Dixon Place presents the world premiere of Interglacial by Laura Peterson from December 8-11, 2021 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $18 in advance ($21 at the door) and can be purchased online at http://dixonplace.org/performances/interglacial/.

 

Interglacial is a new multidisciplinary dance work through which choreographer Laura Peterson explores the urgent topic of global climate emergency, inspired by minimalist geometric art and Land Art of the 1960s and '70s. A dance and visual art installation project, Interglacial is about deep time and the dynamics of nature that is designed to create a space for reflection on human impacts on the Arctic region of the earth and to encourage climate activism. In the piece, four dancers transform an icy landscape into 12-foot sculptures evoking a terrain inhabited and ultimately overwhelmed by cleaving glaciers.

 

"In Interglacial, I am trying to understand the devastating effects humans have had on our environment," said choreographer and Artistic Director of Open Arts Studio Laura Peterson. "I'm exploring the intersection of the human body with landscapes and non-human phenomena. This work has a particular focus on the qualities of time, from the hyperspeeds of the digital world to the impossibly slow travels of a glacier across a continent, as it drags rocky material toward the sea." 

 

Interglacial dwells in a space of cognitive dissonance between the many thousands of years that span a glacial period, and the hyper-accelerated progress of environmental destruction. The current interglacial period has lasted 11,000 years and whether there will ever be another ice age on Earth is a topic of current scientific debate. Things that were once predictable, like rainfall patterns, are now on a roulette wheel. This project explores how somewhere deep in our bones we may have an imprint of Earth's geological slow dance, incremental shifts over eons, and now we are literally witness to a dizzying enactment of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, species death, and rising sea levels via news media and lived experiences.

 

Interglacial

December 8-11, 2021 at 7:30pm 

Performed by Laura Peterson, Ching-I Chang, Jennifer Payán, and Darrin Wright.

Sound design by Omar Zubair

Lighting design by Amanda K Ringger

Costumes by Charles Youssef

Installation design by Laura Peterson

Design collaboration with Jon Pope

 

Interglacial is a Dixon Place commission made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with support from the Governor's office and the NY State Legislature; and private funds from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, and Harkness Foundation for Dance. In research and development since August 2018, Interglacial has been supported by a development commission for the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, a workshop performance at HERE Arts Center's Culturemart Festival and by the WallPlay program at On|Canal. 

 

Laura Peterson is a NYC-based dance artist creating works that challenge the limits of physicality and reframe performance spaces. Influenced by the visual art of the 1970s, she simultaneously creates visually arresting installations and rigorous choreography. Her performances have included large-scale paintings, 1000 square feet of living lawn, 16-foot-tall paper sculptures, and other giant structures. Recently, she performed her work SOLO as part of the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done. Peterson's work has also been presented in the US at venues including The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, and internationally in Europe and Argentina. Laura has been awarded residencies and commissions for the last ten years, including the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). She was a recipient of a 2014 Fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy, and a 2016 Marble House Project Residency. Her work has been commissioned by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Queens Museum of Art, and she has received the Reflection/ Response Commission supported by Temple University, et al. Laura created two works for Nick Cave's Soundsuits with Balance Dance Company and the Boise Art Museum, and repertory for Pennsylvania Ballet and Hartford Ballet. She has taught dance and choreographed for Princeton University, Marymount Manhattan College, Rutgers University, SUNY Brockport, LIU Brooklyn, CUNY Lehman College, Bowdoin College, and others. Laura has led workshops in the US and internationally. She holds an MFA in Dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a BFA in Modern Dance from University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

 

About Open Arts Studio

Open Arts Studio supports interdisciplinary artistic experimentation and embraces the simultaneous development of the actual with the ephemeral. Open Arts Studio enables creative research into the relationship of the physical body and the material world via performing and visual arts. Open Arts Studio serves as the artistic home of Laura Peterson Choreography and supports the creative work of the company. Open Arts Studio exists to actively cultivate the connection of body and mind, and support people to become more thoughtful movers, artists, and citizens. For more information, visit openartsstudio.org.

 

About Dixon Place

An artistic incubator since 1986, Dixon Place (DP) is non-profit institution committed to supporting the creative process by presenting original works of theater, dance, music, puppetry, circus arts, literature and visual art. Presenting over 1000 creators a year, this local haven inspires and encourages diverse artists of all stripes and callings to take risks, generate new ideas, and consummate new practices. The artist's experience is given top priority through our professional atmosphere and remuneration, and their process is enhanced by our adventurous audiences. With a renewed commitment to racial equity and justice, Dixon Place is a local haven for creativity as well as an international model for the open exploration of the creative process. After spawning DP in 1985 as a salon in Paris, Ellie Covan pioneered the organization in her NYC living room for 23 years. Organic development and expansion, DP is now a leading professional, state-of-the-art facility that remains at the heart of the NYC experimental performance scene. In compliance with Covid19 restrictions, DP's live programs were suspended March 13, 2020. Deeply committed to artists and patrons, DP began presenting virtual literary, dance, & theater programs on DP TV in April '20. The theater is reopening in May 2021 for in-person performances. For service to the community, DP has received a NY Dance & Performance Award (a Bessie), two Obies, a BAXten Award, the NY Innovation Theater Foundation's Stewardship Award, CUNY's Edwin Booth Award, and the Alliance of NY State Arts Organization's Celebrate the Arts Award for outstanding contributions to NYC. Many artists, such as Deb Margolin, Blue Man Group, John Leguizamo, Lisa Kron, David Cale, Penny Arcade, and Reno began their careers at Dixon Place. Over the years, DP has also been privileged to present performances by established artists, such as: Justin Vivian Bond, Taylor Mac, Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn, Craig Lucas, BD Wong, James Lecesne, John Fleck, Kate Bornstein, Ethyl Eichelberger, Holly Hughes, Karen Finley, Kate Clinton, Peggy Shaw, Mac Wellman, Big Art Group; A.M. Homes, Rick Moody, and Oscar Huelos; Mark Dendy, Jane Comfort, Sarah Michelson, Douglas Dunn, Paul Taylor 2, and Yoshiko Chuma; Vernon Reid, Diamanda Galas, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Suzy Roche, Maggie Roche, and They Might Be Giants. For more information, visit dixonplace.org.