ENGRAM 4 [2020]
an experimental dance piece performed for screen, a journey of mirrors and portals that reveal our humanity in the digital age
Video trailer for ENGRAM 4 [2020]
ABOUT THE SHOW
The crystal spies on us. If within the four
walls of a bedroom a mirror stares,
I am no longer alone. There is someone there.
In the dawn reflections mutely stage a show.
Jorge Luis Borges (fragment of the poem: Mirrors)
How to hold a stone of many dimensions? Our fingers trace its edges, always finding a new surface. We all maintain, sometimes unknowingly, a continuous practice of search and discovery. As one thing is learned, a new question arises.
ENGRAM 4 is an experimental dance piece for the screen that asks, from the language of the body in relation to multimedia, how to find new portals that direct us towards a shared sense of humanity. From virtual presence we build an existential space through an unfolding world of ideas and sounds, trying to apprehend our own multiplicities and to recognize ourselves as virtually-interacting rhizomatic units, revealing the infinite connections between us. Inhabiting a kind of Escherian landscape at the digital crossroads between mirrors, cameras, geometries and bodies, four human beings search for themselves and for others through unlimited space. Is there a way out?
Directed and designed by choreographer Claudia Lavista, with original music by composer Albert Mathias, technological direction by Raúl Mendoza and performed by Keanu Brady, Jonathan Alavés, Scotty Hardwig and Diego Alcalá, this project highlights a multinational collaboration of artists from the United States and Mexico beyond the borders.
Commissioned and produced by anatomy zero in partnership with Delfos Danza Contemporanea for the Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts . Made possible in part by generous grant funding from the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Global Partnerships Grant, the School of Performing Arts Bruce Carver Grant, and additional support from the Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology (ICAT) at Virginia Tech. In collaboration with Delfos Danza Contemporanea, with the support of the Programa para el Fortalecimiento de las Artes Escénicas-México (FONCA).
ACERCA DE LA OBRA
Nos acecha el cristal. Si entre las cuatro
paredes de la alcoba hay un espejo,
ya no estoy solo. Hay otro. Hay el reflejo
que arma en el alba un sigiloso teatro.
Jorge Luis Borges (Fragmento del poema Espejos)
¿Como sostener una piedra de muchas dimensiones?. Los dedos de la mano recorren sus bordes, siempre encontrando una nueva superficie.Todos mantenemos, a veces sin saberlo, una práctica continua de búsqueda y descubrimiento. A medida que se aprende una cosa, surge una nueva pregunta.
ENGRAM 4 es una propuesta de danza experimental para la pantalla que se pregunta, desde el lenguaje del cuerpo en relación a la multimedia, cómo encontrar nuevos portales que nos dirijan hacia un sentido compartido de humanidad. Desde la presencia virtual construimos un espacio existencial a través del desdoblamiento de ideas y sonidos, tratando de aprehender nuestras propias multiplicidades y reconocernos como unidades rizomáticas que, desde la interacción virtual, develan las infinitas conexiones entre nosotros. Habitando en una suerte de paisaje Escheriano, en la encrucijada digital entre espejos, cámaras, geometrías y cuerpos, cuatro seres humanos se buscan a sí mismos y a los otros a través del espacio ilimitado. ¿Hay alguna salida?
Con la dirección y el diseño de la coreógrafa Claudia Lavista, música original del compositor Albert Mathias, dirección tecnológica de Raúl Mendoza y las actuaciones de Keanu Forrest Brady, Jonathan Alavés, Scotty Hardwig y Diego Alcalá, este proyecto se conforma como una colaboración multinacional de artistas de Estados Unidos y México más allá de las fronteras.
Comisionada por Scotty Hardwig y la Virginia Tech School of Performing Arts en asociación con Delfos Danza Contemporánea. Este proyecto fue posible gracias a la generosa subvención de la Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Global Partnerships Grant, the School of Performing Arts Bruce Carver Grant, y el apoyo adicional del Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology at Virginia Tech. En colaboración con Delfos danza contemporánea, con el soporte del Programa para el Fortalecimiento de las Artes Escénicas-México en Escena (FONCA).
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Claudia Lavista (director) is a choreographer, dancer, teacher and interdisciplinary creator. She received her undergraduate degree in Dance Pedagogy by UAEH, is the co-founder of Delfos Danza Contemporanea and the Professional Dance School of Mazatlán (EPDM), and was a recipient of the National Dance Award of México. Over the last 30 years of her career as a dancer and artistic director, she has created more than 55 works that have been presented in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. She has received both national and international awards for her work, including a prestigious Mellon Fellowship. She currently teaches workshops continuously in México and abroad, and collaborates in opera, theater and multimedia projects for varying formats. Claudia is interested in interdisciplinary collaborations that generate works created from artistic dialogue.
“If you want to talk about the great figures of contemporary Latin American dance, the name of Claudia Lavista is inevitable.” - Valerio Cesio, Dance Magazine Spain
Albert Mathias (soundscore) Musical Visionary, Artist, Movement Accompanist, Composer, Vibrational, Healer, Percussionist, International Recording Artist, Producer, Innovator, Empath, Addict and Eternal Student. I have been Blessed with a lifetime of SuperHuman Friends/Relations and Extraordinary Teachers/Mentors/Collaborators. Be Living Proof. Be Bold. Be Brave. Forever Listen to your Heart!
Raúl Mendoza (technical direction) is a scenic creator whose work alternates between the technical, the creative and the performative, seeking the creation of new languages through new technologies. He has been a member of companies like Teatro Línea de Sombra (Mexico) and TeatrCinema (Poland), and has collaborated with national and international companies like AKHE Group (Russia), Cie. Carabosse (France), Physical Momentum (Mexico), Apoc Apoc (Mexico), and Musse Danza (Mexico). He is currently pursuing a degree in Software and Network Engineering.
Jonathan Alavés (performer) has danced with companies like A poc A poc, with Tanya Pérez Salas, and now dances in Delfos Danza Contemporánea and serves on the teaching faculty of the professional dance school of Professional Dance School of Mazatlán (EPDM).
Diego Alcalá (performer) is a performing artist born in Culiacán, Sinaloa. He graduated from the Professional Dance School of Mazatlán (EPDM) with Honorable Mention. Currently he dances in Delfos Danza Contemporánea, and has performed in the work 1Q90 in the Historic Center Festival (CDMX), DESIGN WEEK Festival in Beijing, China (2019), ENARTES Encounter of Performing Arts (CDMX) and in the Mexican Culture Seminar. As a young choreographer, he has presented his artistic work B.O.R.N at the Mazatlán Museum of Art and at the Angela Peralta Theater. In January 2019, he was selected by the UV Platform of the University of Veracruz to create the choreographic montage entitled LA CASA. His interests as an artist and scenic creator are inclined to the aesthetics of conceptual art, photography and social themes related to gender discourses and identity.
Keanu Forrest Brady (performer) graduated from the University of Utah School of Dance and is now a resident artist in San Francisco. Raised nomadically, riding the waves we call life. Catch this fish anytime and he’ll love the conversation. So thankful to be a part of this project crossing borders and time. info@keanu.dance
Scotty Hardwig (performer) is an experimental movement artist, performer, and teacher originally from southwest Virginia. His research practice stems from the confluence of sensory media and the moving body, creating movement-based artwork through live performance, installation/site-specific, and cinematic frames. He received his MFA in Dance from the University of Utah, and has served on the faculty at the University of Utah and Middlebury College, and is currently an Assistant Professor in Movement, Performance and Integrated Media at Virginia Tech, where he is experimenting and creating choreographic and cinematic works at the intersection of technology and the body.
