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TRILOGY OVERVIEW
"an
astonishing dance/video experience, merging the real and unreal
into the surreal."
Janet Anderson, Philadelphia City Paper
Choreographer/performers
Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer present their acclaimed Trilogy
of dance and video works, Seductive Reasoning (2003),
Under the Skin (2005), and Memory Bank (2007).
This trilogy explores the intricacies of identity, gender,
perception, and intimacy through Bridgman/Packer’s choreographic
concept of “video partnering” — the highly
visceral and visually arresting integration of live performance
and video technology which explodes the duet form into a magically
populated stage where image and reality collide. Through interaction
with their life-size video images and the use of bodies and
costumes as projection screens, Bridgman and Packer blur the
lines between image and reality, distort identity, and reveal
multiple layers of consciousness.
 This
work is informed by the depth of Bridgman and Packer’s
30 years of choreographic collaboration and the dynamics of
trust and risk-taking in their artistic partnership. At the
same time, it represents a significant new direction as they
work with an expanded artistic palette that stretches the
boundaries of live performance. Trilogy
was created in collaboration with filmmakers Peter Bobrow
and Jim Monroe with original music scores by
composers Robert Een, Ken Field, and Glen
Velez.
In Seductive Reasoning, Bridgman and Packer question
the usual boundaries and modes of perception by interacting
with their own and each other’s life-size video images,
thus creating an intentional ambiguity between the live and
the virtual. A dialogue between the distancing nature of video
and the visceral nature of live performance unfolds. Their
video counterparts appear as their alter egos and projected
desires, and lead to a stretching and redefining of identity
and intimacy. Composer/cellist Robert Een created
an original score of soaring musicality and intricate rhythms
for Seductive Reasoning.
Picture
by Paul B. Goode
The trajectory of Bridgman and Packer’s work in “video
partnering” continues to evolve in Memory Bank.
The alchemy of living form and virtual image expands into
an exploration of time. In creating this piece Bridgman and
Packer and collaborator Peter Bobrow incorporated
video technology that creates delayed projected images. The
performers then interact with their movements that were performed
moments earlier, allowing the past to collide with the present
and creating an altered reality removed from the usual past/present/future
framework. Composer/percussionist Glen Velez created
and performs an evocative polyrhythmic percussion score rich
in resonant textures.
Under the Skin takes this exploration to another
level, as the performer’s bodies become projection screens,
allowing them to morph, shatter, switch identities, and multiply.
In one section, the live performers partner each other while
their own video images are projected on their bare backs above
white hoop skirts. These video projections are intended to
conjure up multiple levels of consciousness and reveal the
undercurrents that run through intimacy. Composer/saxophonist
Ken Field wrote and performs a highly charged score
of resounding horns and street beat percussion for Under
the Skin.
In addition to revealing an inherent humor, the interaction
between the live and virtual opened up new ways for Bridgman
and Packer to portray the complexity of identity. They have
always envisioned their work as a lens on the self and the
nature of relationships, and the emergence of their video
alter egos has now enhanced this metaphoric range.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer have collaborated in
choreography and performance for the past thirty  years.
In recognition of their collaborative work, they have been
awarded a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship. In New York City their
work has been presented by Lincoln Center, City Center Fall
For Dance Festival, the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival,
Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s
Church, Dance New Amsterdam, Central Park’s Summerstage,
and DanceNowNYC Festival.
Packer
and Bridgman are recipients of 2007 and 2008 National Endowment
for the Arts Grants and a 2007-08 New England Foundation for
the Arts Expeditions Touring Grant. They are also recipients
of two Choreography Fellowships from the New York Foundation
for the Arts, five “First Light” Commissions from
Dance Theater Workshop in NYC with funding from the Jerome
Foundation, a Danspace Project Commissioning Initiative with
support from the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, and commissions
from Dance New Amsterdam, the 92nd Street Y New Works in Dance,
and The National Performance Network’s Creation Fund.
Bridgman/Packer Dance is a 2005 recipient of a Building Up
Infrastructure Levels for Dance (BUILD) grant, a program of
the New York Foundation for the Arts. Their international
touring has been supported by USArtists International, the
Performing Americas Project, the National Performance Network,
and
La Red de Promotores CentroAmericana y El Caribe.
They
have toured throughout the United States, performing at festivals,
art centers, and universities including Spoleto Festival USA,
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Florida Dance Festival,
Bates Dance Festival, the Maine Festival, Dance St. Louis
and Philadelphia’s Annenberg Center. Under the auspices
of the National Performance Network, they have been presented
by the Contemporary Dance Theater in Cincinnati, Walker Art
Center/M.D.A. in Minneapolis, The Dancers’ Collective
in Atlanta, The Dance Place in Washington D.C., the Contemporary
Art Center in New Orleans, and Columbia College in Chicago.
