Technology, dance still going courting
Choreographers have been trying to marry with technology for the last century, spawning a field called Dance and Technology, or D&T.
Dancer/choreographer Megan Bridge married her tech guy, composer and videographer, Peter Price, in a high-tech "performance" wedding at the Painted Bride five years ago. They unveiled their latest D&T production at the Community Education Center on Friday evening. Subject in Two Parts is the offspring of their residency at the center's "New Edge" program.
Bridge and Price have been conceiving D&T productions for eight years. Last summer, they delivered a real live offspring, son Tristan, who heralded the end of the show with a shout-out and took a bow with his mom for a smart, hip and cleverly performed show.
The idea that there is no essential self, and that media and our relationships deeply influence us, inspired Bridge, who succeeded in conveying that idea.
The show began with her solo, "Subject Part I," choreographed by Bridge and directed by Philadelphia playwright Greg Giovanni. Bridge appeared nude, pulling a paper strip from her mouth like ticker tape while reciting text by Giovanni that paid tribute to pioneering performance artist Carolee Schneeman.
From channeling Schneeman, Bridge pulled on a red spangled sheath and switched to Marilyn Monroe. Dancing around a panel on which Price projected deconstructed footage of Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she danced bare whispers of Monroe's movement. Later, after donning jacket, backpack and hunting cap, Bridge repeated them hilariously, obliterating what we think of as sexiness. Price distorted the music so it sounded like a séance.
Meg Foley, John Luna, Lorin Lyle and Rebecca Sloan danced and collaborated in the choreography of "Subject Part II." They paired off into couples, flailing at each other and ending in a heap on the floor. Lyle danced a beat off from the rest and made as much fun of technology as use of it, "annoyingly" photographing himself and the others with his phone.
Price's Midi music gave Lyle's duet with Luna the weightiness it needed. Sloan came out in a fat, white bunny suit and watched dumbfounded, miming the dancers and putting modern dance in a sidesplitting new perspective.
The second half's video elements were not as well integrated as those in the first, but acted more like set. Dance and technology didn't quite get hitched, but they cohabitated very nicely.


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