When: Oct. 12 & 13, 2019
Where: Fathom And Form; 737 Kohler St, Los Angeles
Price: $30/$35 at the door, Student & Senior $20/$25 at the door.
Tags: #dance, #siteresponsive, #ContactAdvisory, #Accessible (See Below)
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The observers become the observed in this site-responsive dance work from Orange County’s Re:borN Dance Interactive and CMLA’s (Curious Minds Los Angeles).
Press Release Follows
Orange County’s Re:borN Dance Interactive and CMLA’s (Curious Minds Los Angeles) evening-length work will premier during the second weekend in October in Los Angeles, Calif. The interactive performance uses dance, architecture and technology to explore the emotional toll of mass surveillance.
According to the artists, living in a surveillance society is similar to life in the “Panopticon.” As choreographer and artistic director Boroka Nagy explains, the “Panopticon” was a cylindrical prison structure designed by 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham. It allows for inmates to be observed by a single guard in the center of a prison made of cells stacked concentrically around the guardhouse. Thus, they don’t know whether they are actually being watched, but they feel as though they are constantly observed.
Re:borN Dance Interactive and CMLA come together to display the impact of mass surveillance on our emotional, psychological, and environmental wellness. Surveillance is omnipresent in our society and causes a fear that our own technology is watching us: not only through the millions of security cameras, but even through our internet profiles, which we constantly, voluntarily, use for self-display. The collaborative partners believe that the psychological effects of constant observance is evident in contemporary societies.
As physical and digital surveillance evolves during the show, audience and performers become the observers and the observed. The choreography and spatial installations expose the control, isolation, and omnipresence of surveillance with the goal of connecting us through empathy: to help us understand each other’s fears of observation and desires to be seen.
CMLA executives Erin Cuevas and Jana Masset Collatz say, they are “passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration and the potential for the built environment to improve human well-being with each sensory experience.” In the LA Dance Chronicle, Jeff Slayton praises Re:borN’s June 25, 2019 showing of the choreography: The cast “wonderfully conveyed Nagy’s vision of paranoia, fear and caution.” He describes Nagy’s choreography as involving “familiar gestures as well as ominous shifts in emotions, robotic movement and sinister staring or glances to explore the increased surveillance that this nation has experienced by our government, social media outlets and other technological apparatuses such as cell phones and computer devices” (“Shift/West produces strong results,” https://www.ladancechronicle.com/shift-west-produces-strong-results/).
With their new show, the artists want to surprise their fans while providing an affordable, educational and influential family event.
Updates on these upcoming performances can be found on Re:borN Dance Interactive’s Facebook (/reborndanceinteractive), Instagram (@reborndance), and their website (reborndance.org/omniscopic).
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Office facilities provided by Thymele Arts, in Los Angeles, CA.
Contact Level:
Light (Business/Acquaintance)
Content Advisories:
Mobility Advisory:
The event is wheelchair and walker accessible. There will be limited seats available for those who not able to stand/move for a long period of time, but audience members are asked to be standing and/or mobile throughout the show.
Discussion