7:30pm Doors / 8pm Performances
$10 Guests / Free for members
Reserve seats: member login or guest registration
Circuit Network is producing Poolready!, a new dance and multimedia piece choreographed by Butoh artist Ledoh that explores the complexities of climate change, and the irony in the futility of individuals being able to act collectively in their self-interest and for the good of humanity. Poolready! is slated to premiere in the spring of 2019, and The Lab welcomes the artistic team for a short residency to test some of the production elements.
The guiding image for Poolready! is that of a slightly comic character, prepared for the next Noachian flood-at the ready, with floaties, snorkel and fins. Ledoh is also inspired by the legacy of the natural history museum, putting endangered or extinct species on display in a Victorian case. He has always had the concept of putting himself, arguably an endangered ethnicity and perhaps species as well, in that case.
The design and fabrication of a mobile performance environment is at the crux of the presentation of Poolready! A cube that can be loaded on a trailer and hitched to a van or pickup truck will contain set, lighting and media presentation elements. This will form the backdrop of the playing area for our traveler equipped to float in an illuminated display case, surrounded by a digitally-induced desert yet threatened by flood, creating a light-based diorama that speaks to the coming weather extremes. Videographer Perry Hallinan will develop the visual and media elements, and dancer Monique Goldwater will join Ledoh in the performance.
Ledoh is an internationally-renowned choreographer and performance artist. Born into the Ka-Ren hilltribe, Ledoh came to America at age 11 to escape the oppression of his people by the brutal dictatorship holding power in Burma. After touring internationally as a soloist with Katsura Kan's SALTIMBANQUES company, in 1998 Ledoh founded the San Francisco-based collective SALT FARM as a creative response to fundamental tensions between technology and the survival of the organic life force, tensions which now affect each one of us upon this globe. As SALT FARM's artistic director, Ledoh choreographs with a raw movement vocabulary and directs the production of sets, video art, and musical scores to create a vital, visceral brand of live theater and site-specific installation that can soothe then shock within the span of a timeless moment. He has worked with videographer Perry Hallinan on projects including COLORMEAMERICA (2008), "Suicide Barrier: secure in our illusions" (2011), "Heartland" (2013), and INCOGNITO (2015).
Perry Hallinan has worked as a multimedia artist and performer with Ledoh and Salt Farm since 2002. His collaboration with Ledoh has influenced his work as a cinematographer and editor for his documentary and commercial productions. Outside of dance, his video works focus on infrastructure projects, environmental stewardship initiatives, and a diversity of businesses, cultural programs and educational commitments. Perry received two national American Public Works awards for Journalism and Best Infrastructure Project on video projects he produced for the the New England Chapter of American Public Works and the Town of Marblehead. Recent clients include: Fuss & O'Neill Environmental and Civic Engineers, The Town of Marblehead and Danvers, New England American Public Works Association, America Scores Boston, Bryant University, Salem Academy Charter School, Gateway High School, and Salem Film Fest.
Monique Goldwater began her ballet training in Japan and France at age 3, and attended the Rosella Hightower International Ballet School in Cannes, France. Her professional dance career started at age 15 when she was recruited by the Avignon Opera Ballet. She moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and was a soloist with the LA Chamber Ballet an LA Opera. She performed and choreographed several productions including Madama Butterfly. In 2003 she moved to San Francisco, where she also began her pursuit of Japanese classical contemporary dance. In San Francisco she has performed with Takami, Ledoh/Salt Farm, Mary Sano, and Golden Gate Opera. She appeared in Ledoh's productions of "Suicide Barrier: secure in our illusion" produced by Circuit Network at ODC Theater in June 2011, and HEARTLAND at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum in August 2013.