sift (2009-2011)

sift is a solo in which movement and stillness, sound and silence, light and shadow flicker. The presence of light, sound and movement is underscored through the rhythmical play of their appearance and disappearance. The choreographic-score sequences differing states of activity, exploring repetition of action and what surfaces from such repetition: sifting. Subtle variation within repetition may serve to draw in the attention, while sudden shifts in tone may serve to create distance from the image. The absence of transition between states points to the way that experience can ‘flip’ and contradict itself. The work reflects a desire to join the disjointed, without wishing to explain or rationalize the changeability of the body. The movement score repeats itself (twice) reversing its spatial orientation, so that the choreography appears to mirror or ‘look back’ at itself.

The lighting – created by slide projectors on either end of the space – coats the room with swathes and slices of light. The light sources / levels remain stable throughout the work, revealing the porousness of the body as it is shifting surfaces are – in part – illuminated. The sound – and the silence that surrounds it – threads the work together, soaring with its own life and at the same time commenting upon the life of the movement. The textural layering of the sound shapes and supports the shifting emotional tone of the movement score.