Pentacle


R E P E R T O R Y

		A Crack In Everything A Crack in Everything (ACIE) is a meditation on the moments that divide people’s lives into before and after. The piece, loosely based on the Greek Tragedy The Oresteia, spans dance performance, photography, and sculptural video installation. Within these intersecting elements, zoe \| juniper create experiences that maintain the idea of liminality; the thresholds of conscious/unconscious, action/reaction, before/after and cause/effect. While this idea of mythologizing serves as the platform of the work, its’ main concerns are with relaying non-linear “story-ness,” originating and distilling significance from rigorous physicality, calibrating the dialogue between movement and visual arts and literally creating tangible artifacts from the performance within the installation and calcified memories within the photography. The collaboration between Juniper and Zoe is defined by tandem visual and choreographic designs that seamlessly integrate aesthetics and form. The purpose of this collaboration is to immerse the audience in the conjunction of the physical and fantastical realms.

		A Crack In Everything (Installation) The Installation version of A Crack In Everything has been called “a meditative netherworld that invites lingering.” The company works to divide and transform gallery space into different environments transforming them into chambers by using, video, light, sound, music and live dancers (both from zoe \| juniper and local dancers). Viewers are able to experience ACIE from all sides diving deep into the mirror imagery, contrast of darkness and light and the ideas of liminality cause/effect, before/after that are evoked in the theatrical work as well. Seeing double, triple and quadruple gives viewers the illusion of memory while allowing them to explore deep into the work and incur other fantasies.

		Old girl Old girl is a neo-ballet infused with layered vocals explores the distance between idealistic memory and complicated reality. Old girl was originally commissioned and performed by Spectrum Dance Theater October 2008 and performed in On the Boards Northwest New Works Festival 2009. Old girl was funded by Spectrum Dance Theater, Artist Trust Fellowship and GAP Grant and On the Boards. “She [Scofield] works with interruptions and controlled explosions… She makes lightning and spiders.” -Brendan Kiley, The Stranger

		eleven Commissioned by Velocity Dance Center for Strictly Seattle July 2012. Set to Ravel’s Bolero, with its snare drum beats and layered upbeat tune, the dance contains many of Scofield’s signature gestures-palms to the mouth with fingers curled, arms moving swiftly from on sharp angle to the next in a jerky motion with each switch. The dancers move like a well-oil machine, executing precise movements and floor patterns much like a military parade. In eleven, Scofield plays with the music; timing her choreography not only to the prominent beat of the music, but also to the inner rhythms below the surface. “Scofield knows how to play with the music; she times her choreography not only to the prominent beat of the music, but also to the inner rhythms below the surface.” -Rachel Gallaher, City Arts

I N D E V E L O P M E N T

		*No one to witness and adjust: (working title, currently in creation)* No one to witnesswill examine the act of seeing and being seen through the lens of Ovid’s Orpheus. The final product will be presented as a stage performance/video installation created through a research process of symposia, chamber studies, and an online forum containing these studies open to audience response. No one to witness will examine the acts of seeing and being seen. How does the act of looking, acknowledging, and being seen relate to current cultural and personal ideas of power and the body? How are we driven by our desire to be known and our fear of being lost or consumed by our relationships with others? We will create a full-length performance and separate video installation through a process of developing and presenting several smaller studies. These smaller studies will explore movement, location, spatial design and editing. These chamber works will be optimally scaled for online video and initially presented simultaneously online and live in nontraditional environments. These studies are an ideal vehicle for frequent research, development and sharing without the usual challenges of negotiating the traditional logistics of presentation. The final product will be presented as a stage performance and video installation created through a series of research projects including smaller scale performances we are calling chamber studies, and an online forum containing these studies / research and creation process. The stage performance and video installation can be presented separately or together.

