Review of Sheen Center Presents Bridgman|Packer Dance, Two New York Premieres: Voyeur and Remembering What Never Happened

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Sheen Center Presents Bridgman|Packer Dance

Two New York Premieres:

Voyeur and Remembering What Never Happened

By Diane DiResta

Digital met Dance on July 13, 14, 16 at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture in New York City.

As part of the new series, The Art of the Duo, the choreographers integrated live performance with video technology.

Dance Magazine called them “a tour de force
The New York Times described them as “
ingenious…magical, and fascinating

The Boston Globe said “flat-out exhilarating

And exhilarating it was!

Bridgman|Packer Dance presented two works featuring choreographers/performers Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer‘s innovative works:

Voyeur and Remembering What Never Happened.

Both dances were performed with one intermission.

The evening commenced with the first dance, Remembering What Never Happened.

In this work, (2015), memory slips seamlessly into imagination, delving into the changeable nature of time, form, perception, and identity. The performers merge with video projections of their images that morph and explode into digital re-interpretations of the human body; scenes shot on location in the Mojave Desert transform into surreal landscapes. Video Preview : https://vimeo.com/138529850

Remembering What Never Happened (excerpts) from Bridgman|Packer Dance on Vimeo.

One can imagine the choreographers channeling Salvatore Dali as they merged the medium of dance and film and altered reality. The combination of sometimes multi-layered projections on the dancers combined with the syncing and coordination of the live dance moves created a unique and compelling signature performance.

Collaborators include Technology Designer Phillip Gulley, Sound Designer John Guth, and Lighting Designer Frank DenDanto III.

The final performance was Voyeur (2012) which is inspired by artist Edward Hopper’s world of color, light, perspective, and under-the-surface eroticism. Fragmented moments of private lives are witnessed through windows and doorways; the presence of a seen or unseen viewer lies at the heart of Voyeur. The two dancers took on a variety of characters who connected and disconnected in a number of ways. Preview: https://vimeo.com/62310573

Remembering What Never Happened (excerpts) from Bridgman|Packer Dance on Vimeo.

During the intermission, audience members were invited on stage to experience the video integration first hand through an interactive installation. Audience members walked on stage behind the set design, while those in their seats could see their images projected in film onto the set. It was the height of audience experience and engagement.

Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer mesmerized the audience and the final performance was met with thunderous applause.

The Voyeur creative team includes filmmaker Peter Bobrow, sound designers Scott Lehrer and Leon Rothenberg, and lighting designer Frank DenDanto III.

About The Sheen Center

Named after the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best known for his popular radio and TV ministry in the 1950s and 60s, The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture is a project of the Archdiocese of New York with the mission of showcasing works in the performing and visual arts, lectures and symposia that highlight the true, the good, and the beautiful as they have been expressed throughout the ages. The state-of-the-art complex has a 273-seat proscenium theater equipped with five-camera high-definition livestream capability and a multi-track recording studio with thirty-two onstage inputs; an 80-seat black box theater; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery. This facility is the newest arts center in Manhattan in 35 years and a great addition to the growing artistic community in the East Village/NoHo.

Sheen Center is located at 18 Bleecker Street, between Mott and Elizabeth. Subways: 6 to Astor Place; L to 1st Avenue and 14th Street; or R to 8th Street. For more information, visit www.sheencenter.org

 

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Sheen Center Presents

Bridgman|Packer Dance

Two New York Premieres:

Voyeur

and

Remembering What Never Happened

Integration of Live Performance and Video Technology

As Part of Sheen Center’s New Series The Art of The Duo

July 13, 14, 16 at Sheen Center for Thought & Culture

New York, NY, (May 12, 2016) Dance meets film meets virtual reality: Bridgman|Packer Dance will present two works featuring choreographers/performers Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer‘s innovative work in “Video Partnering”—the integration of live performance and video technology running July 13, 14, 16 at 7:30pm at Sheen Center, 18 Bleecker Street, as part of their new series The Art of The Duo. The evening also includes an interactive installation which will allow audience members to experience the video technology first-hand.

Voyeur (2012) is inspired by artist Edward Hopper’s world of color, light, perspective, and under-the-surface eroticism. Fragmented moments of private lives are witnessed through windows and doorways; the presence of a seen or unseen viewer lies at the heart of Voyeur. The work also includes an installation component: prior to the performance, the audience is invited to enter the set to explore the projections and live cameras. Video Preview: https://vimeo.com/62310573

The Voyeur creative team includes filmmaker Peter Bobrow, sound designers Scott Lehrer and Leon Rothenberg, and lighting designer Frank DenDanto III.

In Remembering What Never Happened (2015), memory slips seamlessly into imagination, delving into the changeable nature of time, form, perception, and identity. The performers merge with video projections of their images that morph and explode into digital re-interpretations of the human body; scenes shot on location in the Mojave Desert transform into surreal landscapes. Video Preview: https://vimeo.com/138529850

Collaborators include Technology Designer Phillip Gulley, Sound Designer John Guth, and Lighting Designer Frank DenDanto III.

Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, Artistic Directors of Bridgman|Packer Dance, have collaborated as performers and choreographers since 1978. Their innovative work developing “Video Partnering” the integration of live performance and video technology has been acclaimed for its highly visual and visceral alchemy of the live and the virtual.

The 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to Bridgman and Packer was the first in the Foundation’s history to be given to two individuals for their collaborative work. Bridgman and Packer received nine consecutive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as grants from New England Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, National Dance Project, USArtists International, Performing Americas Project, and La Red.

Based in New York City, they have been presented by City Center’s Fall For Dance Festival, Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Performance Space 122, Dance New Amsterdam, and Central Park’s Summerstage. They have toured internationally, performing in festivals, art centers, and universities, including the Spoleto Festival USA, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Munich International Dance Festival, and Kintetsu Theater (Osaka, Japan). www.bridgmanpacker.org

Named after the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best known for his popular radio and TV ministry in the 1950s and 60s, The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture is a project of the Archdiocese of New York with the mission of showcasing works in the performing and visual arts, lectures and symposia that highlight the true, the good, and the beautiful as they have been expressed throughout the ages. The state-of-the-art complex has a 273-seat proscenium theater equipped with five-camera high-definition livestream capability and a multi-track recording studio with thirty-two onstage inputs; an 80-seat black box theater; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery. This facility is the newest arts center in Manhattan in 35 years and a great addition to the growing artistic community in the East Village/NoHo.

Bridgman|Packer Dance will perform in the Loreto Theater at Sheen Center for Thought & Culture on July 13, 14 and 16 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $25 ($15 for students and seniors) and are available by calling (212) 925- 2812 or online at http://sheencenter.org/s hows/bri dgmanpacker-da nce/

Sheen Center is located at 18 Beecker Street, between Mott and Elizabeth. Subways: 6 to Astor Place; L to 1st Avenue and 14th Street; or R to 8th Street. For more information, visit www.sheencenter.org

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