res magazine
2002
Earth Wood and Fire

Jodi Lomask has always been fascinated by "where people's fantasy selves reside", she says.
Seeing ever more people turn to video games to
fulfill their fantasies, she decided to explore
the gaming obsession in a piece for her experimental dance group Capacitor. The result
is "Avatars," a delightfully over-the-top
multimedia spectacle about five video game
characters on quests for self-discovery. The
characters represent the five Chinese elements:
earth, wood, metal, fire and water. Unlike traditional dance narratives, the "Avatars" story
unfolds as much onscreen as on stage: 3-D
character animations, 2-D animated video-game
screens and digital video clips artfully alternate and overlap with live dance. Filmmaker Josh Callaghan and several other visual artists contributed to the complex piece, which Capacitor
will perform at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco March 7-8. For her next dance piece, about the layers of the earth, Lomask turns from the virtual to the physical world for inspiration. The tech and science-loving director has previously choreographed pieces on genetic manipulation, Internet communication and the behavior of electricity. (Lisa Delgado)