by John Townsend
Lavender Magazine
July 8 2015
You may have noticed that in recent years dance and theater have been presented in public locations other than traditional theater spaces. This “on site” approach, which turns an unlikely performance space into a viable one, has been gaining an audience beyond the usual Shakespeare in the Park fare. It has a way of connecting performer and audience with space and with nature. The innovators at the BodyCartography Project are in full swing this summer with a performance work titled closer which can be experienced at scheduled times at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, City Hall, and Convention Center Plaza, the Stone Arch Bridge, Red Eye Theater, and other locations.
Choreographer Olive Bieringa explains “our intention is to create a work in which we can all have the opportunity to practice being present with a complete stranger in a nonverbal way. How does this experience inform and transform our relationship to our bodies and its movement, to the city and to each other. How does this inform our communal experience of dance in the theater together? We want to be with you. We want to dance with you. It’s that simple.”
