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| ”It will challenge, if not completely transform, your understanding of dance as an art form.” |
"Heat and Life" depicts a frenetic world fueled by anxiety, paranoia and fear—a
world Catalyst uses to explore connections between global warming, overpopulation,
degradation of natural & urban environments, insatiable greed and how we
contribute and respond to these human-made disasters. Negotiating rough terrain,
each other and the edginess of having nothing to lose, seven dancers aim to
thrive in an ever-changing landscape. Using walkie-talkies, electrical cords,
80 pounds of sod, industrial flashlights, gas masks, helmets and a bicycle
to adapt, the lines are blurred: Are they emergency workers or disaster survivors?
Friends or foes? In this brutal world, it’s hard to pause to take a deep,
clean breath.
Multi-instrumentalist composer JG Everest performs his original score live
on stage, a hybrid of electronic, acoustic and site-specific found sounds.
Randy Kramer’s
stark video design enhances the sense of loss and disorientation with “grass
so green it makes your eyes hurt” and Heidi Eckwall’s scrappy guerilla
lighting sets mobile boundaries through which the dance unfolds.
"Heat and Life" was originally commissioned by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis
and is performed by Catalyst dancers Sarah Baumert, Jessica Cressey, Natasha
Hassett, Melissa Kennedy, Susan Scalf, Andrea Zimmerman and musician JG Everest.
“...a blend of furious dance, haunting live music...”
- Flavorpill
“uncompromising intensity...there is no release here - only energized,
high-powered dancing”
- Gay City News
To read an interview with choreographer Emily Johnson and Mental Contagion
go to www.mentalcontagion.com.
To hear a podcast interview on Great Dance Blog go to www.greatdance.com.
To hear an interview with Emily on Minnesota Public Radio go to www.mpr.org.
Originally commissioned by the Walker Art Center. Funded by the Jerome Foundation,
Archibald Bush Foundation, The Moore Family Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation,
The Puffin Foundation, the Elmer E. and Eleanor L. Andersen Foundation and
private donations.
| heat and life: 50-state-tour |
| “Here is politics and a language to speak it.” |
Catalyst intends to bring Heat and Life to each of the 50 United States of
America. This 50-State-Tour will cover enough literal ground to define the
USA as a site where art-based work can be seen and be an impetus for change.
| “we're led along a hero story, then suddenly uprooted by the consequences, made to face our responsibility in creating situations we need to be rescued from.” |
Catalyst has performed "Heat and Life" in Alaska, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, New York, Iowa, Nebraska, Florida, South Dakota, Texas, Missouri,
Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, California, and Illinois.
This 50-State-Tour of Heat and Life aims to reach audiences both within
and outside of the normal theatrical setting. The interworkings of movement,
sound and video are adapted to fit the particulars of each location and
audience. Appropriate venues include theaters, warehouses, parks, sidewalks,
and expos.
| “Like giant birds, the dancers slowly bow their heads, raise and lower their arms—or are they signaling through the flames?” |
Catalyst works with environmental organizations such as Minnesotans for
an Energy Efficient Economy, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, The
Living Green Expo, and The Will Steger Foundation to facilitate understanding,
cross-pollinate audiences, and present the idea that art can be an essential
part of policy and be of social/political importance. These connections
are made in post show discussions, Q&A sessions, workshops for environmental
organizers/volunteers on how to reach and meet people through human interaction
and art in addition to science, and distribution of environmental materials
at shows. Catalyst also offsets
the carbon put into the atmosphere due
to touring "Heat and Life" by donating to Go-Carbon-Zero.org.
| *Created collaboratively by Jessica Cressey, Emily
Johnson, Hannah Kramer. Directed by Emily Johnson. |
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Pamela resembles a dance and conjures a woman. Cressey, Kramer, and
Johnson resemble Pamela and conjure a dance. Who is Pamela and why
is she performing for you? She's flaunting her attributes and hiding
her flaws. What is Pamela? The mundane becomes ritual, ritual becomes
spectacle. Can Pamela exist without you? |
| love letter to minn-nnea-polis • 2007 |
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An obvious and ironic ode to home.
