SoS

SoS (working title) is a new, live dance and performance series created by choreographer Ann Carlson and visual artist Mary Ellen Strom (Carlson/Strom). This series of public dance / performance works is being developed in collaboration with bodies of water, generating movement and visual storytelling in relationship with aquatic ecosystems.

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The first iteration will take place in Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain, produced by The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. Carlson/Strom have begun cultivating relationships with local scientists who practice community centered research methods that align with the artists’ approach of co-creation and collective inquiry with local communities.

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SoS is a response to inland and coastal flooding; its impact on human communities, the land, the bodies of water themselves, and their complex ecosystems. For SoS, this means listening to communities’ lived experiences of living near and in relationship with a body of water, their joys and concerns and their approaches to mitigation and adaptation.

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Through the process of making SoS the artists and performers will engage with the water, aquatic plants, algae, fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals— learning to be present with them without disruption. From these relational embodied practices, a place-based choreography emerges. The goal of this project is to develop a performance that inspires all involved to live in relationship and renewed alignment with our changing aquatic ecosystems and with one another.

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The central strategy for these live performance events will take place on a floating platform positioned 20 feet from shore, designed by master production technician Bill Ballou. Over the course of this 30-minute dance and vocal piece, 12 dancer/performers gradually descend beneath the water’s surface. After a pause, they re-emerge, changed. We imagine this change and their ascendancy, as a profound moment to reflect on the transformation of a relationship. SoS is potentially a profound and exhilarating performance event, inviting audiences to experience a renewed unity of shared communion with water and each other.