Thanks to Calvin, one of our blog reader for the tip!
From the press release:
Moving in Concert, featuring nine dancers, imagines a universe where humans, technologies and natural materials coexist to create an abstract set of movement. Inspired by how bodies are sensorially affected by living in a digitalized world, the performance explores a poetics of plasticity, abstraction and imagination.
Mette Ingvartsen is a Danish choreographer and dancer. Questions of kinesthesia, perception, affect and sensation have been crucial to most of her work, which includes several site-specific projects that have been seen around the world.
CONTENT ADVISORY
This work contains nudity.
Saw this tonight, if you have a chance to see it on Sunday try to if you can. If you Google the show, you find trailers that show the cast wearing red uniforms. Since the photos on the Skirball website show them nude, I assumed they would only be nude part of the show – nope! They are naked throughout the entire performance, from the moment they walk down the stairs of the auditorium to the moment they leave the stage. There is not really a bad seat as the performers are constantly moving around the stage though those on the aisles will get a good view of the performers entering the theater.
During the show the 8 performers (5 men, 3 women) utilize light sticks into their performance, which provides the only light. For the first 30 minutes or so, the light is bright white, which causes the performers to go in and out of shadow for a while. You get constant glimpses of their nude bodies but it takes a little to get used to.
However at one point the performers start rotating (which lasts at least 10 minutes, it definitely took talent and discipline to avoid getting dizzy!). When they do, the lights turn from white to red to orange. The orange light provides much better lighting as it is not as bright – when they hold the light above them you can clearly see their entire bodies. There is even a nice treat at the end as they take their bows fully nude, with the lights arranged onstage to provide very clear lighting. The show is less than an hour and the spinning lights may disturb some with light sensitivity though it honestly wasn’t too much, your eyes will adjust. Kudos for Skirball for continuing to showcase International performers and performances like these – American troupes are just not this daring.
Thanks so much Calvin for this report.