Nature Ecstasy

Suddenly Dance Theatre (Victoria)

Dates: January 13 to 22, 2005

Opening: Thursday, January 13, 8 p.m.

Artists’ Talk: Saturday, January 15, noon

OPENING NIGHT — 2 performances only!

Opening: Thursday, January 13, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Tickets: $5 students/members, $10 general. Available only at Open Space.

A live music, digital dance premiere featuring David Ferguson and Jung-ah Chung with an original score played live by Eclipse Quartet from Los Angeles featuring Sara Parkins, violin; Sarah Thornblade, violin; Joanna Hood, viola; and Maggie Parkins, cello.

Suddenly Dance Theatre and Open Space presented Nature Ecstasy, an exhibition of multimedia artworks by Miles Lowry and David Ferguson January 13 through 22, 2005.

At the centre of Nature Ecstasy was the premiere of a video featuring dancers David Ferguson and Jung-ah Chung. The video uses invented environments and actual locations in nature to create illusions of place inhabited by the dancers. Aspects of the video were made in Ireland, New Mexico, and Victoria and were also shot using blue screen, allowing the dancers to inhabit a geographic collage. As a duo, Ferguson and Chung are an exotic physical and kinetic combination. Nature Ecstasy embraced our ecstatic love of nature, expressed through sensation, manifestation, symbolism, relationship, and heroism. As well, Nature Ecstasy facilitated the creation of original music as it is a silent film made for live musical interpretation. As our first experimental laboratory, the video premiered with a live musical performance by the LA-based Eclipse Quartet.

Open during gallery hours, the installation included properties used in the video process. This included artworks by Lowry and Ferguson made through digital video, photo-arts, painting, and sculpture. The installation focused on interpreting media and dance and their influence in our response to nature.

SEE THE NATURE ECSTASY TEASER TRAILER @ www.suddenlydance.ca