Collaborations

COLLABORATIONS

Collaborations [from col- ‘together’ + laborare ‘to work’] 

Working with others is like the process of assemblage, it takes us out of our comfort zone and mandates starting in a new place. Sharing each other’s process is both revealing and demanding of trust. Working with new materials enables one to start from a different place and mandates working along new paths. As my work has always been about the implication of movement, to make forms that are physically manipulated during a performance has been an exciting development in my process. It has been a privilege to have these opportunities.

ASCENDance, 2013 for Hedwig Dances

Folded Tyvek and steel central structure (11’ square), six folded Tyvek flexible structures
(30’ x 5’ ea.); performed at the Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago, IL.

Jan Bartoszek, choreography
Hedwig Dances, performers
Barbara Cooper, set design and structures
Petra Bachmaier and Luftwerk, video projections
Mathew Ferraro, composer

This performance, a multi-disciplinary dance production centered around a large circular mandala of folded Tyvek, evolved from exploring the tension between the external chaos of daily life and an internal need for focus and reflection.  In this collaboration of music, structures, and movement, dancers manipulate large, flexible Tyvek structures, that become extensions of the body as well as screens for video projections.


Photography: William Frederking

 

Dance of Forgotten Steps, 2010 for Hedwig Dances

Steel structures (9’ x 4’ x 3’ each) with a sheer fabric screen; performed at the Dance Center of Columbia College, Chicago, IL.

Jan Bartoszek, choreography
Hedwig Dances, performers
Barbara Cooper, set design
Petra Bachmaier and Luftwerk, video projections

This multimedia dance performance delves into the effect of memory on identity and the transient nature of life.  It features video projections of illuminated white shadows (Luftwerk) on structures that are moved and reconfigured by the dancers.

 

 

 

Betrayal, 2005 for Bob Bills Productions

Steel structures (9’ x 4’ x 5’ each); performed at the Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago, IL.

Harold Pinter, playwrite
Bob Bills, director and producer
Barbara Cooper, set design, structures

The set used steel structures that minimally defined the architectural elements of a room (corners, door, and window) that were reconfigured by the actors for each scene during the performance.