W O R K S H O P S

		Daily Class/Physical Practice zoe \| juniper movement classes utilize a somatic approach to technique. The class moves between layering set exercises with structured improvisation inspired by a variety of contemporary dance styles: gaga, ballet, spiraldynamik, improvisation and yoga. Classes are physically rigorous, deep, and kinesthetically challenging; a space where product orientated results takes rest and active experience reins. Physical metaphors and internal musicality shape the lead improvisation as a way to move beyond rigid technique and form as an end in of itself; to make available/accessible each students’ inherent physical language, capability and dynamics.Classes combine musicality, visual and physical metaphors in both improvisation and structured forms as a vehicle to surprise and further each dancers’ potential. As teachers, it is our desire to help students foster a body that is available, aware and in command of its’ senses, intuition and physicality.

		Repertory The class will work together on the recreation of one zoe \| juniper’s chosen works. Rather than a straight setting of work, this class is a recreation of the company’s creative process. By analyzing the choreographic, visual and music/sound notes used by Zoe and Juniper; the class allows each dancer to have a new, clear and personal experience in the work. Students discover the emotional, and physical experiences of the work in its entirety and gain a more profound level of ownership in the creative process.

		Lecture / Demonstration Zoe and Juniper deliver an engaging lecture / demonstration on the various themes, process, research and their collaboration as it relates to the work they are presenting or the body of their work as a whole.

		Choreographing With the Camera, Cinematic Choreography and Projections as Choreographic Staging: These workshops are three distinct yet related classes that inform and play off of each other. They can be taught individually or in tandem with each other. Only a basic operating knowledge of camera techniques and/or choreography is necessary. All classes are open to photographers, video artists, dancers/performers, movement artists and choreographers.

		Using the Camera as a Tool to Create Performance: Choreographing Inside the Camera. This workshop examines how using the framing, direction of focus and point of view of a camera allows us to choreograph for a proscenium stage and/or gallery setting. By examining the structure of the participant’s choreography through the camera, it allows them to shift and further their perspective of what is happening, i.e.: watching the work through a bird’s eye view, smaller, wider, underground look at the structure, geography, proximity, pacing, etc. By using the camera to arrange, examine relationships, proximity and taking control of the audience’s view; we will both examine the structure of the work itself as well as create ways to extend and translate this to a non-camera based performance. This perspective expands the participant’s choreographic tool kit and allows them to make choices based on a new viewpoint.

		Creating Movement in a Static Medium In Creating Movement for a Static Medium the class will look at translating our inherent moving bodies and understanding into the static and distilled medium of the camera. The class begins by asking several questions: How do you capture movement in a moment as well as the essence of what comes before and after? How do you both use and move past the two dimensional nature of camera and video to transcribe a three dimensional experience? What is gained and what is lost through working with camera and video? How do you work with both the intimacy of camera and video as well as the separation that is the nature of these mediums when working with dance and the physical body? All types of experience with camera and video equipment are suitable for this workshop.

		What we Talk About When we Talk About (WWT@WWT@) Dual Perspective Criticism and Critical Dialogue Among Artists: WWT@WWT@ is an interdisciplinary conversation about creative process. It is an opportunity for artists of different disciplines to share their current creative thinking, and to bring their unique lenses to experiencing and talking about each other’s work. As a dance artist Zoe brings to her perception of visual art a keen awareness of physical form and the relationships of objects or bodies in space. Juniper, who has a background in visual art and lighting design, sees dance as a visual medium and a dynamic network of visual relationships. WWT@WWT@ is inspired by the recognition that choreographers/dancers rarely receive feedback for their work in the middle of a process. While visual artists have a tradition of ‘crits’, this form of feedback rarely happens outside of a school setting. For many artists, regardless of the medium, usually feedback is received only after the reception of an end product. WWT@WWT@ invites all in attendance to experience the project throughout it’s process instead of putting the dominance and emphasis on the final output. For this reason participants will not share finished work. Instead, they will show themselves inside of a process. The format of ‘sharing’ is left open to the artist and may be performative, visual, spoken, a film, a recording . . . or any combination of approaches. WWT@WWT@ is created in part and supported by Velocity Dance Center by the collaborative relationship of Seattle artists Zoe Scofield and Juniper Shuey.