Zoetic Dance, Wormhole present “Just”collaboration this weekend
Zoetic Dance Ensemble and Wormhole team up with visual artist Scott Runkel to examine the fragility and difficulty of everyday life.
- Scott Runkel
- One of Scott Runkel’s images for Zoetic’s new work “Just”
Nobody creates in a vacuum. Such is the guiding philosophy behind this weekend’s performance of “Just” by Zoetic Dance Ensemble. “Collaboration is so important,” says Joseph Futral, one of the founders of Wormhole, a local outfit that seeks to encourage and develop collaborative dance projects in Atlanta and which is helping to bring “Just” to the stage. “Modernism has really exalted the idea of individualism, of artists working alone, but through the process of collaboration, you get and give feedback. You hone and refine. Everyone brings everything to the table.”
Wormhole is itself a collaborative project between Futral and Matt Kent, whose work as renowned professional choreographers and production designers often takes them out of Atlanta. “We founded Wormhole for selfish reasons,” says Kent. “I just wanted to see interesting stuff here. Our work often takes us to the Northeast, but we started asking ‘Why aren’t we doing something in Atlanta?’” Wormhole first interacted with Zoetic last year when the project brought famous Pilobolus co-founder Alison Chase to Atlanta to work with local companies. For “Just,” Zoetic will perform works choreographed by Matt Kent, Beth Lewis, Amanda Thompson and Melanie Lynch-Blanchard. All the pieces are united by a sense of day to day humanness, Futral says, what it takes to develop the tools to handle life. It became clear to those involved when developing “Just” that the work of local visual artist Scott Runkel—with its fragile torn images—was a perfect match. “Scott’s work really is the thread that ties things together,” says Futral. “It’s that sense of fragileness, of life being difficult and fragile and tenuous that his work really captures.”
Zoetic Dance Ensemble performs “Just” on Friday and Saturday, October 8 and 9, at 7:30 and 9:30 pm each night at Fabrefaction Theatre on 999 Brady Avenue at 10th Street. Tickets are $20.
Watch a preview of “Just” after the jump.