stone leaf shell skin (2014)

Opening a book I had owned for many years, I began pouring over photographs by Edward Weston and became fascinated, yet again, by his preoccupation with the eroticism of contour, and by the associations among disparate subjects that his images propose. A vast rockface, a lush and deeply veined cabbage leaf, the brittle and lustrous surface of a coiled shell, and the undulating curves of a naked body reclining in a sand dune are all aspects of a richly sensual world.

I pictured a group of men moving in a sonic world shaped by the sound of a cello and underscored by deep electronic drone tones. Cellist Shauna Rolston and I brainstormed on a composer and our commission was accepted by Heather Schmidt. Working in silence with superb dancers Ric Brown, Sean Ling, and Mateo Galindo Torres, I began a steady stream of exchanges of film and audio files with Heather. The 30-minute work that emerged – costumed by Caroline O’Brien and lit by Marc Parent – called on all four performers to rise to formidable physical and expressive demands and offered unforgettable moments of sublime beauty. PB

“… beautifully crafted and elegant juxtapositions of real and imagined worlds.” Kathleen Smith, NOW Magazine

Photo of Sean Ling by Makoto Hirata

Photo of Mateo Galindo Torres, Ric Brown, and Sean Ling by Makoto Hirata

Photo of Ric Brown, Mateo Gailndo Torres and Shauna Rolston by Makoto Hirata

Photo of Ric Brown, Mateo Galindo Torres and Sean Ling by Makoto Hirata