Graveyards and Gardens fuses movement and sound, January 28 and 29

Check out the trailer here for Vanessa Goodman and Caroline Shaw’s collaboration

SPONSORED POST BY THE PUSH INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL

Vancouver contemporary-dance standout Vanessa Goodman joins forces with Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. composer Caroline Shaw for Graveyards and Gardens—a multidisciplinary work presented by Music on Main at PuSh on January 28 and 29.

A trailer for the online performance has been released, a visual and sonic exploration that takes place among 400 feet of orange sound cables, and an arrangement of plants, lamps, and sound-making devices.

Nature and technology come together with an array of sounds—some emanating from old tape decks, some from a record player, and some from old Edison wax recordings. This auditory wash slowly diminishes until only one part is left; the energy then shifts, and dance mixes with music until they become one.

In effect, Goodman and Shaw are offering the chance to see a visual and sonic album emerge in front of viewers’ eyes in a powerful display of the creative process.

The production is also a unique melding of movement and sound. What is heard and what is seen do not just complement each other, as they might in a more conventional dance performance. Instead, they are fused in ways that make the art forms indistinguishable.

Goodman runs the the contemporary-dance company Action at a Distance, while New York-based Shaw is a vocalist, violinist, composer, and producer who was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for Partita for 8 Voices. member. She served as composer-in-residence at Music on Main, which is copresenting this production.

This post was sponsored by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.