The Pigeon Project
photo: Tara Fallaux
BIRDBRAINDANCE
A Nanigational Project by Jennifer Monson
Pigeons-resilient urban survivors, both pest and pet, scourge and servant, ubiquitous around the world-serve this project's quest given their keen, poignant historical relationships to human beings and their efforts in realms of navigation, orientation and communication.
Posing questions on increasingly fluid notions of place, distance, travel and time in response to the impositions and transformations of technology on our lives, Phase One, The Pigeon Project begins by looking at navigational strategies in the urban environment through the study of the natural and cultural history of pigeons.
For this piece, we hear the turbulence of a few thousand wings flapping, tiny heart beats, wind, bird calls and the quiet meandering cooing of the birds at rest; each building a sonic landscape whose evoked associations, in turn, feeds and intermixes with the work's choreographic structure. The result will stimulate the audiences' own sense of orientation and navigation during the performance.
CHOREOGRAPHY: Jennifer Monson
PERFORMERS: Astrud Angarita, Ermira Goro, Alejandra Martorell
COMPOSER: James Lo
SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER: Jonathan Berger
SET DESIGNER: Barb Monoian
LIGHT DESIGNER: Lenore Doxsee
VIDEOGRAPHER: Robin Vachal
COSTUME CONSTRUCTION: Rufino, Astrud Angarita
SHADOW BIRDS: Barb Monoian, Noelle Kalom
STAGE MANAGER: Noelle Kalom
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION: Character Generators
PHOTO DOCUMENTATION: Dona Ann McAdams