 |
 |
 |
The Star,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The science of dance
The group thrives on the club culture.Capacitor was recently in Kuala Lumpur
for a performance in conjunction with the launch of Volvo's new sport sedan,
the S60, and its breathtaking show - which fused together elements of dance,
martial arts and circus tradition - transformed Flux in Twelve SI into more
than just a nightclub or theatre. Presenting excerpts from Within Outer
Spaces, its own original interpretation of the birth of the universe,
Capacitor utilized a variety of props, original music and visuals to tell
a totally absorbing story in the most imaginative and stirring way.
The founders of the San Francisco-based group, artistic director Jodi Lomask
and juggler Zack Bernstein, met in 1997 and both found that they had a mutual
interest in starting their own performing arts group. Jodi Lomask, from the
East coast of the United States, is trained in what she describes with a laugh
as "traditional Euro-centric dance forms". She grew up in theatre, and has
danced since she was three. Bernstein, who was trained in a circus but never
really studied dance, failed to find the right path for himself in the circus
world."I was most attracted to the European circus, where it's movement-based
and there's a lot of visuals," said Bernstein "So I was very interested in
dance ... Meeting Jodi, a dancer with the vision of starting her own company,
it seemed like we were very much in line." Through the years, the two gathered
a number of performers from various disciplines, from circus performers like
jugglers and aerialists, to gymnasts and capoeiristas. All the while, Lomask's
predilection for technological culture led her to talking with astronomers,
physicists, engineers and other scientists about her ideas, which in turn
led to the development of the Capacitor Lab, a think-tant to cultivate "new
and relevant concepts". "...Lomask states, "If I were to make a piece
based only on my own experience -- and a lot of choreographers do this --
every show will start to look the same. The Capacitor Lab was built to ward
off stagnant art."
"They have to be pretty open-minded people," Bernstein said of the Lab's scientists.
'They're not necessarily dogmatic about their science, but they're interested
in common people thinking about scientific concepts." Lomask, who described
the Lab's brainstorming meetings as very informal, with lots of food and wine,
added: "For the most part, if a scientist is really passionate about what
they're doing and what they know, they would love it if everyday people could
relate to it. In a sense, we popularize their work."...
