Contingence

Thursday, 13 May 13:30 [LIVE]

The exploration of bodies and communication through the virtual medium is explored within this improvisational dance piece inspired by Cork, Ireland. Working in public space all over the world, the international set of dancers will use an improvisational movement score to challenge and stretch the limits of communicating virtually and how it mirrors communication in the physical world. Taking into account body language as well and where it fits into both types of communication, the dancers will work with concepts of dissemination of information without speaking. The dancers will be live streaming from their cellular devices to a central virtual meeting location and will have their cameras on, selfie style, to capture their communication in all spaces. By inviting precariousness into the live performance and reflecting the lived experiences of modern times, Contingence embraces uncertainty; the dancers may appear, the performance may happen. The audience is invited to watch and interact with the movers as this once-in-a-lifetime performance springs to life, and live, wondrously. As people of the world grapple with virtual communication and its inopportune limitations, this piece is a reflection of our bodily ways of informing, internally and externally, while welcoming an improvisationally open mindset to online interactions.

Artists: Abigail Elliott, Brendon Fernandez, Carolina Carloto, Diana Shepherd, Susi Rosenbohm

Producer: Diana Shepherd

The Artists

Abigail Elliott

Abi Elliott trained at Allegro Dance Theater in Radcliff, Kentucky, before expanding her studies at the Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts in 2011. Her experience at GSA led her to pursue a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she participated in Dance at Illinois’ Shadow Program with MMDG and appeared in works by Tere O’Connor, Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, Endalyn Taylor, and Abby Zbikowski. Abi returned to Kentucky to serve as the Dance Discipline Assistant at GSA for two consecutive summers and danced with Louisville’s Moving Collective during their 2017-2018 season. She also premiered her own self-choreographed solo, “Shifted, Shift, Shifting,” through the JELLO Performance Series at Links Hall in Chicago, Illinois, and performed this piece again at RadFest in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the Louisville Dance Series in 2019. Abi most recently performed in ‘MOON’ with Valleto Dance during their first ever virtual season.

Photo: Stephanie Hardwick

Brendon Fernandez

Brendon is an actor from Singapore with a recent interest in movement and experimental theatre. His recent theatre credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, MERDEKA / 獨立 / சுதநததிரம், Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner, Underclass / 贱民, and Hotel. While theatres were closed last year, he was also part of two audio plays: A Bird Calls You To Moscow, and The Book of Mothers. Brendon is an accomplished voiceover artist, and can be heard on numerous commercials, documentary television programs, and audiobooks.

This is Brendon’s first virtual performance spanning continents and time zones, and he’s excited by the possibilities this new genre brings.

Instagram: @brendon_fernandez
Facebook: fb.me/page.brendon.fernandez

Photo: Crispian Chan

Carolina Carloto

Carolina Carloto is a Dancer, performer and choreographer, who lives and works in Portugal. She completed her artistic studies in several different European institutions: Conservatório - Escola das Artes da Madeira, Escola Superior de Dança em Lisboa, University of Chichester (UK), Fontys University (NL, Tilburg). Her collaborations as a dancer include a variety of artists: Alessandro Carboni (2020), Carmine De Amicis (2018), Diana Niepce (2020), João Fernandes & Ângelo Cid Neto (2017), Liliana Garcia (2017), Lua Carreira (2019), Madalena Victorino (2019) and Pietro Romani (2018).

Currently, she is investing in co-creations and solo work with an interest in the use of public spaces and dance film.

Susi Rosenbohm

Susi Rosenbohm is a Berlin based dancer, facilitator, performance maker, activist and somatic coach. They work as a dancer/performer in different contexts of performing arts and fine arts. They show their own choreographic and collaborative artistic work nationally and leads workshops, dance projects and feminist education in various contexts. They are a co-founder of Womxn Making Art In Public Space.

Stage Manager: Sadhbh Barrett Coakley