World Premiere presented by
Ashleyliane Dance Company

Directed and Choreographed by
Audrey Simes

Co-directed and Choreographed by
Blaize D’Angio

Music:
Part 1: ”Light” by Royal Canoe and “Watering a Flower”- by Haruomi Hosono
Part 2: “Woods”- by Bon Iver and “Dreams”- by Kelsey Lu

Performed by
Ashleyliane Dance Company: Jamaikah Banks, Ashley Claybrook, Carrie Collins-Whitfield, Phil Durkee, Jenny Dyson, Jessy Dyson, Jordan McDaniel, Thomas Proctor, and Jeanie Stephenson

“Feel how the Greater Being comes! Rejoice, and in rejoicings, die! Melt in the music of the drums! For I am you and you are I.” —Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Both Sides

WE NAVIGATE A WORLD WHERE COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION ARE OFTEN EXPERIENCED ENTIRELY WITHIN DIGITAL SPACE. WE HAVE VAST TECHNOLOGIES FOR BUILDING AND MAINTAINING HUMAN CONNECTION ACROSS LARGE DISTANCES. HOWEVER, THESE INTERACTIONS CAN FEEL CONTRIVED, SURVEILLED, OR DICTATED. DIGITAL INTERFACES AND ORGANIC CONNECTIONS EXIST SIDE BY SIDE, YET STRUGGLE TO TRULY INTERSECT. A PARADOX EMERGES THAT MOTIVATES OUR EXPLORATION: EXTREME SOCIAL ISOLATION FORMS FROM THE INTENSIFIED AND CONSTANT INTERACTION OF LATE MODERNITY. IN PROTEST, SOME CHOOSE TO REJECT THESE NEW METHODS OF COMMUNICATION -- TAKING THEMSELVES OFF THE GRID OR SOCIAL MEDIA. BUT LONGING FOR THE ANACHRONISMS OF THE PAST AS A WAY TO ENVISION AN IDEALIZED FUTURE ULTIMATELY DETACHES US FROM THE PRESENT. BEING PRESENT IN THE MOMENT IS NOT WITHOUT PAIN OR STRUGGLE, BUT PROVIDES US WITH GREATER DEPTH OF CONNECTION AND COMPASSION TOWARDS EACH OTHER. KNOWING THAT THE FUTURE WORLD IS ROOTED IN OUT PRESENT CHOICES, WE MUST WEIGH THE GAINS AND LOSSES OFFERED TO US BY THESE OPTIONS. THESE PIECES OFFER A GLIMPSE INTO TWO, OUT OF INFINITE, POSSIBILITIES FOR OUR TRAJECTORY, THE SEEDS OF BOTH OF WHICH ARE VISIBLE IN THE WORLD AROUND US. EMBEDDED IN THIS WORK IS THE SIMPLE PLEA THAT WE ALL WATCH WHERE WE ARE GOING.