Actor & The Leading Lady: Falling Up

Actor & The Leading Lady: Falling Up is a dance piece for public space examining how we embody, perceive, and perform power dynamics in real and theatrical relationships. The audience made up of intentional participants and passersby begin by joining the performers on an interactive journey that creates an ensemble of the entire group. The work continues to unfold as the performers bring out five tiny plywood stages (three 2x6 and two 2x4). The audience witnesses up close as the dancers slide, spiral, jump and fall along the narrow stages accompanied by cello. The work moves inside for a short epilogue that turns the dance literally on it’s side, visually displacing gravity, to imagine the world a new.

CREDITS

Choreography: Katherine Kiefer Stark
Collaborators & Performers: Chloe Marie Newton, Harlee Trautman, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Marisa Illingworth, Sean Thomas Boyt
Composer & Performer: Ajibola Rivers
Epilogue Musicians: Angel Brice, Konnie Stark

LIFE OF THE WORK

2019 Clark Park with Epilogue at West Philadelphia Ballroom and Latin Dance with collaborators Ajibola Rivers (cello), Angel Brice (Epilogue, vocals), Chloe Marie Newton, Harlee Trautman, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Konnie Stark (Epilogue, piano), Marisa Illingworth & Sean Thomas Boyt

2019 Rehearsing in Public Space, Traveling Residency across Western, PA with collaborators Ajibola Rivers (cello), Chloe Marie Newton, Harlee Trautman, Katherine Kiefer Stark, Marisa Illingworth & Sean Thomas Boyt

2018 short trio as part of Ten Tiny Dances presented by Mascher Space Cooperative with Ajibola Rivers, Katherine Kiefer Stark, & Marisa Illingworth