The first week in April PWNW will host Cacophony for 8 Players, our 2013 Visting Alembic Artist Project, for several days of rehearsal in our studio and a chance for the out-of-towners and the Portland-based Alembic Artists Lucy Yim and Emily Stone to share their work with each other. Stay tuned for a more public sharing of the work in a few months. Cacophony for 8 Players is a dance, sound and visual-theater collaboration between director/multi-media artist Torben Ulrich, composer/musician Angelina Baldoz and choreographer/dancer Beth Graczyk.

Drawing upon historical forms and ideas from theater, dance and music, Cacophony for 8 Players explores collisions in time and space of divergent artistic elements and inspirations. Eight voices of the past press against each other through the flux of dissonance and possible concordances, weaving fragments of dance, music and textural audio into an enriching backdrop for a new voice (a peaceful ninth) to emerge.

Joining Ulrich and Graczyk are celebrated dance artists Allie Hankins (Portland) and Peggy Piacenza (Seattle). The four dancers interplay with four movable body sculptures, clothed in perforated gut-skin, pointing to the past, still vivid yet deteriorating. While still giving space to solo forms, this collective structure then reflects divergent textures and energies, ricocheting and meshing like the figures of history.

Music by Baldoz also features Tari Nelson-Zagar on violin.
The sculptures* have been created by Portland-based visual artists Steven Berardelli and Micki Skudlarczyk.
Lighting design is by Amiya Brown and costume design by Mark Ferrin.

Read more about the project HERE.