October 2011

Dance incorporates a feature that other performing arts lack: athleticism. A dancer’s instrument is his or her body and, like professional athletes, there is a limited window of time in which dancers can perform at the highest level of the art. This adds to the emotional gravity of a dance performance. To be in the room when a gifted dancer performs is to bear witness to a concrete manifestation of Hericlitus’ idea that everything flows, nothing stands still. It is also intensely personal; there’s no dry paint on the canvas, no sound of instruments, there’s just the dancer’s self-expression written in pure physicality.

This month, Public Space One will be hosting events and exhibits as part of the third annual Works-in-Progress Festival. Unlike most exhibitions, at WiP it is the feedback that is on display, as local and visiting artists present unfinished works, seeking inspiration and unforeseen collaborations with guests. In this spirit, one of the festival’s more intriguing events will feature a live, largely improvised collaboration between local experimental music duo Lwa and UI Dance graduate students Analía Alegre-Femenías and Elizabeth June Bergman. The performance involves the two dancers performing in shallow pools of water accompanied by, and interacting with, the music of Lwa.