Dancing in the Dark 2.0

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About

The Pelmus-Snowbird Collective will present an interactive performance using dance and photography. The performance will be set up as a photo booth. The performers, Theo and Kris dressed in altered traditional costumes (Romanian pagan pre-Christian masked costume, respectively indigenous shawl costume) will invite the public throughout the night to take photos with them. The pictures will be printed and handed to the public.

The traditional costumes that will be worn by the performers, Theo and Kris, will be altered by attaching glow sticks. Through the movements of the dance the glow stick will act as traces of light. The public will be encouraged to hold or attach the glow sticks to their clothes as the photographer prepares to capture both the dancers and participants. Audience members will be encouraged to write words with the glow sticks. A lower shutter speed will result in an image consisting of painting with light.

The process of taking the photos will be projected live behind the performers, with traditional Romanian pagan dances and shawl indigenous dances that will be mixed live using video mapping and 3 channel projections.

The result will be a baroque compendium of lights, movements and sound. Every participant will have a chance to get a photo printed as a memory of this performative photographic experiment.

Links

• Dancing in the Dark 2.0 vimeo.com

Organizer

Kristin Snowbird and Theo Pelmus

Pelmus-Snowbird

Theo Pelmus & Kris Snowbird

Theo Pelmus and Kristin Snowbird, come from two different cultures, Romanian

and Ojibwe-Cree respectively. For the past 5 years we have been collaborating creating

video and photo works and performance projects that fusion the two cultures using

tradition as conceptual umbrella. We both seek to find the roots and the relation with the

land that we both have. We are both working in new media, photography, film and

performance art.

Kris Snowbird

Statement

My process of work can be described as a continuous questioning and

understanding of the way in which my tradition as a first nation woman influences

the way I conceptualize art. I am interested in creating art as a way of understanding

the nature of being as a first nation woman artist. One pivotal aspect of the work I

am creating is the traditional labor of beading and how it can be applied to different

mediums of art. I am researching these approaches though film, photography, and

performance. I am interested in art as a process of making a difference in the

understanding of the culture I come from, with its stories, traditions, and the

historical and personal trauma.

Theo Pelmus

Statement

My process of work can be described as a continuous construction and

deconstruction of slippery identity and gender. In my performance, photo and video work

I create obscure multi-sensory baroque environments that fuse in unusual way elements

from sculpture, video, absurd theatre and visceral opera. The multi-sensorial aspect of my

performance practice is achieved through innovative ways of using wireless sensors

technology and new media. My performance practice mirrors the baroque and radical

aesthetics and redefines their characteristics through imitation and inversion, sublimation

and glamorization.

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