Full of artifice and animal appetites, Super Nature engages the wild, the domestic, and the civilized aspects of human nature to create a radical ecological melodrama. In Super Nature we seek to engage an audience’s visceral response over their need to immediately make cognitive meaning from what they see. In other words, we endeavor to choreograph empathy. Warning: Some bodies appear in their natural state.
In Super Nature directors Olive Bieringa and Otto Ramstad are joined by Bessie award winning composer Zeena Parkins and visual artist Emmett Ramstad. The core cast includes dancers Justin Jones, Timmy Wagner, Emily Johnson, Anna Shogren, Otto Ramstad, Dolo McComb, Francesca Mattavelli and special guests.
An intimate installation functions as part one. It is built for a gallery space and an audience of one. In an empty gallery, one member of the public meets one performer and has a non-verbal interaction. Both performer and audience have agency to transform the energy of the space through their behavior and social interaction, sometimes very subtle and sometimes extreme. The evening length theater work functions as part two.
Super Nature trailer from American Realness and COIL Festival NYC 2013
Photo by Chelsea Petrakis, Super Nature installation at TBA, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, September 2014
Reviews:
Dancing the Animal Spirits
Star Tribune’s BodyCartography’s wild kingdom
City Pages’ Dance Company of the Year
Evolutionary struggles played out in Bodycartography Project’s Super Nature
Super Nature resources:
Super Nature on Minnesota Originals
Walker Art Center channel Curatorial talk
Walker Art Center channel Talk Dance podcast
Walker Art Center channel Super Nature trailer
TBA:PICA interview about the installation with codirectors
TBA:PICA audience installation review by Roz Crews
Performances
2015
Dance Place, DC + Kelley Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh
2014
Installation, TBA, PICA
2013
City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
American Realness/Performance Space 122’s COIL Festival
2012
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Installation, Tanzlaboratorium, Karas Gallery, Kiev
Studio showing, Minnesota Dance Platform, Tekbox
Studio showing, Tanzmesse, Dusseldorf
2011
Experiments for Super Nature: 9 x 22, Bryant Lake Bowl, Minneapolis, Regional Dance Development Initiative, St Ben’s University, St Joseph, MN, Impulstanz, Vienna
Super Nature is a co-commission of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Performance Space 122, NYC; and PadlWest, San Diego. Super Nature is supported by the MAP Fund, National Performance Network Creation Fund, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, American Dances Abroad, CEC Arts Link, Impulstanz Festival, Lily Springs, Studio 206,the McKnight Foundation and is underwritten by the American Composers Forum’s Live Music for Dance Minnesota program in partnership with New Music USA, with funds provided by the McKnight Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with the New England Foundation for the Arts through the National Dance Project. Major support for NDP is provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation. Support from the NEA provides funding for choreographers in the early stages of their careers.
Cast and Crew
Lighting Designer Heidi Eckwall/Dramaturg Stefanie Hahnzog/Minneapolis special guests: Sam Johnson, Jeffrey Haas, Dan Schlag, Mike Brindley, Michelle Lockhart, Hope Grathwol, Willa Bartholomay, Nastalie Bogira , Kelly Meister, Kimberly Lesik, Scotty Reynolds, Scotty Gunderson, Edna Stevens/ NYC Special guests: Sam Johnson, Alicia Ohs, Melissa Guerro, Laura Grant, Amy Baumgartner, Storm Sundberg, Scotty Gunderson, Scotty Reynolds , Theo Koppel/ Chicago special guests: Sam Johnson, Joshua Kent, Aaron Alonso, Becky Grajeda, Meghan Moe Beitiks, Anna Greenawalt, Clare Tallon Ruen
Photo by Chelsea Petrakis, Super Nature installation at TBA, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, September 2014
Super Nature excerpt from BodyCartography Project on Vimeo.
Super Nature installation TBA 2014 from BodyCartography Project on Vimeo.
BodyCartography’s Super Nature from BodyCartography Project on Vimeo.