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Nature Magazine
Dance of the forest - Biome/ choreographed by Jodi Lomask,
premieres on 10 November in La Gran Via, San Salvador
11/8/2007
To a literalist, dance is a celebration of the human body. Of course, it can
also allude to other organisms - even, in the case of San Francisco-based
choreographer Jodi Lomask, to the relationships between them. Biome, a new
work by Lomask's comapny Capacitor, has its premiere in San Salvador this
week. Like her previous pieces, it bagan with research scientists - here inlcudeing
the tropical-tree ecologist Nalini Nadkarni - sharing their insights.
The result, Lomask stresses, does not attempt to convey scientific concepts;
it uses the ideas as a jumping off point. Audience members pre-occupied with
looking for metaphors will find themselves frustrated. The goal, says Lomask,
is to "draw attention to wild spaces and the importance of pristine biomes."
Ecological phenomena are strongly referenced in teh show's previewe film,
shot in the Monteverde cloud forest of Costa Rica and screened at this year's
meeting of the Ecological Society of America in San Jose, California. A naked
dancer unfurls herself towards the Sun, capturing with uncanny precision the
jerky grace of a plant in a time-lapse movie. Another creeps, vine-like, up
a huge tree; yet more lithe bodies cram themselves into a hollow trunk, like
a colony of fungal parasites. "Bother artists and scientists are working
to show what's really there," says Lomask.
Engaging with the biological community is a change of direction for Capacitor.
Her previous shows Digging in the Dark and Within Outer Spaces
were inspired by geology and astrophysics. With performances at universities,
theatres, nightclubs, schools, corporate events and fringe festivals, the
company has reached a large number of people. The new show will add a shopping
mall in Central America to that list.
Capacitor's next piece, called Urban Canopies, premieres in December
2008 at the opening of the new California Academy of Sciences building in
Golden Gate Park. (Michael Hopkins)