Bridgman
and Packer have been guest artists at over 150 universities
including New York University’s Tisch School of the
Arts, California Institute of the Arts, Ohio State University,
Arizona State University, and the University of Utah. They
have appeared abroad in Ireland, Scotland, Hungary, France,
Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Singapore, China and throughout
Central America. Picture
by Lisa Levart
Bridgman
and Packer were selected as 2005-06 Dance Theater Workshop
Digital Fellows, a peer group of artists, researchers and
technologists whose work and process explores the hybrid spaces
between the performing arts and technology. In 2002 and 2003
their work was featured on Metroarts/ Thirteen, WNET’s
cable arts program for the New
York
City metropolitan area. They were featured in Dance Magazine’s
May 2006 issue on Great Partnerships. For more information,
including upcoming tours and performances, please visit their
website, www.bridgmanpacker.org.
Peter
Bobrow is a director and producer with a background in
independent and experimental film. His credits include work
for 20th Century Fox, HBO, Forensic Films, the BBC, Discovery
Channel and PBS. He has worked on over 25 feature films. His
recent projects include line producing the films The Wreck,
A Very Serious Person and Building Girl; production managing
on the films New York City Serenade and Off The Black and
supervising music videos for The Secret Machines and The Yeah
Yeah Yeahs. He also co-produced The Welcome Table, a short
by Marta Renzi. www.peterbobrow.com
Jim
Monroe is a multimedia producer, director and editor,
and has worked in music, theatre and television production.
He is currently teaching non-linear video editing at SUNY
Rockland and is a certified Apple Trainer. Monroe's company,
Act One Video Productions, Ltd., in New City, N.Y., is a full-service
commercial and entertainment, multimedia production company.
Act One's services range from scripting to production to post-production.
www.actonedigital.com
Robert
Een is an acclaimed composer, cellist and singer. The
recipient of a 2004 Obie Award and two Bessie Awards, Een
has performed his music on stages and in unusual venues throughout
the world, including the Buddhist caves of Ellora, India;
the Shinto shrine in Tsurugi, Japan; a theater above the Arctic
circle in Norway; as well as Central Park, Lincoln Center,
the Whitney Museum. Known for his use of extended vocal and
cello techniques, he has recorded eight albums including Fertile
Fields, Your Life is Not Your Own and Big Joe. His scores
for film include; My Horrible Year, Mr. Jealousy, Trouble
on the Corner, The Rook and Guts. Robert Een's music for theater
and dance can be heard in the repertories of Liz Lerman, David
Dorfman, Yin Mei, Jennifer Muller, Yoshiko Chuma, Sara Pearson/Patrik
Widrig, Ron K. Brown and others. His long association with
Meredith Monk culminated in their evening-length performance
duet, Facing North. www.roberteen.com
Ken
Field is a composer and saxophonist. Since 1988 he has
been a member of the internationally acclaimed modern music
ensemble Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Field also leads the Revolutionary
Snake Ensemble, an improvisational brass band whose debut
CD was included on best-of-year lists from WNYC Radio (New
York), the Gambit Weekly (New Orleans), and Radio Popolare
(Milan, Italy). The group has performed at the Brooklyn Academy
of Music, the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Puffin Cultural
Forum, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and numerous
other venues. Field has performed in the US, Canada, Mexico,
France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Japan, and has been
Composer-in-Residence at the Ucross Foundation (Wyoming),
the Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain), and the Atlantic Center
for the Arts (Florida). His solo releases, including the soundtrack
for Under the Skin, document his compositions and improvisations
for layered alto saxophones. His recordings have been released
on the Cuneiform, O.O.Discs, sFz Recordings, Sublingual, and
Innova labels, and have been featured in The New York Times,
Saxophone Journal, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times,
The Washington Post, and many other publications. Field is
a Vandoren Performing Artist. His music is also heard regularly
on Sesame Street. www.kenfield.org
Glen
Velez, a three-time Grammy Award winner, is considered
one of the most influential percussionists and world music
composers of our time. Glen is responsible for increasing
the popularity of Frame Drums in the US and around the World.
His performances inspired the Remo Drum Co. in 1983 to develop
a line of frame drums called the Glen Velez Signature Series.
The Cooperman Drum Co. introduced a hand made Signature Series
Glen Velez and Frame Drum line in 1999. Glen has gained international
recognition as a solo artist and is known for his 15 year
recording and performing collaborations with composer Steve
Reich, as well as the Paul Winter Consort. Other collaborations
include: Tan Dun, Israel Philharmonia, Brooklyn Philharmonia,
Opera Orchestra of New York, Suzanne Vega, Pat Metheny, Zakir
Hussain, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet Orchestra,
Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble. He has
written music for theater and dance and recorded hundreds
of albums on ECM, CBS, RCA, GRP, Warner Brothers, Deutsche
Gramophone, Geffen, Nonesuch, Capital, Sounds True and Sony.
Glen is a master teacher who conducts workshops worldwide
and has published numerous books and articles on the subject.
He currently teaches frame drums at the Mannes School of Music,as
well as a master class series at The Julliard School and Manhattan
School of Music. Glen is also active with his own Glen Velez
Ensemble, along with his duo performances with vocalist/rhythm
singer Lori Cotler, selections from their new recording are
available on iTunes. www.GlenVelez.com
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