Dance and architecture… They may not seem like they have anything in common, but dialogues and performances about the intersection of forms and bodies in space are at the heart of “Strategies in Motion,” the third installment of Yale Schwarzman Center’s signature series Dancing About Architecture on Wednesday, April 19. The event begins with an outdoor walking tour, featuring site-specific performances, and concludes with an indoor conversation with artists and educators across disciplines. “Strategies in Motion” is free and open to the public, but registration is required
Informed by Yale Theater and Performance Studies lecturer Iréne Hultman’s course, Moving Sites and Structures, “Strategies in Motion” is where dance, performance, and architecture meet. The event begins with a tour of Yale locations within one mile of the Schwarzman Center. Each stop features a site-specific performance by students representing a wide range of academic disciplines and movement experiences. Inspired by the works of dance pioneers such as Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown, the performances focus on relation, relatability, and the dependence of architecture on human emotion.
The event culminates in The Well at Yale Schwarzman Center for a conversation with architecture lecturer Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, contemporary choreographer Sarah Michelson, and dance artists Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener, whose work involves the building of collaborative worlds through improvisational techniques, digital technologies, and material construction. The conversation is moderated by director of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University Joshua Lubin-Levy.
Yale Schwarzman Center Associate Artistic Director Jennifer Harrison Newman said, “As a series, Dancing About Architecture is designed to bring seemingly disparate practices together into conversation, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of the creative process. While the first two installments of Dancing About Architecture took place within Commons to explore ways in which lived experience and the built environment interact, this latest installment brings us outdoors to witness actual dancing about architecture, inviting us to experience place, space, buildings, and bodies in motion.”
Hultman commented, “’Strategies in Motion’ offers an opportunity view dance, the spaces around us, and how we choose to move through them, in a different light. It’s exciting to share this experience in spaces that connect campus and city—and to share in conversation with scholars and community members about their perspectives.”
