For immediate release - February 15, 2007
Press Contact: J. M. Bailey (617) 971-9383

Ideas in Motion: The Body's Limit

Conference and performances exploring new technologies in dance

Ideas in Motion: The Body's Limit is a weekend of performances, symposia, and workshops exploring new technologies in dance. The centerpiece is a two-day conference that features artists and engineers from the US and Europe. Additional performances taking place around the Boston area represent a range of experimental works that cross new media with dance. Ideas in Motion is a project of the Boston Cyberarts Festival, and is co-curated by Nell Breyer, Alissa Cardone, and Dedalus Wainwright.

Performances

Electric Haiku; Calm as Custard by Cathy Weis, a concoction of dance, video, and sound. Using technology in simple yet ingenious ways, Weis takes physical movement into new realms, as dancers interact with projected images, and sights and sounds are amplified to dramatic and comic effect.
Performances April 28 and 28; family day event April 28, co-presented by the Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston (ICA)
At the ICA; visit www.icaboston.org for tickets and information.

Denizen, a world premiere by intermedia performance collaborative Kinodance Company, a mesmerizing work that spans the boundaries between dance, cinema, visual art and sound.
Performances May 2 and 3, in collaboration with the Bank of America Celebrity Series
At the Tsai Center, BU; visit www.celebrityseries.org for tickets and information

Self Unfinished (1998) and Product of Circumstances (1999), performances and talks by French-born, Berlin-based choreographer Xavier LeRoy. Le Roy has collaborated with world-renowned artists, such as Jerome Bel and Yvonne Rainer and has presented his work in various settings throughout Europe. He performs two of his rarely-seen early solo works: Self Unfinished (1998) at Green Street Studios on April 22 and Product of Circumstances (1999) at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at MIT on April 23.

Conference

Ideas in Motion: The Body's Limit, 2007
At Green Street Studios, 185 Green Street, Cambridge, April 21-22
Visit bostoncyberarts.org for tickets and information

Saturday, April 21

2pm: Johannes Birringer (Germany) Keynote address, exploring current thinking and interpretations of the theme The Body's Limit in dance and performance today.

3pm: Presentations with demonstrations and video documentation.

• Peter Kirn, former Dance Theater Workshop Artist Resource and Media Lab (DTW Digital ARM) fellow, New York City
• Sarah Drury, Temple University
• Barbara Bickart, former DTW Digital ARM fellow, Florida
• Jamie Jewett, Brown University, Providence, RI
• Norah Zuniga Shaw, Assistant Professor and Director of Dance and Technology, Ohio State University

5pm: Q & A

5:30pm: Intermission/Break

7pm: Evening performances and screening including:

• Dagger by Clarinda Mac Low, former DTW Digital ARM fellow, New York City
• Excerpts from Wonderland by Stefanie Nelson Dance Group (NYC) and Nell Breyer (MIT; former DTW Digital ARM fellow)
• Tony Rizzi, former lead dancer for William Forsythe, USA/Germany
• Screening of Shake Off by Hans Beenhakker of the Netherlands, former lead dancer with Wuppertal Tanztheater

9pm: Q & A/Roundtable Discussion

2:30pm: Performance of Self Unfinished (1998) by Xavier Le Roy

3:30pm: Q & A

3:45pm: Intermission/Break

4pm: Panel Discussion Physical Intelligence

• Noah Riskin, Physical Intelligence Lab, MIT
• Tommy DeFrantz, Professor of Dance, MIT
• Joe Paradiso, Associate Professor, MIT Media Lab
• Additional panelists TBA

5pm: Q & A

5:15pm: Wrap-up by Johannes Birringer

NOTE: Programs and artists subject to change. Additional artists and engineers may be added, check the website at bostoncyberarts.org for most up-to-date information

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Ideas in Motion is grateful for the support of the LEF Foundation and the Adams Arts Program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Cathy Weis's performances are supported by the Kelly Packowski Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

Xavier Le Roy is co-hosted in Cambridge by Ideas in Motion and The Center for Advanced Visual Studies. Funded in part by FUSED: French U.S. Exchange in Dance, a program of the National Dance Project/New England Foundation for the Arts and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, in collaboration with FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), with lead funding from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, and Mr. George DeSipio. Supported in part by the MIT Council for the Arts, and the MIT Theater Arts Department.

Johannes Birringer's appearance is co-sponsored by the Goethe Institut Boston

The screening of Shake Off by Hans Beenhakker is co-sponsored by the Consulate General of the Netherlands, NY

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About the Boston Cyberarts Festival

Exhibitions and performances by artists who use computer technology as an integral part of their work are on display at the fifth Boston Cyberarts Festival, taking place April 20-May 6, 2007. The Festival, which brings together visual and performing artists, cultural organizations, educators, and high-technology professionals, takes place at locations in and around the Boston area, at selected other locations around New England, and online at bostoncyberarts.org.

The biennial Boston Cyberarts Festival has become an eagerly-anticipated part of the Boston-area arts and technology scene since the first event took place in 1999. The Festival is the largest collaboration of arts organizations in New England and the only Festival in the world that encompasses all art forms, including both visual and performing arts, film, video, electronic literature, and public art. A searchable list of events and exhibitions is available on the Festival's website, and is being updated continually as events are added to the roster.

Cyberart encompasses any artistic endeavor in which computer technology is used to expand artistic possibilities - that is, where the computer's unique capabilities are integral elements of the creative process in the same way that paint, photographic film, musical instruments, and other materials have always been used to express an artist's vision. The Greater Boston area has long had an international reputation as a center of cyberart, dating back to pioneering work done by such world-class institutions as WGBH and MIT.

For further information, contact the Festival office at 617.524.8495, email , or visit bostoncyberarts.org.

Press Contact: Janet Bailey 617.971.9383 or
Recent news releases and high-resolution photos are available at bostoncyberarts.org