Kinetic Light: DESCENT
Event Details
“DESCENT models a truth rarely understood among dance audiences: Disability does not signify incompleteness. In fact, it offers novel pathways to several movement styles, each of them whole and generative of unique choreographic forms.” —Kevin Gotkin, Dance Magazine
Kinetic Light’s DESCENT re-centers ideas of physicality. A collaboration between choreographers/performers, thought leaders, and disability activists Alice Sheppard and Laurel Lawson, the virtuosic duet is performed on an elaborate structure of slopes, peaks, and curves. This meditative thrill ride through a queer, interracial love story is inspired by Rodin’s sculpture Toilet of Venus and Andromeda. Collaborator Michael Maag’s video and lighting projections bathe the stage with starry skies, sun-dappled water, and sculptural figures, while the transportive soundscape unfolds like an epic poem.
The presentation features a special postshow artist conversation. This exclusive online world premiere caps off the groundbreaking, weeklong virtual residency with Kinetic Light that includes workshops, a disability arts film evening (curated by Sheppard), and curatorial conversations with the artists. The residency and related programming were reimagined in a digital form due to the global pandemic.
Copresented by Northrop, University of Minnesota.
Accessibility
The online performance will be audio described.
The Artist Conversation will include ASL interpretation and captioning.
How to View
$18.50 ($13.50 Walker members) per household
Tickets are available to purchase via Northrop’s website. Walker members receive a discount; check your email inbox for a special promo code. Discounts are available online only. For more information, contact orders@walkerart.org or call 612-375-7600 x2.
View the online world premiere Thursday, December 3 at 8 pm, including a postshow Artist Conversation. The performance and talk are available through Saturday, December 5 at 12 midnight.
The online film premiere of DESCENT was made possible, in part, by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Performing Arts Season Sponsor
Program support provided by Producer’s Council member Emily Maltz, in memory of Dale Schatzlein (1948–2006) and John Schatzlein (1949–2019), cousins devoted to arts for every body.
The postshow artist conversation is presented as part of the Gertrude Lippincott Talking Dance Series, made possible by generous support from Judith Brin Ingber.
Major support to preserve, digitize, and present the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection is generously provided by the Bentson Foundation.
