The BodyCartography Project will go nuclear at P.S. 122
THE BODYCARTOGRAPHY PROJECT
Performance Space 122
150 First Ave. at Ninth St.
February 10-14, $20
www.ps122.org
Codirectors Otto Ramstad and Olive Bieringa examine the effects of nuclear power on the state of the human body in the New York premiere of 1/2 LIFE. Their BodyCartography Project, which “questions the space between the real materials of the body, the architecture, and the hyper real designed materials of video, light, sound and new technologies,” is joined by electronic music artist Zeena Parkins, artist and physicist Bryce Beverlin II, guest dancer Takemi Kitamura, and installation artist / performer / writer / set designer / costumer Emmett Ramstad in a multimedia look at survival through scientific research, data, and physics via dance, video, and music.
With a bumpy sheet of graying plastic “clouds” hanging from the ceiling, three survivors walk Butoh-slow across the stage, representing nuclear superpower America (Otto Ramstad), atomic bomb victim Japan (Kitamura), and nuclear-free New Zealand (Bieringa), showing that nobody is safe from nuclear winter. Twelve door-shaped light pieces of wood in the back soon come to life, erecting barriers for the three performers, welcoming them and shutting them out. After they put the boards away, the dancers behind them, representing critical mass, emerge and one by one circle each of the protagonists, as if infecting them with radiation. Ultimately, the trio find themselves in a Joseph Cornell-like box, erecting different poses as they are spun around and, in the end, one of them might have found a way out. The seventy-minute program ranges from the boring and mundane to the captivating and exciting; the beginning sequence goes on too long, and some of the solos, especially when Ramstad, Kitamura, and Bieringa keep falling to the floor, are repetitive and difficult to decipher. But the final third, involving the moving box and possible survival, is simply thrilling. The February 11 performance will include a Thursday Night Social, while the February 12 show will be followed by a Talkback with Clarinda Mac Low. Because of the snowstorm, tickets for opening night, February 10, were reduced to $10 and came with free beer for those intrepid folks who made their way despite the weather conditions.