UW-Madison Dance brings science to the stage with “PULSE”
The UW–Madison dance program, shown in a performance of Chris Walker’s “In Place, In Space, In Codes” last year, will present “PULSE: Intersections of Dance and Science,” a Wisconsin Science Festival event, Friday, Sept. 28 in Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Ave.
Photo: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
During this Year of Innovation at UW–Madison, the Dance Department brings science to the stage with “PULSE: Intersections of Dance and Science,” a Wisconsin Science Festival event, Friday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. in the Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space of Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Ave.
This one-night concert will feature dancing mathematician Karl Schaffer from De Anza College and his collaborator Erik Stern, professor of dance at Weber State University. UW–Madison’s own “dancing scientists” will present a variety of choreographic works inspired by scientific concepts, including the work of UW faculty Kate Corby, Li Chiao-Ping and Chris Walker, and students Henry Holmes, Rebecca Kesting, Alison Roberts and Aliza Roth.
Among the works to be performed are Li’s “Hado,” a dance inspired by the book “The Secret Life of Water,” complete with mesmerizing projections by award-winning video artist/director Douglas Rosenberg; an excerpt from Walker’s “Palm Oil Rosary Project” that explores the concept of repetition and the expectation of different results through the lens of religion; and Corby’s “Catch,” her 2010 quartet inspired by research on mirror neurons and empathy.
Student choreographer Holmes will present “Somatic Algorithms,” a project exploring the natures of algorithmic processes as embodied and experienced at the intersection of computational and somatic theories. Kesting will show her work “Inoculate,” a piece examining order and disorder. Roth and Roberts’s “Becoming” uses movement, projection and lecture to showcase research involving the transformation of a stem cell into a heart muscle cell.
Pre-concert activities include a movement master class taught by Schaffer and Stern on Thursday, Sept. 27 from 1:20-3 p.m., and a lecture-demonstration on Friday, Sept. 28 titled “Where Patterns Collide — Math & Dance” from 11 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
Audience members are encouraged to join the artists and collaborators at a post-concert reception and talk-back in the Virginia Harrison Parlor immediately following the performance.
All events are free and will take place in Lathrop Hall.
