“With each piece, I really let the concept create the movement, so the vocabulary is driven by the concept,” says Donna Uchizono, the brainy, fluent and unpredictable Downtown choreographer whose new work, Thin Air, premieres this week at Dance Theater Workshop.
The Buddhist tenet of “emptiness” triggered her imagination as she began to make the piece, as well as her “lay reading” of quantum physics. “I was playing with the idea of projected realities—that our perception of time and of space is projected,” she explains. “There’s nothing out there for the observer to really pin reality on, except what they project onto it. That’s fascinating to me.”
The specific vocabulary that evolved as she explored these ideas with her three superb dancers—Hristoula Harakas, Antonio Ramos and Julie Alexander—made for a work that’s likely to defy some expectations. “It’s really different for me,” Uchizono says, “and I think it will be different for my audience. It’s a piece it’s hard to ground yourself in. It’s very spacious; things take a long time. It’s hard to pin yourself down in terms of time and space—which I love. But it’s a little bit uncomfortable, because you don’t know where you are.”
Michael Casselli’s video projections became an integral part of her explorations as well—somewhat to her surprise. “I didn’t think I was going to use video ever again, but then I was playing with these ideas of projected reality and found a reason to use projections. The video is definitely not used in pre-conceived ways, except in the very beginning, just to throw people off a little.”
Fred Frith has composed an original score, marked by richly subtle reverberations and shifting dynamics. Much of their collaboration was a cross-country exchange, with Uchizono sending videos of the partially finished work, and San Francisco-based Frith sending what he composed in response. Casselli and lighting designer Jane Shaw were also involved in the process of allowing Thin Air to define what form it should take.
Uchizono herself seems surprised by how this latest work has evolved and by what it does not include—such as the intricate partnering that has marked earlier works. A preliminary run-through reveals an expansiveness and openness, moments of inscrutable strangeness, as well as meticulous, intricate movement that achieves its own quiet virtuosity.
Perhaps she’s alluding to how she found its title when she says, “this piece has a lot of air and space in it. It’s really airy. There’s not a whole lot of movement, except at the very end. The viewer has to really think about time—and space.”
Through Oct. 13, Dance Theater Workshop, 219 W. 19 St. (betw. 7th & 8th aves.), 212-924-0077; Wed.-Sat. 7:30, $25.
The Buddhist tenet of “emptiness” triggered her imagination as she began to make the piece, as well as her “lay reading” of quantum physics. “I was playing with the idea of projected realities—that our perception of time and of space is projected,” she explains. “There’s nothing out there for the observer to really pin reality on, except what they project onto it. That’s fascinating to me.”
The specific vocabulary that evolved as she explored these ideas with her three superb dancers—Hristoula Harakas, Antonio Ramos and Julie Alexander—made for a work that’s likely to defy some expectations. “It’s really different for me,” Uchizono says, “and I think it will be different for my audience. It’s a piece it’s hard to ground yourself in. It’s very spacious; things take a long time. It’s hard to pin yourself down in terms of time and space—which I love. But it’s a little bit uncomfortable, because you don’t know where you are.”
Michael Casselli’s video projections became an integral part of her explorations as well—somewhat to her surprise. “I didn’t think I was going to use video ever again, but then I was playing with these ideas of projected reality and found a reason to use projections. The video is definitely not used in pre-conceived ways, except in the very beginning, just to throw people off a little.”
Fred Frith has composed an original score, marked by richly subtle reverberations and shifting dynamics. Much of their collaboration was a cross-country exchange, with Uchizono sending videos of the partially finished work, and San Francisco-based Frith sending what he composed in response. Casselli and lighting designer Jane Shaw were also involved in the process of allowing Thin Air to define what form it should take.
Uchizono herself seems surprised by how this latest work has evolved and by what it does not include—such as the intricate partnering that has marked earlier works. A preliminary run-through reveals an expansiveness and openness, moments of inscrutable strangeness, as well as meticulous, intricate movement that achieves its own quiet virtuosity.
Perhaps she’s alluding to how she found its title when she says, “this piece has a lot of air and space in it. It’s really airy. There’s not a whole lot of movement, except at the very end. The viewer has to really think about time—and space.”
Through Oct. 13, Dance Theater Workshop, 219 W. 19 St. (betw. 7th & 8th aves.), 212-924-0077; Wed.-Sat. 7:30, $25.
