repertory :: Red Light/Green Light

Repertory

Red Light/Green Light
Video Clips

Premiere: Former Covert Car Dealership Showroom, Austin, TX / October 1999 / Six Dancers. 25 minutes / Original Score by Walter Thompson / Choreography by Andrea Ariel / Lighting Design by Jason Amato / Costume Design by Amy Burrell / Space and Window Design by Ann Marie Gordon / Live Music, Quartet: Cell, Tuba, Violin, Clarinet. / Photography by Cindy Light and Laurence Pipkin.

Dance Performed by: Andrea Ariel, Ellen Bartel, Mary Catherine Jones, Luis Narvaez, Dixon Mena, Teresa Tipping. Music performed by: Valerie Klatt, Yutaka Kono, June Rhee, Ben Saffer.

The premiere work for the 1999-2000 season was Red Light/Green Light set to a 25-minute score for violin, clarinet, cello, and tuba composed by New York City's Walter Thompson. The music reflects Ariel's dynamic choreography and emphasis on quick changes and exquisite transitions. The work aims to challenge the perception of linear time by exploring the simultaneous existence of the past, present and future. As the dance moves forward it falls back, as it moves back it falls forward. Movement phrases are repeated inside out, backward and forward, fast and furious, slow and dreamy, always returning to the beginning, but not really the beginning or the end. For this performance Ariel Dance Theatre converted a former car showroom into a theater and art gallery, hosting the work of 12 visual artists.

"Smart, expressive, edgy fun. Ariel Dance Theatre and The Walter Thompson Orchestra's fusion of live music, dance, film and visual art was a clearly articulated invention and a cleverly complex work."

Jeannie Claire van Ryzin, Austin American-Statesman

"A most impressive display of powerful technique summoned by unyielding demands of the choreography. This extraordinary blend of music and dance was an exhilarating aural and visual experience...enchanting, engaging, and captivating collaborative achievement."
Barbejoy A. Ponzio, Austin Chronicle