Absence: a History
Absence: a History
a suspicious attempt at reconstructing a past without proof
Concept, Direction, Text and Film: Alexx Shilling | alexx makes dances
Brought to life by: Sarah Jacobs, Aaron Kahn, Carol McDowell, Madison Page (2013)
Dorothy Dubrule, Sarah Leddy, Carol McDowell and Nguyen Nguyen (2015)
Original Music: Julio C. Montero, Jr. with Gabriel Ramirez
Additional Film: Alexx Shilling with Henry Shilling
Additional Text: Marianne Hirsch and Susan Sontag
If dance is ephemeral and fleeting and photography a way of preserving moments that have the potential to become significant as they outlive our momentary actions, Shilling’s Absence: a History meets us at the intersection between dance and photography. In an exploration of the significant, the stage becomes a laboratory for memory; full of holes, the ensemble re-constructs photographic images both still and alive in an effort to re-imagine a fragmented past where absence and loss have reigned in the choreographer’s post-memory.
PERFORMANCE ENGAGEMENTS:
Pieter Pasd November 14, 2015
Highways Performance Space July 10-11, 2015
homeLA: Mt. Washington; May 2013
Glorya Kaufman Hall, UCLA; April 2013
Absence: a History from alexx makes dances on Vimeo.