Bi-Coastal live performances of Search(light)
with Kinesis Project dance theatre
Dancing together, simultaneously from Brooklyn Navy Yard, NYC and Kay White Hall, Vashon. Choreography by Melissa Riker in collaboration with the dancers.
Recorded Saturday, January 30
Suggested donations of $15 will support Kinesis Project dance theatre’s mission to create site-specific performances and facilitate educational programs.
NY cast: Claudia-Lynn Rightmire, Therese Ronco, Jiemin Yang, Sumaya Mulla-Carrillo, Nicole Truzzi
Vashon cast: Lorraine Lau, Kimberly Holloway, Hendri Walujo, Robert Moore, Margaret Behm, and Vashon’s own Madeline Morser! Music by Sandbox Percussion plus a very special live performance by solo violinist, Kristin Lee.
This visionary, cross-country, real-time dance performance will feature music by Sandbox Percussion, plus a very special live performance by solo violinist Kristin Lee.
“Search(Light) is a work of connection; it is about invisible threads made visible and many kinds of light,” said Melissa Riker, artistic director of Kinesis Project dance theatre. “Kinesis is a large-scale dance company, and in these challenging times for performance and performers – when experiencing live dance has been on hold, and the shared space dancers thrive on has been closed for so long – we are doing exactly what we are here to do: finding new ways of bringing artists together, and pushing the boundaries of how audiences experience dance. I am so grateful to our venue partners, our collaborators and creative team that we can attempt this first step experiment in shared performance over distance.”
Search(Light) is Kinesis Project dance theatre’s newest work in development, originally inspired by an experience Riker had six years ago when she witnessed a full pier of squid jigging, a type of fishing, in Seattle. Enthralled with the lights from the dock reflected off of the water, beautifully caught in a chaotic, mesmerizing rhythm of fishing lines, Riker had the inkling of an idea.
As it is developing now, Search(Light) draws from the science of light, as well as how we connect, how we are pulled in, how light guides and informs, and how light, connection and distance intertwine. Riker and the dancers have been developing the vocabulary of the work since November 2019, workshopping the connectedness of light and dancing of the piece by being in person and then shifting to Zoom when the global pandemic hit in 2020, to keep the full company in collaboration. As a step in the process, in July 2020, Riker sent 100 candles to each of the 11 dancers to record themselves in locations and the natural light of their choosing. The completed film by Ellen Maynard with music by Sandbox Percussion is available online. To view Search(Light), RSVP to receive a link at Kinesis_RSVP@icloud.com.
With the live performance world still on hold, Riker is taking all of the safety steps to bring each group of dancers together in their respective cities to dance in huge, beautiful spaces.
Kinesis Project is grateful for the support of venue partners Brooklyn Navy Yard and Vashon Center for the Arts. Thanks to Ezra J. Robinson as Director of Photography, Seattle and Projection Designer and artist/producer, George Del Barrio as Director of Photography, NYC and Network Creative/Technical Director (MIDHEAVEN Network and The Vanderbilt Republic), and Michael Hayes as Technical Director at Vashon Center for the Arts.
The event is free, with a suggested donation of $15 to support Kinesis Project dance theatre’s mission to create site-specific performances and facilitate educational programs. The event was streamed live at VashonCenterForTheArts.org and on MIDHEAVEN Network.