We sing
the entire time we dance. Here's one verse:
"I've been here a lo-ng time
and I want to go ho-me
And here in the Mid West
We're so close to everything
And we're so close to nothing, nothing at all" |
| one for resolve/sarah • 2007 |
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This is a dance-story of life, love, work,
commitment, natural forces, adversity, fields, and death. Sarah acts
as host and dancer. When she performed this solo for her family in
Nebraska she used a fischer-price car ramp that her and her cousins
used to play with while at the farm. And she wore a cowboy hat. When
she performed this solo at the Rogue Buddha Art Gallery in Minneapolis
she wore some of her old, sequined costumes from the studio dance days.
And she walked on stilts. |
| one for resolve/emily • 2006 |
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Exhaustion meets resolve meets exhaustion.
A move from aiming to please to stating the obvious.
A move from living to dying.
A story follows and precedes death.
This dance, in its entirety is 25 minutes long.
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improvised rules. Dancers and non-dancers mix
in a realm of everyday action - juxtaposed by a choreographed finish. Audience
members receive a specific aural experience; they wear headphones and pass
20 portable CD players, each playing different music selections, amongst
themselves at scheduled intervals. Some audience members correlate their
experience of interdependence and cooperation with that of the performers. |
| on the spit/sluice we are outlaws |
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Emily Johnson’s 5th duet with Susan Scalf, “On
the Spit/Sluice” confronts sham militarism in the face of real environmental
danger.
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| give me a story, tell me you love me • 2004 |
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Give
Me a Story, Tell Me You Love Me demands vulnerability and resolve as susceptibility
threatens security and deception replaces truth. A duet rigorously performed
by Catalyst dancers Emily Johnson and Andrea Zimmerman with an original
sound score composed by Lateduster.
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| close to giving up • 2003 |
| “lush and mysterious...the five dancers, dressed
in white pantaloons and camisoles, are both awkward and elegant, coquettish
and athletic...” |
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Created with support from the Jerome Foundation.
Incorporating a fine tuned sense of the tragic, an unscrupulous determination,
and a reverence for the rowdy. Rhoda Reighard, piano diva and fanciful
French singer graces the stage with Catalyst in this company ensemble piece.
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| never meant to hurt • 2003 |
| “...a rigorous diet of tension and release, grasping
and flinging away...The boldness of their moves enhance the work’s
mystery.” |
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An irreverent look at love lost and love gained
in an offbeat, overdressed, take your breath away, and “don’t
ever forget me” kind of way.
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| “(The dancers) polished, concise movements are like bones assembled to show the skeleton of an emotionally charged relationship.” |
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Created with support from the Jerome Foundation.
A taut and gestural duet calling into question the luck and fate that plays
a role in who raises us and how those early influences guide or misguide
our lives into and through adulthood.
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| “...delicately cupped hands that cradled an invisible
bird, scraping movements that recalled the hoof pawing of caribou, dynamic
industrial dancing....” |
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A stark piece calling for a sane approach to
land management; it recalls nature, death and the permanence of drilling.
In the world premiere Bethany Lacktorin (www.beseppy.com)
was tattooed on the left arm. She also played violin with Jessica Hayssen
as Melissa Kennedy, Vanessa Voskuil, Natasha Hassett, and Allison Lorenzen
danced. See more
photos |
| plain old andrea, with a gun • 2001 |
| “...a fascinating, ritualistic look at the cultural perils that arise from the refusal to communicate....And with its strong composition and inventive choreography, “Plain Old Andrea” signals a fresh, vital presence on the Twin Cities dance scene.” |
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Commissioned in part by the Walker Art Center
and Southern Theater with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. Exploring
the temperamental states of pride and hate by demonstrating the vitality
inherent in their varied experiences, 5 dancers’ individual stories
become intertwined with entertainment and the actual recording of events.
Original music composed and performed by Lateduster.
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Created with support from the Minnesota State Arts Board and Red Eye
Theater. Performed by EmilyJohnson and Susan Scalf who preserve dignity
at all costs.
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| if i shut my eyes, you can't see me • 2001 |
“Rapid moves and gestures are like words composed into sentences...one gleans an
intriguing dance narrative about focus and control.” |
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Created with support from the Minnesota State
Arts Board and Red Eye Theater. Illuminated under the glare of bare light
bulbs, the audience gaze is drawn to a delicate moment: what is revealed
when we think no one is looking? |
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Set to a live recording of a high school girls
basketball game, a "tongue-in-cheek" glimpse into fierce competition and
the assertion of power.
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| i could quit if i wanted to • 2001 |
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Created with support from 3 Legged Race. Pushing
the boundaries of physically and emotionally capacity.
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