Tangible Space
September 29 & October 13, 2017
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art | Madison, WI
Programmed in association with Sonja Thomsen’s exhibit in the space of elsewhere
Choreography and Direction: Maria Gillespie
In collaboration with Visual Artist Sonja Thomsen
Collaborating Dancers: Maria Gillespie, Chantee Kelly, Maggie Seer, Joelle Worm
Musician: Pat Reinholz
Platform Sculptures: Mike Rea
Tangible Space is a performance installation that I created in collaboration with Milwaukee-based visual artist and professor at The School of Art Institute of Chicago, Sonja Thomsen. The performance was held at Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMOCA) on two occasions and feature Milwaukee-based dancers, former UWM ArtsEco Director Joelle Worm, UWM Dance Alumni Maggie Seer, Chantee Kelly, myself, and cellist Pat Reinholz, with platform sculptures by Chicago-based artist Mike Rea. In this performance, I explore notions of the materiality of touch and physical limitations by developing three simultaneous solos on three 4’ x 4’ wooden platforms placed throughout the glass stairs and lobby. Three dancers are situated on top of the platforms and both activate the vertical, open space of the museum lobby and respond to the site-specific installation by Thomsen, in the space of elsewhere. The movements construct an ephemeral kinesphere, with Thomsen’s projections cast through the space and on our bodies, while our dancing connected our presence to the movements of others in the space through the refraction and reflection of movement.