Part of University Dance Theatre’s Dance Revolutions 2017
Choreographer: Sidra Bell
Costume Design: Jeni O’Malley
Lighting Design: Dustin Morache
Music by: Dennis Bell
Dance Revolutions Director: Erin Thompson
Photos by: Dustin Morache
Artifact(of) is a new work based off a 2 week residency that Sidra Bell had at the University of Minnesota. In it she explores how to draw from artifacts of our past and how they define or change us. There is an emphasis on transformation, the balance of structure and organic, and technology vs human.
In lighting this show, I was struck by the lines of the costumes and wanted to choose angular lighting to allow the cages around the dances to look and behave differently. I also wanted the use of shadow to demonstrate how these artifacts aren’t always clear or on the other hand sometimes feel larger than life. I took inspiration for color from the music. I found certain phrases really embodied the 4 elements: earth (green), fire (red), water (blue), and wind (yellow). As primary building blocks, I thought these were appropriate to represent the journey through our artifacts.
