Charles Atlas / Rashaun Mitchell / Silas Riener
Tesseract
Charles Atlas / Rashaun Mitchell / Silas Reiner: Tesseract. Photo by Mark Bello.
About
Tesseract is the result of a multi-year collaboration between choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener and pioneering video artist (and fellow Merce Cunningham Dance Company alumnus) Charles Atlas.
It is an evening-length presentation in 2 parts separated by an intermission: a 3D dance film featuring 7 dancers, and a live proscenium performance with 6 dancers. The film offers speculative worlds and alternate possibilities in bold visual environments. The performance includes live-video capture with multiple cameras, mixed live by Atlas and projected into the stage space. Images obscure and reveal moving bodies behind a translucent scrim, magnified and refracted by Atlas. Through collective action we forge a link between human ritual conjuring and new technological magic, between the past and the future.
The 3D dance film—Atlas’ first “dance video” in over a decade—features a series of hybrid and imagined worlds. Composed of six distinct visual environments, the work exists inside speculative realities. During the live performance the spatially sophisticated and complex movements of six dancers—David Rafael Botana, Eleanor Hullihan, Kate Jewett, Cori Kresge, Rashaun Mitchell, and Silas Riener—are captured by multiple cameras, including an on-stage steadicam operated by Ryan Jenkins. These various video feeds are manipulated live by Atlas and projected onto a translucent scrim, alternatively magnifying and refracting the dancing body. This simultaneous cinematic production and live performance renders a choreographic analogue to the four-dimensional cube from which the piece takes its title.
Credits
Tesseract [3D film]
Directed and Edited by Charles Atlas
Choreography by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener
Music by Fennesz
Set and Costume Design by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener
Performance by David Rafael Botana, Kristen Foote, Hiroki Ichinose, Cori Kresge, Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener, and Melissa Toogood
Full production credits for the film available at http://www.rashaunsilasdance.com/tesseract/
Commissioned and produced by EMPAC/ Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and co-commissioned by Triangle France.
Tesseract [live performance]
Choreography by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener
Video by Charles Atlas
Music by Mas Ysa (Thomas Arsenault)
Lighting Design by Davison Scandrett
Costume Design by Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener with Mary Jo Mecca and Yvette Helin
Performance by David Rafael Botana, Eleanor Hullihan, Kate Jewett, Cori Kresge, Rashaun Mitchell, and Silas Riener
Understudy Kayla Farrish
Steadicam Operation by Ryan Thomas Jenkins
Assistant to Charles Atlas Lazar Bozich
Stage Management by Dani Prados
Costume Construction by Yvette Hellin and Mary Jo Mecca
General Management by Katy Dammers
Co-commissioned by EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Walker Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and On the Boards.
Tesseract was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support from the New York University Dean's Grant adminstered by the Tisch School of the Arts. Tesseract was developed, in part, through residencies at EMPAC/ Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Watermill Center, and the Walker Art Center.
Performance History
January 27-28, 2017 | EMPAC | Troy, NY [Preview Performances and Film Premiere]
March 16-18, 2017 | Walker Art Center (part of Merce Cunningham: Common Time) | Minneapolis, MN [Performance Premiere]
March 23-25, 2017 | MCA Chicago | Chicago, IL
May 18-21, 2017 | On the Boards | Seattle, WA
November 30 - December 3, 2017 | REDCAT | Los Angeles, CA
December 13-16, 2017 | Brooklyn Academy of Music / Next Wave Festival | Brooklyn, NY
More info
Tesseract is available for 2018-20 international touring.
For booking inquiries, contact Alexandra Rosenberg at RosieManagement@gmail.com.
Download the dossier.
A detailed technical rider and video excerpts are available upon request.
For general inquiries about Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Reiner, please contact Katy Dammers, General Manager, at rashaunsilasmanager@gmail.com or visit http://www.rashaunsilasdance.com/.