|
Boiling point >> Mad science bubbles in A Chemistry Experiment
by MARITES CARINO
Well, instead of using this procedure to test pH levels, F. Effect productions has used it to concoct a collaborative choreography called A Chemistry Experiment. Hypothesis: a group of 17 Concordia dance graduates will be able to stage a show at the Fringe Festival, even though they didn't know what it would be about when they applied. "We didn't know what it was yet, because we hadn't really started," explains collaborator Lauren Degilio. So they decided to use the scientific method to somehow find an endpoint. Materials: seven dancers, three musicians, three designers, a publicist, a chemist, a stage manager and a photographer. Method: "A collaboration is like an experiment, you can't have a predestined end in sight," says collaborator Ame Henderson. "It's like chemistry, things bubble and gurgle and react to each other. So in the beginning a lot of things were brought in, and slowly a vocabulary emerged that belonged to all of us." Observations: Collaboration is sometimes difficult, according to Degilio. "It's a fucking hard way to work, but it's really rich. Anything that would normally take one hour takes five. And if you need an answer for something, you get five--sometimes it's overwhelming." In this choreography, Henderson says they cut loose. "We let things collide with each other, things that don't necessarily go side by side," she explains. "A lot of the work is about our feelings about modern society and putting them into a space where we can make sense of them in an illogical way--if that makes any sense." Conclusion: "It's been a chain reaction of things to get this piece together," says Degilio. And along that chain is a section of choreography based on the benzene ring, along with absurd moments that erupt in the climate of a chemistry lab gone awry, complete with swells of original electro-acoustic music. Curious about the end product?
A Chemistry Experiment runs to June 26 at Tangente, $7, call 849-FEST for showtimes |
Think back to the doldrums of high school chemistry class: seared lab coats, clunky safety goggles and seeing who could blow up the Bunsen burners. Remember the good ol' scientific method that was drilled into your little heads: hypothesis, materials, method, observations and conclusion.