Chaotic Bodies is a series of works derived from photographic and video documentation of RUCKUS, a work-in-progress choreographed by Anastasia Maywood, Krista Posnyiuk, and Alison Kause. My goal with Chaotic Bodies is to explore the visual echoes of my engagement with the dancers and the choreography, with their bodies in space, and their responses through movement to the sculptural work I created.
The central sculptural component of this exhibition at MZD is the sculptural work that has continued to be developed for the RUCKUS project. In this iteration, this soft sculpture is presented in dialogue with found mannequin parts, as a means to extrapolate from the considerations of the RUCKUS work: how do humans internalize the chaos around them? How does the perception of external chaos (bigotry, war, migration, water & food security, surveillance, populism) contribute to feelings of fragmentation, isolation, and chaos within individual bodies? What physical movements or actions could be seen to translate, manifest, express – or release – internal chaos in positive ways?
The video work presented here consists of layered and colourized excerpts of rehearsal and performance footage from RUCKUS. The silhouettes of dancers engaged in movement depicted on the wall-hung mylar panels are likewise taken from still photos of rehearsals for this project. It was my goal in both the video and the banners to render the dancers virtually unrecognizable as individuals; as such, these figures serve as both the embodiment of internalized chaos within a range of socio-cultural contexts, and representative of both the need and desire for sense-making in a world replete with chaotic events and circumstances.
Thanks & Acknowledgments
I would like to extend my deep thanks to Anastasia Maywood, Krista Posnyiuk, Alison Kause, Ainsley Hillyard, Kate Stashko, & Alida Kendell for welcoming me into their work on RUCKUS (past & future), and for their generous an insightful feedback as I worked with them to make the ideas specific to their creative process tangible. I am grateful also for their permission to use footage and stills from rehearsals and performances in the presentation of this project at Mile Zero Dance. My thanks also to Good Women Dance for the space and opportunity to engage in a residency with this group of talented and dedicated dancers; it was a tremendous learning experience to be able to make work specifically for moving bodies in space.
My thanks to Mile Zero Dance for allowing my to explore their Window Gallery Space! I have taken this opportunity to develop this work specifically for the space, and am grateful to be able to explore the connections between sculpture, installation, drawing, and dance.
