Event

Backstories

Every person has a back story: a series of actions and events that brought them to the present moment. In our last choreographic work, the evolution of this moment, RLPiM delved into our own histories to figure out how we wound up at the present. In our new work, Backstories, we approached the idea a little differently.

Venturing out into the streets of Philadelphia, Gina Hoch-Stall, co-director and choreographer, captured three seemingly insignificant street moments on film. The clips were presented to the dancers, who were asked to share their perceptions and to suggest a back story for each of the clips. The dances you will see in Backstories were created from reactions and ideas of the dancers, the original gestures of the individuals caught on film, as well as Gina's own physical interpretations of the interactions.

The score for Backstories, composed by Ilan Isakov, has been built, in conjunction with the dances, from the street sounds that accompanied the original interactions caught on film. He has extracted words, tones, car horns and sneezes--some of which you will recognize, most of which you will not. Artist Andrea Caldarise is creating pieces that reflect the process of making Backstories, that will be shown at the theater-- as well as spatial interpretations of the performance that will act as our 'set'.

The show is intended as an honest investigation of what we see when we observe strangers, what our perceptions tell us about ourselves, as well as how we can clarify these perceptions by artistic means. To continue our investigation of moments, we will also invite audiences to share their own back stories via post-it during the show--some of which may even make it onto the stage...