Madison as I imagine it (1999)

CHOREOGRAPHY: John Jasperse in collaboration with the performers

PERFORMERS: Miguel Gutierrez, Parker Lutz, and Juliette Mapp

MUSIC: Hahn Rowe

SET DESIGN: Scott Pask

LIGHTING DESIGN: Stan Pressner

Thanks to Larry Keigwin who participated in the development of some of this material

 

Description:

Madison as I imagine it is a work about the strange beauty of irregularity, imperfection, spaciousness, and possibility. The work creates a largely abstract field defined by images, motion, sound, light and architecture, all of which are allowed to resonate freely with one another in an unfixed, associative manner. Within the confines of a skewed scenic environment, movement is explored emphasizing parts of the body that are rarely thought of as “expressive.” The work creates a language of physical interaction that is at the same time crude, maladroit and precise in its immediacy. The lower body becomes particularly prominent in the work, at times so much so that it almost completely obstructs the upper body, with the legs functioning much like tentacles extending from the center. Through unusual and often strange perspectives on both the body and interaction, moments of tenderness and beauty are revealed where we might least expect it.

Performances:

WORLD PREMIERE: SpringDance Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands), April 16 -17, 1999

NEW YORK CITY PREMIERE: Dance Theater Workshop (NYC), May 6-16, 1999

American Dance Festival (Durham, NC), July 6 & 7, 1999

Festival International de Danse à Cannes (Cannes, France), December 7, 1999

Minoriten International Tanz Festival (Graz, Austria), March 10-11, 2000

DiverseWorks (Houston, TX), April 6-8, 14-15, 2000

Press:

DANCE; Obsessed With a Vision Of Existential Despair – William Harris, NYTimes 5/2/99

Beyond Normal – Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice 5/18/99

International Male – Jessica Guarnaschelli, The Village Voice 4/27/99

Video:

Project Funders:

Madison as I imagine it is commissioned by the SpringDance Festival (Utrecht, The Netherlands); Dance Theater Workshop’s First Light Program through funds from the Joyce Mertz‑Gilmore Foundation; the National Performance Network’s Creation Fund; Diverseworks (Houston, Texas); and The Wagon Train Project (Lincoln, Nebraska).   Funds for the development of this work were also provided by generous support from a 1998 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, and the James E. Robison Foundation. The Creation Fund is sponsored by Philip Morris Companies Inc.