Trinity and Pratt students' brain waves are often thought to be formed by different genes. However, Liz Lerman's Dance Exchange and the Duke Institute of Genome Sciences and Policy bring the arts and sciences together on the classical stage.
Partnering with Duke Performances and the University's Dance Program, Lerman, artistic director of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, has brought a new project to life. Ferocious Beauty: Genome is an examination of scientific thought expressed through contemporary movement, artistic animation, sound, lighting, videography and music.
At the completion of a two-week residency at Duke, her ensemble will perform Thursday and Friday. During this multimedia endeavor, Lerman's Dance Exchange will be rehearsing, holding lectures and hosting panel discussions in an effort to bring the evolutionary ideas of genetics and selection into a conversation.
"I believe that artists have a large role to play, not just in the studio and on stage, but in the world," Lerman said.
Lerman added that her idea for Ferocious Beauty: Genome stemmed from her great interest in understanding other fields of knowledge. Researching and developing her project over a three-year period, Lerman worked with a group of scientists from the University of Chicago who posed ethical questions about the genetic revolution to arouse creativity and expression.
"Along the way, we came to understand a lot, not just about genetics, but about dance," Lerman said. "Not just about scientific method, but about artistic process."
The scientists who Lerman interviewed also became a part of the videographer's inspiration, allowing the piece to take on a myriad of artistic dimensions. Videos of their interviews were used as imagery that will appear in the performance on large screens that stand alongside the dancers on stage.
"We had to study scientific processes in order to understand how to translate these concepts into movement," said Cassie Meador, a dancer who has worked with the Dance Exchange for the last two years.
The piece is presented in a two-act form, the first act exploring evolution and the second delving into the concepts of selection, perfection, diversity and aging. Within the work, the audience sees three main characters come to life, including Gregor Mendel, the first geneticist, and Jack, the fairy-tale character of beanstalk fame. The third is a woman with no defined identity; it is left to the audience to decide her persona.
Lerman's hope to provoke awareness about the genome revolution will be enhanced by a pre-performance "Insights" talk given by Huntington Willard, director of the Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy and Nanaline H. Duke professor of genome sciences. Concluding the performance will be an optional "talk back" session that will allow the audience to respond and comment on what they think the artwork represents.
By working with experts, Lerman strives to combine movement, music, imagery and the spoken word to understand scientific ideas that are often questioned.
"In the end, I hope the performance is like a great non-fiction read," she said.
Ferocious Beauty: Genome will be performed Thursday and Friday, Sept. 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. in the Bryan Center's Reynolds Theater. Tickets are $20 and $25, $5 for students.
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