BETRAYAL
"Profound...not at all comforting. The tension this composition brought was appropriate to subject."
– LA Dance Chronicle
BETRAYAL
2020
PERFORMANCES | Odyssey Theater February 2020
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS | Alexander Garland
CONCEPT and DIRECTION | Brigette Dunn-Korpela
CHOREOGRAPHY | Brigette Dunn-Korpela in collaboration with dancers
COSTUME DESIGN | Athena Lawton
MUSIC DIRECTOR/EDITOR | Pete Korpela /*Sound sourced from field recordings of research lab
DRAMATURGE | Kestrel Leah
LIGHTING DESIGN | Shawn Fidler
CAST | Mia Givens, Sydney Jacobs, Robynn O'Dell
B. Dunn Movement participated in the Awe and Wonder program produced and created by Donna Sternberg in order to bring together the different worlds of art and science, along with different creative perspectives to explore where the two intersect. The goal was for the resulting dances to be informed by science, rather than serve as a direct interpretation. Each choreographer was tasked to decipher the science and create something unique and relevant, challenging and to engage in a dialogue to develop work informed by the discoveries made in collaboration together with the scientists.
Following the performances post performance discussions were held, so each team of scientists/choreographers could discuss and share their processes.
A NOTE FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER
I was assigned to work and collaborate with Dr. Shehla Pervin noted for her incredible work with Breast Cancer Research. You can read more about Dr. Pervin and her work here.
It was here that Betrayal emerged. After several phone conversations, site visits to her lab, and meeting with her incredible warrior team of lab assistants we returned to the dance studios and began our investigation. Along with the dancers, dramaturge and costume designer we explored the personified movement quality of cell behavior when breast cancer materializes. In this seemingly silent multiverse, through the tunnels and caverns that make up the inner world of the body a foreign sentience comes alive that is cancer. The body begins to fight off the sinister agent in a chaotic battle of identity and is wrapped up in a betrayal of itself by protecting that which seeks to destroy its existence.
Phase II of this exploration was scheduled to take place in collaboration with CalArts for their Spring Dance Performance April-May, 2020 however, that was not realized due to COVID-19.