The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange performs a dance titled “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” Saturday evening at the Lied Center. The performance featured film and narration that investigated genetic research and its impact on culture.
Monday, November 9, 2009
When Albert Einstein said the greatest scientists were always artists as well, he could not have imagined how Liz Lerman would combine the two disciplines.
Lerman, head choreographer of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, brought together the latest genetic research and modern dance in the company’s two-hour performance of “Ferocious Beauty: Genome,” Saturday night at the Lied Center. The production used music, video and dance to discuss genetic research and its related ethical dilemmas.
Photo Gallery
Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Ferocious Beauty: Genome
The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange performs a dance titled “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” Saturday evening at the Lied Center. The performance featured film and narration that investigated genetic research and its impact on culture.
“We want to make genetic research something people can really engage with,” Elizabeth Johnson, associate artistic director of the company, said.
Johnson said the performance was the brainchild of Lerman and 34 international genetic researchers who began collaborating in 2002.
The show’s first act presented the fundamentals of genetic research. Projections of professors and genetic researchers were shown on large screens and helped teach the audience elementary concepts about things such as DNA makeup and the history of genetic research.
The audience laughed during a later segment in which two scientists attempted to choreograph a dance that would represent the structure of DNA. A group of dancers attempted to follow the scientists’ demands, struggling to produce a movement that resembled the double-helix formation of DNA. The segment revealed the difficulty of bringing science and dance together.
“That was my favorite part,” Ryan Fazio, Sedona, Ariz., sophomore, said. “It was funny to see how awkwardly the two sides tried to interact.”
The show’s second half took on the loftier ideas of genetic research, such as long life, genetic disorders and human ancestry. In one segment, a 70-year-old man watched his memories pass by on the projections as he aged to 105 years old. The audience watched the man act out his struggles with loneliness and restlessness as the years passed in the video behind him.
Johnson said the scene questioned the use of genetic discovery to extend life past its natural limits. She said it was natural for people to want to delay death.
“Genetic discovery is making this possible,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of discussion to be had here.”
To capture the audience’s attention, the company used a video projection screen that spanned from floor to ceiling of the stage.
At times, the screen filled with 30-foot tall projections of the dancers who were simultaneously performing the same dance on stage. The real-life dancers moved on cue with their giant projected counterparts.
Rachel Gray, Overland Park senior, said although she didn’t always understand the show’s message, she was impressed by the visual production.
“The screen was a constantly evolving set,” Gray said. “It was like watching a movie.”
The performance was the finale of a week’s worth of workshops and events the company organized while in Lawrence. The group held performances for children’s groups, met with University dance classes and attended seminars with the University physics department, among other activities.
Alice Bean, University physics professor, met with Lerman and another dancer from the company during a high-energy physics seminar Tuesday.
Bean said the group discussed the ways in which science and art worked off one another. Lerman also worked with the group to brainstorm ideas for a coming performance on the origins of matter.
“Anything we can do to get the public to think about science is great,” Bean said.
— Edited by Abbey Strusz
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