about the collective
Since 2006, Perpetual Movement and Sound has explored the intersection of various artistic media, the way these media inform and inspire one another in a perpetual loop, and the way this intersection creates a sensory state that impacts a part of us that can’t be reached by a single sensory stimulus. Inspired by research into memory, sensory experience, and culture, we seek to create work that illuminates humans' perception and use of our bodies.From June 2006 through May 2008, Perpetual Movement and Sound found a wonderful home at Mascher Space Cooperative in the South Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. While working there, we developed and performed five installments of a performance series called “The Rashomon Effect,” a constantly morphing and expanding improvised score inspired by the storytelling methods employed in Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film Rashomon. We have also developed collaborative pieces in response to visual art at NEXUS/foundation for today’s art, as well as light, movement, and sound installations to transform unlikely spaces like a Laundromat (the site of our first public performance). For the 2007 Philly Fringe Festival, we collaborated to create “gasp,” in which all the audio and visual accompaniment was generated by the dancers in the course of their movement, then recorded and manipulated live in order to enhance the impact of the dancers’ bodies in the space, connecting them with the audience via multiple senses.
Perpetual Movement and Sound is an exploration and experimentation-driven ensemble, and all of our works are process-oriented and stem from queries that emerge from the practices of our collaborating video, movement, visual, and sound artists. We have been fortunate to count among our collaborators: Mikronesia, Rebecca Patek, Allison Lorenzen, Zornitsa Stoyanova, Daniele Strawmyre, Helena Espvall, Blaine Siegel, Christina Zani, Jil Stifel, Jeb Lewis, Sean Mattio, John Phillips, Tyler Gibbons and Robin MacArthur (Red Heart the Ticker), Pandar (Gemini Wolf), Bianka Brunson (Lillie Ruth Bussey), Amanda Louise Lewis, Loren Groenendaal, Martha Savery, William Fields, and Rick Henderson.
In spring 2008, Perpetual Movement and Sound is building a new studio and work space (a "white box"). We'll post photos when it's done!
Each of the six offerings at Mascher Space Cooperative delivered flavorful moments. Those with staying power bit off more substantial material and chewed it well. John Phillips' video of dancers vanishing on revolving planes within infinite architectural spaces is skillfully integrated with live performance in gasp by Emily Sweeney/Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd. The six dancers huddle and float; magenta pinprick lights descend; grainy close-ups catch their action.
-Lisa Kraus, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/10/07
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about the co-directors
Emily Sweeney is a movement artist living in Philadelphia, where she co-directs Perpetual Movement and Sound. She has presented her own improvised and choreographed works around Philadelphia as part of paraphrase/NEXUS, bowerbird performance series, Soundfield Festival, CEC New Edge Mix, and Philly Fringe. She dances with the Emergent Improvisation Ensemble and independent choreographer Brigitta Herrmann. Emily studied dance, literature, and anthropology at Smith and Bennington Colleges under the auspices of Dana Reitz, Susan Sgorbati, Nia Love, Eva Karzcag, Edward Hoagland, and Terry Creach. She is a native of Vermont, where she has taught dance technique and improvisation at the Southeastern Vermont Career Education Center, Marlboro College, and the Brattleboro School of Dance, where she has twice been commissioned to create group pieces for student and community dancers. She has performed at such venues as the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, and the White Wave Dance Festival, and has participated in Nancy Stark Smith's January intensive. In her own work she explores systems found in nature, as well as how humans' sensory experience and memory shape our perceptions. She is driven to investigate how humans adjust our physical and sensory interactions to accommodate new technology and the pace of urban environments.Bilwa is a Philadelphia-based musician, curator, producer, and visual artist. He is a member and assistant director of NEXUS/foundation for today's art , where he curates the performance series paraphrase/NEXUS. Past projects include Hoopty Heaven, an ambient dub duo, and VERSIONsound, a roots/reggae/dub sound system. In 2007, Bilwa and Mikronesia released perfect seconds, a compilation of their music created inspired by the dancers of Perpetual Movement and Sound, on earSnake records.
about the collaborators
Allison Lorenzen has danced with Minneapolis choreographer Emily Johnson (of Catalyst Dance), and has studied under many acclaimed dance masters in the U.S. and abroad, including but not limited to Kathleen Hermesdorf, Stephanie Maher, Sara Shelton Mann, K.J. Holmes, Chris Aiken, Kirstie Simson, and Saliq Francis Savage. In Philadelphia, Allison dances with Rebecca Patek, Herebegin Dance Co., and Perpetual Movement and Sound. In summer 2007, she broadened her performance endeavors to the musical realm with the inceptionof her band, Drowning Daisies. Allison was honored to be invited on a three-week tour to Copenhagen, DK to perform at Halfmachine Festival. Upon returning to Berlin, Drowning Daisies performed additional concerts, and recorded their first album. Allison is a certified yoga instructor, and has taught Hatha and Vinyasa classes in Bucks County, PA, Minneapolis, MN, and Berlin, Germany. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in dance from St. Olaf College.Michael McDermott (a.k.a. Mikronesia) is a producer, composer, musician and sound artist. His main project, Gemini Wolf, is an electronic rock band for which he plays keyboards and laptop and arranges. Mike is an original member of Perpetual Movement and Sound. Mikronesia has released two albums with ambient label Gears of Sand. Tissue Paper Ghosts (2006) is an ethereal glitch album about the psychic remains of a car crash, and Iris Or Comfortable Too (2007) is a work that features minimalist piano and warm electronics. In early 2008, he released vxvii on Kikapu. In April 2008, he premiered his first work for string trio, Daemon En Gauze, as part of the paraphrase/NEXUS performance series. Visit www.mikronesia.com to listen to his work.
