a cabinet of breath curiosities: contemporary choreography meets medical technology

Breath Catalogue (2015) is a collaborative project that combines choreographic methods with medical technology to externalize breath as experience. The research expands the intrinsic dance connection between breath and gesture by visualizing and making audible the data obtained from the mover’s breath, and inserting this into the choreographic process to make the breath perceptible to the spectator. Modeled off earlier such collections or “wonder rooms,” the piece is assembled for each performance from a collection of breath “curios.”

VIDEO

Choreography/Performance: Megan Nicely, Kate Elswit
Data/Interaction Design: Ben Gimpert
Sound Design: Daniel Thomas Davis
Lighting Design: Allen Willner
Costume Design: Megan Nicely

Performance History:
July 2015, Fort Mason Fire House, San Francisco (premiere)
November 2015, Rewriting Dance, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco (curio)
July 2016, MilkBar #41, Cotati (site-specific)
November 2017, Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre, London
November 2017, Feel It! Festival, Circomedia, Bristol, UK

Support: Zellerbach Family Foundation, StretchSense

Project Website:  www.breathcatalogue.org