-force; by any astronaut who’s ever braved the vomit comet; and every kid, regardless of age, who is willing to go where humans haven’t…To all these, STREB pays homage.

Wild Blue Yonder is the story of the actions people do, and the places people go when they dream. It is a story that requires the impossible, so with action contraptions we expand the body’s reactions, and we duet with nature’s forces of movement. Action, movement, courage, invention, and machines, these are what have made flying dreams real. The horse, the rider, the wheel, the motor, the car, the plane, the jet, the computer, all in their time were the next utterly impossible future dream, always defying the wisdom of the age.

Wild Blue Yonder requires the audience to have the experiences they have when they dream. In these dreams the impossible and absurd is real. Humans do fly. With the machines we build, the airplanes we fly, the unprotected ledges we jump from, our bodies take on that adventure dream. The Action show demonstrates how the extreme idea happens. STREB will take the audience into the wild blue yonder merely by witnessing what we do. Fast, Hard. And Out of Control. Radical Actions.
Elizabeth Streb

Collaborators:
Elizabeth Streb: Chreography
Michael Casseli: Set Design
Aaron Henderson and Blue Land Media: Projection Design
Laura Flanders: Librettist
Noe and Ivan Espana: Action Collaborators

Tour History
Wolf Trap (Vienna, VA), Napa Opera House (Napa, CA), Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, OR), Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA), Britt Festival (Jacksonville, OR), Jazz at Lincoln Center (New York, NY), City Center (New York, NY), The Oriente Occidente Festival (Verona & Trento, Italy), University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY), (Boulder, CO), Wausau Area Performing Arts Foundation (Wausau, Wisconsin)

Related posts:

1. STREB VS GRAVITY
2. STREB – BRAVE
3. Catapult Review – Village Voice

I co-created (with Jamie Jewett) this evening-length performance that blended dance, an original score, and projections. The narrative is a contemporary re-imagining of the inventor Daedalus, finding him some years after Icarus’ death.

Animation from After the Fall (8 minute excerpt from the middle of the performance)

About the show:
After the Fall reimagines Daedelus, the grandfather of technology, as the forlorn protagonist in a landscape of projected images. A sculptural series of projection screens (lit by Juliet Chia) and an original score by Timothy Quigley (songs by Jeff Wallman) provide the environment in which Daedalus (Matt Schicker), Ariadne (Mira Kim) and an everyday Icarus (Ian Van Voorst) discover just how the real-time and video imaged world is only a symptom of the past’s impotence in healing the present.

Credits:
Jamie Jewett and Aaron Henderson: Concept and Video
Jamie Jewett: Choreography
Aaron Henderson: Animation
Thalia Field: Dramaturgy
Juliet Chia: Lighting
Timothy Quigley: Music
Jeff Wallman: Songs

Performance History:
2004 Green Street Studios, Boston, MA
2003 St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery, New York,

Related posts:

1. Snowblind
2. Inflatable
3. STREB VS GRAVITY

Snowblind : Overwhelmed by the light reflected from snow particles. When filtering becomes the world, when information becomes a landscape, and bodies are viewed cinematically rather than experienced subjectively. The transformation from “establishing shot” naturalism to the storm of subordinate experience-data is enacted in the fierce and reflective movements of a solo performer responding to herself on screen.

Jamie Jewett and Aaron Henderson: Concept and Production
Mira Kim: Performance
Matmos and Mark Isham: Music

Exhibition History:
Tens the Limit
May 2-3, 2003
Green Street Studio
Cambridge, MA

Snowblind was initially comissioned by Entity, a digital media collective
2002 IMMEDIA conference
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

Related posts:

1. After the Fall
2. Inflatable
3. Mud

Aaron Henderson: Concept & Video
Alyssa Stith: Performance

Related posts:

1. Inflatable
2. Snowblind
3. After the Fall