Convergence Research: Cosmic Fragments

Date:

Wednesday, April 17, 2024 | 6pm-7pm

Location:

Blaffer Art Museum

Format:

Don’t miss the last Convergence Research of the semester, a collaborative music and dance performance choreographed by School of Theatre & Dance Associate Professor and Dance Program Director, Teresa Chapman and featuring music composed by Mitchell Center Scholar in Residence Sam Wu. Members of the AURA Contemporary Music Ensemble will be joined by dancers Heesu Han and Jessica Figueroa for the performance.

Cosmic Fragments takes inspiration from a quote by Neil DeGrasse Tyson:
“We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically.” Building on the idea of universal connections, the choreographic component of Cosmic Fragments developed out of a curiosity of the illusion of scale. “I seem to gravitate towards choreographing non-literal dances where the dancers are not characters but more of an imitation of concepts cast onto bodies,” says Chapman. “With the development of the choreography, I begin to see some manifestation of the human experience.”

The music, conceived in parallel with the choreographic process, also reflects upon space, scale, and human connections. The music is scored for soprano, vibraphone, piano, and cello—an instrumentation that suggests both the vastness of the cosmos and the fragility of our existence on a “pale blue dot.”

About Convergence Research:

Convergence Research is a collaboration between the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts and the Blaffer Art Museum that supports students and faculty in the McGovern College of the Arts to explore connection and collaboration between the disciplines in the arts and beyond. This season, Convergence Research is curated by Mitchell Center Graduate Assistant Ji Won Chun. The Graduate Assistantship is a yearlong position designed for a graduate student in the College of the Arts or Creative Writing Program.

Free and open to all!