to get there from here: Aug. 27 – Oct. 9, 2022

Image courtesy of artists Maria Gillespie, Nguyễn Nguyên, and Kevin Williamson

 

Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, September 17th from 5 – 9 PM, with a live dance performance at 6 PM. Our events are free and open to the public.

to get there from here is a choreographic investigation on mapping memories in and through the body.  Movement artists Maria Gillespie, Nguyễn Nguyên, and Scripps Associate Professor of Dance Kevin Williamson, reflect on the allure and impossibility of destination through mixed media. Panoramic videos, movement, and objects animate the tension of never quite arriving while being propelled forward. The artists explore physical and emotional landscapes through auto-ethnographic research as they negotiate their inscribed pasts. Maria Gillespie traces the erasure and restoration of her Mexican lineage, Nguyễn Nguyên navigates unfamiliar terrains as a refugee, and Kevin Williamson wrestles with discomfort and queer pleasure.

Williamson’s performances and choreography have won awards from the LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival and the Madrid Arthouse Filmfest, and he has partnered with the Washington National Opera, the Juilliard School in New York City and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. His collaborators are equally acclaimed: Gillespie’s work was shown at the Getty Museum, the Disney/Cal Arts Theater (REDCAT) and the Ford Amphitheatre, among other locations, and Nguyên’s work has been presented throughout Los Angeles, the Guangdong and Beijing International Dance Festival in China, and the International Performance Arts Festival in Thailand. 

As longtime collaborators, separated by distance, the artists will perform live on Saturday, September 17th to embody themes of reunion, transformation, and resilience. “We wanted audiences to experience the visceral sensation of trying to belong in and make sense of the world,” Williamson said. “We wanted to create movement sketches in meaningful environments, to explore how our bodies contour to and are affected by these environments. We see this footage as a conduit to mapping journeys without arrivals.” 

For information on a day of dance at Garrison Theater, please go here for tickets. For more information on the exhibition you can visit the project website here.

Videographer: Taso Papadakis

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