From February 14 – 23, The Kitchen and iLAND, Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and Dance, present the New York premiere of dancer and choreographer Jennifer Monson’s Live Dancing Archive, a visceral exploration of the dancing body as physical archive of experience and place.
The piece, which marks Monson’s return to The Kitchen after 15 years, comprises Monson’s first-ever evening-length solo performance, a video installation by Robin Vachal and an online archive. Performances will take place Thursdays through Saturdays, February 14 – 23 at 8:00 pm while the full video installation will be on view in the theatre Tuesday through Friday, 12–6pm and Saturday, 11am–6pm from February 15–23.
The video installation plays as repeating 4-hour loop with viewers invited to view to drop-in at any time for any length of time. Although the video can be viewed on it’s own, it was made in conversation with the performance and on-line archive. A daily viewing schedule for the video will be available at the Kitchen and online starting February 14th.
Monson’s new work proposes that the body has the possibility of archiving and revisiting multiple scales of experience. Specifically, Monson looks at how experiences of environment and ecological dependencies are registered through physical movement. Live Dancing Archive negotiates and explores what a queer ecology might offer for dancing bodies and rapidly shifting conceptions of place. Furthermore, the piece looks at how Monson’s navigation of her own queer, feminist and animal-like body has shaped relationships to cultural and social phenomena.
For more information, visit thekitchen.org.
