Shift

 "Give my your tired your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Emma Lazarus, 1883, exerpt from "The New Colossus"

Before the new year, I worked with Chris, Whit and Lacey of Louder Than Words Dance Theater to design a portion of costumes for their January production, Shift.  That was a load of good, hard work, loved by all involved!  Please take a look at the costumes from that performance on this flickr photostream:

For the show's costumes, I consulted with choreographer, Chris Harris and technical designers Lacey Erb and Whit Ryan.  I also had the honor of designing and fabricating costumes (seen in photo at right and at top) for a segment of the show entitled Mourning Grace.  The tops are screen-printed with phrases from the song, "This Land" and the poem at the base of the Statue of Liberty, "The New Colossus."  Shift addressed our ways of shifting our thoughts - thereby challenging one's understanding of the general American identity, gender expression, sex, violence and peace. 
Furthermore, viewers became more than viewers as the spatial experience of a dance performance changed from audience-seated to audience-amid-performance.  Standing among powerfully graceful and athletic dancers of this contemporary dance group, one is immediately face to face with some odd and sometimes offensive realities of American tradition and character.  It was a pleasure to work with this crew, and I look forward to our next collaboration.  

Next up, a large, LARGE dancer-interactive fabric installation...  Coming early June 2010!

Photos copyright Staale Veipe