A movement ritual for our time, last days/first field kinesthetically distills the feeling of now– what it is to live in the face of climate change, extreme weather, economic instability, and political polarization. Eight dancers channel natural geological processes, ancient practices, Williamsburg hipsters, and pupating insects to create a non-linear landscape that just might be the future. It’s set to a live original score for voice and electronics by Kristin Norderval. The piece culminates in a durational planting, in which the performers plant a micro-field of seedlings in the performance space. Take home kale.
last days/first field is a multi-phase movement/planting/conversational experience. Tea will be served. Running time approximately 2 hours.
Jill Sigman asks questions through the medium of the body. Trained in classical ballet, modern dance, art history, and analytic philosophy, Sigman has been nudging people through performance since the early 90s. She founded jill sigman/thinkdance in 1998, the same year she received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. jill sigman/thinkdance exists at the intersection of dance, theater and visual installation, often using non-traditional environments, formats, and ways of engaging the viewer. jill sigman/thinkdance has been produced by such New York venues as Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dancing in the Streets, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and The 92 St Y, and has appeared internationally in such places as a dilapidated Belgian printing house, a former arsenal in Croatia, the American Embassy in New Delhi, and the Norwegian Opera House in Oslo. Sigman has been a Choreographic Fellow at MANCC, a Movement Research Artist in Residence, a Fellow of the Center for Creative Research and an Artist in Residence at the Wesleyan University Center for the Arts. She is currently at work on The Hut Project, an exploration of issues around waste, sustainability, real estate through the creation of a series of site-specific structures made of found materials.
Choreography: Jill Sigman (with the performers)
Design: Jill Sigman
Performers: Hadar Ahuvia, Corinne Cappelletti, Donna Costello, Sally Hess, Irene Hsi, Paloma McGregor, Jill Sigman, Devika Wickremesinghe
Original score: Kristin Norderval
Costumes (from reclaimed materials): kymkym
Lighting: David Ferri
Plants: Camilla Hammer & Henry Sweets
last days/first field was co-commissioned by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It has received additional developmental support from Gibney Dance Center.
Dates + Time
May 7–9
7:30pm
Admissions
$18 online Book tickets here
$20 at the door
Location
The Main Gallery
51 Bergen St.