MARLBORO — Vermont Performance Lab's “In The Works” series continues with one of the most imaginative voices in dance today: Uruguayan-born/New York-based choreographer luciana achugar.
Achugar is known for creating ritual-like performances in which she creates environments that invite the audience to participate in the performance experience as an active viewer.
During her residency with VPL, achugar will experiment with the integration of sound and choreography for this new solo that will premiere at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis in 2014.
“Luciana achugar is making important contributions to the field of dance through her re-imagining of the female body in performance, says VPL Director Sara Coffey.
“Her work provides a critical and necessary commentary about the representations of women that are prevalent in our mass media and culture especially around cultural notions of female sexuality and pleasure.”
Coffey said in a program announcement that through ritualized movement, sound and design, achugar will rebuild another kind of theater using dance as a ritual of becoming and an occasion for communion with the audience.
“Placed metaphorically in the ruins of a collapsed theater, Otro Teatro is a dark rite of passage from destruction to rebuilding. It is a dance that is meant to be felt as it is seen, giving voice to the arcane spirit and desire of our uncivilized bodies,” Coffey explained.
On Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m., in The Whittemore Theater at Marlboro College, achugar will share a work-in-progress of “Otro Teatro” with Vermont audiences and the Marlboro College community.
“Partnering with VPL offers our students and surrounding Vermont community access to international artists of the highest caliber,” said Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, president of Marlboro College. “We look forward to many more collaborations in the future.”
The performance of “Otro Teatro” is free. Audiences are invited to stay for a dessert reception and conversation with the artist immediately following the performance.