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Postcards from the Woods

Presented by Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe at Crane Arts Building - Ice Box Project Space

September 16-September 19, 2009

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Artist: Merián Soto/Performance Practice

“I want to bring the outside inside.” —Merián Soto At award-winning choreographer Merián Soto’s 2009 Live Arts Festival offering, the audience enters a space of reverie as performers dance with branches, some as long as 25 feet. A massive video installation projects nature in extreme close-up covering walls, dancers, branches, and the audience in snowstorms, wind-blown leaves, and moving water. Amid a trance-inducing soundscape, dancers ever-so-slowly shift their bodies to accommodate the shifting balance of the massive branches. The audience becomes part of the visual spectacle and can walk within the performance. The interplay between video and dancers produces fantastical shadows that frame the abstract images of the natural world. Size and perspective morph in relation to shadow and light, and like a hall of mirrors, everything becomes reflective. A sense a danger enshrouds the room, as the precarious symmetry of dancer and branch—despite their gentle beauty—is forever on the precipice of destruction. Soto’s new work is a part of her States of Gravity & Light series that has included the Wissahickon Park Project, which featured outdoor performances throughout the park, and States of Gravity & Light, Vol. 2, which she presented at the 2007 Live Arts Festival. Dancers include Shavon Norris, Jumatatu Poe, and Olive Prince. “Quite beautiful.” —Janet Anderson, Philadelphia City Paper The creation of Postcards from the Woods is made possible with grants from Dance Advance, a program of the Pew Charitable Trust, Temple University, and the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance. Residency support has been provided by Pregones Theater, with support from PennPat and the National Endowment from the Arts, and DanceNow/NY/Silo.