Rebecca Shaw Patek graduated with honors from The University of the Arts with a B.F.A. in dance. She attended Walnut Hill School and North Carolina School of the Arts as a ballet major. Rebecca co-founded and co-directs Mascher Space Cooperative and helps administrate Philly Dance Cosmos class series. Her choreography has been performed in New York as part of NewSteps at Mulberry St. Theatre, and as part of HATCH performance series. She has been presented at Keene State College, Keene N.H., where she was co-recipient of the Women Artists of the 21st Century Award. In Philadelphia her work has been performed as part of The Philly Fringe, GLUE, Festival 42, and at Won Institute for Graduate Study. She has presented her collorative work with Allison Lorenzen at paraphrase/NEXUS and In Flux performance series.Rebecca is currently pursuing certification in Embodied Developmental Movement and Yoga through The School for Body Mind Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. She teaches movement and Yoga at Mainstay, a program for developmentally disabled sex offenders. Rebecca has collaborated with numerous artists in Philadelphia and New York. She has performed with Anne-Marie Mulgrew and Dancers Company, Amnesiac Music & Dance Ensemble, and Perpetual Movement and Sound.
John Phillips is a sound and video artist. His work (often collaborating with sculptor Carolyn Healy) includes sound and video installations at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, Dartmouth College, International Computer Music Conference in Beijing China, University of Michigan, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, as well as many non-traditional sites on the East Coast of the US. He has been commissioned several times by New American Radio for national broadcast. Other venues for his sound work have been compositions for choreographers in New York City and Philadelphia, as well as tape for live performances in Philadelphia, New York City, Venice, Italy, San Francisco, and Helsinki, Finland. His video works have been presented at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, the Ocean Multimedia Festival in London, England, and performed at various venues and galleries in Philadelphia and New York City. His grants include several from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Media Art. He has been in residence at the Millay Colony in Austerlitz, NY and the Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY.
Blaine Siegel was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied photography at Syracuse University before heading west to self-publish his comic books Beer Pop and Urchin Town. One night, he lost everything in a fire and overnight began thinking differently about objects, space, and time. This led to an M.F.A. in Sculpture from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2006. Blaine has been exhibiting his sculpture, video, and large-scale installations since 2001. He has exhibited in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Sumter, SC, and Arles, France. Blaine continues to explore objects, space, and time in Philadelphia with his contemporary dancer wife, their two cats, a bunny named Ed, and their brand new daughter Thea.
Jil Stifel is a member of Miro Dance Theatre, with whom she has performed works by Amanda Miller and Antony Rizzi. She is a former company member of Attack Theatre (2001-2006), with whom she performed extensively in Japan, Monaco, Indonesia, Germany, and throughout the United States. As a member of Pennsylvania Dance Theatre and Labco Dance she had the opportunity to work with various independent choreographers including Kevin Wynn, Sean Curran, Kevin McGee and Andre Koslowski. While in Pittsburgh Jil had the wonderful opportunity to work extensively with Kyle Abraham. She has also performed the work of Jennifer Keller as a special guest with Dance Alloy. Since relocating to Philadelphia Jil has worked with independent choreographers Jodi Aleen Obeid, Meg Foley, Myra Bazell, and Perpetual Movement and Sound. Outside of modern dance venues she performed the role of the princess in L'histoire du Soldat with the Pittsburgh Symphony and has performed in The Pittsburgh Opera's Rigoletto, Carmen, and Faust. She toured with Tim Adams of the Pittsburgh Symphony and has also performed with Sahara Middle Eastern dance troupe. Her choreography and multi-media projects have been presented in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Florida, and Japan. holds a B.F.A. in dance from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Zornitsa Stoyanova is a native of Bulgaria and holds her B.A. in Dance and Sound Design from Bennington College, where she studied under the auspices of Susan Sgorbati, Susan Rethorst, Dana Reitz, Eva Karczag, Brendan McCall, Paul Matteson, and Terry Creach. She currently lives in Philadelphia and is a member of Mascher Space Cooperative, where she curates Current, a performance series that shows work created across multiple disciplines. Her improvised and choreographed works have been shown in Bulgaria, Hungary, and at St. Mark's Church in New York City. In addition to recently launching her own performance group, HEREBEGIN DANCE CO., Zornitsa is a founding member of Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd. She is also an experienced sound designer, videographer, and theater technician and has designed lights for numerous dance companies, including Amnesiac Music & Dance and PIMA Group., Zornitsa is a member of Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd. She is also an experienced sound designer, videographer, and theater technician and has designed lights for numerous dance companies, including Amnesiac Music and Dance and PIMA Group.
Daniele Strawmyre earned her B.F.A. in Modern Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has since worked for choreographers and companies in the area and beyond including Myra Bazell, Janette Hough, Jeb Kreager, Kate Watson-Wallace, Junction Dance Theatre, Martha Bowers Dance Theatre Etcetera in New York, and CIE Felix Ruckert in Brussels, Belgium, and Berlin, Germany. In 2006, she worked with Jerome Meyer and Isabelle Chaffaud from The Hague, NE., performing in a world premiere at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. Most recently she's been dancing for Perpetual Movement and Sound and Workshop for Potential Movement. Daniele's choreography has been shown at Pentimenti Gallery, Kumquat Dance Theater, the Painted Bride Art Center, and the Philadelphia Art Museum, and in site specific performances throughout Philadelphia. She has collaborated with musicians Gloria Justen and Tim Motzer and on a film with Ricardo Rivera, which premiered at the Dali exhibition here in Philadelphia in 2004. In 2003, Daniele co-curated, "Ladyfest Philly," a 4- day festival showcasing women's activism through the arts. She was a Leeway Foundation grant recipient in 2004. Currently she is branching out to music video direction and choreographing for film. Daniele teaches technique and improvisation classes for professionals and beginners, children and adults.