Rosemary Candelario in Aqueous, Julie Becton Gillum in Butap, Alissa Cardone in (title TBD)

Rosemary Candelario performs aqueous which grapples with the extremes of water in the state of Texas, which eons ago was covered by ocean, and now includes large swaths of desert: drought and floods; dry plains swept by massive thunderstorms; hurricanes and dust storms; bordering the Gulf Coast but with no natural lakes in the entire state; water-rich regions and water-poor regions. Water here is alternately life-giving and destructive. Drawing on butoh’s ability to morph from one state to another, the dance embodies these contradictory aspects of water. Music by Sarah Ruth uses voice, electronic sounds, and acoustic instruments like the hammer dulcimer to project sonic extremes. The costume, constructed from water bottles and shower curtains, like the dancing body and music, transforms over the course of the piece, from a boat, to a mermaid’s jewels, to a fishing net, to a wall of rain. 

Julie Becton Gillum (Asheville, NC) performs her piece Butap . . . for my son John which explores both light and darkness found in maternal love.

Alissa Cardone (Boston, MA), offers a solo dance performance to a text by Sawako Nakayasu from her forthcoming book of poetry, “Settle Her.”