Dancing in the Streets: Weber Dance
When:
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 8:30p -
9:30p
Saturday, Jun 27, 2015 8:30p -
9:30p
Where:
ArtFarm
10 Poplar St
Somerville, MA 02143
Admission:
FREE
Categories:
Date Idea, Performing Arts
Event website:
http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org/dancefest/weberdance
Weber Dance presents:
Of Looms and Lilies - In 1845 Henry David Thoreau retreated to his cabin at Walden Pond in Massachusetts to experiment with a life of simplicity. He kept detailed records of his environment including when the pond froze and thawed and when each variety of plant bloomed in spring. Less than 30 miles away the industrial revolution was well underway at the Lowell Mills that employed over 10,000 people, mostly women, to generate fabric for an explosion of ready-made American clothing. Today we own closets full of clothing and mass made material goods that would have boggled the mind of the average nineteenth century American.
Recent research has utilized Thoreau’s detailed observations on the plants of Walden Pond and revealed that those same plants are blooming an average of three weeks earlier than they did in 1845. It is no longer disputed that human activity is contributing to climate change, so what have we gained and what are we losing? What did these mill girls gain in financial independence, and what did they lose as they disconnected with the natural world and entered the life of dormitories and machines?
Of Looms and Lilies is an artistic investigation of the proliferation of material wealth generated by the industrial revolution and its effect on both our personal and spiritual lives and its wider impact on Climate change. It is also a simple conversation between a nineteenth century factory worker and a contemporary woman. What might they say to one another? What might they learn?
--
Choreography by: Jody Weber with dancers
Performed by: Adriane Brayton, Shannon Humphreys, Kristy Kuhn, Jennifer Roberts & Jennifer Sylvia
Music (in order):
The Wheelbarrel Piece by Rinde Eckert
Lighthouse & Dreamhouse VII by Ethel
First Dance and Timer by Andrew Kaiser
Tissue No. 7 by Wendy Sutter
Fur Alina by Arvo Part
Legions by Zoe Keating.
Language (in order):
Opening: Jody Weber
Mill Girl Lament: Lowell Offering
Rules & Regulations: Factory Handbook 1848
Original text for models: Elaine Dimopoulos
Woodland language: Henry David Thoreau
Mill worker poem: Lucy Larson
Woodland language: Henry David Thoreau
Conversation & contemporary lament: Elaine
Dimopoulos....with performances by Elaine
Dimopoulos, Stephen Levine & Jody Weber
Weber Dance is a contemporary concert dance company that engages the public in the expressive power of movement through programs that enrich, inspire and educate audiences, helping them to develop a deeper of awareness of the language of human movement, the history of American dance, and the transformative power of live performance.
