Emily Sweeney is a dancer, choreographer, and educator currently based in southern Vermont. She has collaborated with sound/ visual artist William Bilwa Costa as perpetual mvmt<>snd since 2006. Together, they have shown work in Philadelphia, New York, Berlin, Vienna, Turku (Finland), Rome, and London. In 2009, they participated in PRISMA Forum-Mexico, collaborating with many international trans-media artists as a part of the laboratory “Who’s Afraid of the In-Between?” As a dancer, Emily has worked with many artists, including the Emergent Improvisation Ensemble, Brigitta Herrmann/AUSDRUCKSTANZ, and Austrian dance artist Mariella Greil. Emily’s own artistic style relies upon the emphasis and abstraction of the body through the isolation of its most basic elements—breath, skin sensation, muscle contraction. Collaboration with other dancers, musicians, and artists and use of improvisation are central to her practice. Emily is also a dedicated yoga practitioner and Registered Yoga Teacher; she completed a 200-hour training at the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre in Vrindavan, India in 2009.
<residencies> 2010 STEIM
Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS www.steim.org
1-week residency with collaborator William Bilwa Costa to develop recordings of movement and breath in the STEIM studios
SUMU new media art residency
Gallery Titanik/ Arte Association
Turku, FINLAND www.arte.fi/sumu/sumu_main.html
10-week residency with collaborator William Bilwa Costa to develop and perform Breathscape, an inhabited installation that integrates body-sounds and videos with live performance; breath, muscle movement, and touch construct a space for meditating on the body’s changing communicative powers in the emerging virtual realm
2009 PRISMA Forum
Oaxaca/Mexico City, MEXICO www.prisma-forum.info
2-week residency to participate in “Who’s afraid of the in-between?” a laboratory investigating intermedia processes, led by dance artist Mariella Greil (AT) + sound artist Werner Moebius (AT) w/ composer/bass clarinetist Gene Coleman (USA); video artists Synes Elischka (AT) + Christian Schroeder (AT); visual artist Nikolaus Gansterer (AT); actor Georg Hobmeier (AT); sound artists Miguel Mesa (MX), Markus Soukup (GE/UK), Bilwa (USA), + J. Milo Taylor (UK); guitarist Jo Berger Myhre (NO); violinist Eivind Schou (NO); + dance artist Sonja Augart (GE)
2008 New Edge Mix & New York Dance Exchange
Community Education Center, Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.cecarts.org
6-month residency for collaboration with sound/ visual artist William Bilwa Costa to create and perform: untitled—solo performance installation with live performer, video, sound, and set design moved—performance installation with set and costume design, live sound, and movement drawn from research into the sculptures of Auguste Rodin
2000-2002 Brattleboro School of Dance
Brattleboro, VT (USA) www.brattleboroschoolofdance.com
Two commissions to create works with pre-professional and community dancers
<production/administration> 2006-present Perpetual Movement Sound www.perpetualmvmtsnd.org
Co-directs Perpetual Movement Sound, a collaboration that explores interdisciplinary processes to develop works for performance
2007-2009 paraphrase/NEXUS NEXUS/foundation for today’s art
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.nexusphiladelphia.org/paraphrase.html
Curated and produced a performance series in which artists of various disciplines and media created performances that elaborate upon exhibitions at NEXUS, including dance artists Mariella Greil, Eun-Jung Choi-Gonzalez, and Kathy Ochoa, and composers Gene Coleman and Werner Moebius
2006-2009 Philadelphia Music Project
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.philadelphiamusicproject.org
Senior Program Associate for a grant making organization that works with Philadelphia area music nonprofits to fund artistic works and provide opportunities for professional development
2006-2007 Mascher Space Cooperative
Philadelphia, PA (USA) mascherdance.com/
Managed performances and rentals for an artist-run cooperative that provides studio space and produces performances and other opportunities for Philadelphia’s experimental dance community
<studies> 2010 Axis Syllabus Training
Mascher Space Coop
Philadelphia, PA www.mascherdance.com
Completed 24 hours of training in Axis Syllabus movement technique w/ Kira Kirsch
2009 International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre
Vrindavan, INDIA www.sivananda.org
Completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Course, which included intensive study of asanas, meditation, history, philosophy, and pedagogy.
PRISMA Forum Mexico
Oaxaca, MEXICO www.prisma-forum.info
5 days of choreography study with Tere O’Connor
Independent Dance UK Winlab
London, UK www.independentdance.co.uk
5 days of choreography study with Tere O’Connor
2004-2009 Trisha Brown Studios
New York, NY (USA)
Experiential anatomy workshops for professional dancers with Eva Karczag
Dance Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
Improvisation, technique, and choreography workshops for professional dancers with Miguel Gutierrez and Kathleen Hermesdorf
2002-2004 Bennington College
Bennington, VT (USA) www.bennington.edu BA Dance and Literature
Technique and choreography courses with Dana Reitz, Eva Karczag, Terry Creach, Susan Sgorbati, Susan Rethorst
Writing courses with Edward Hoagland and Marguerite Feitlowitz
2002 Marlboro College
Marlboro, VT (USA) www.marlboro.edu
Anthropology coursework—study of social and cultural memory
2001 Earthdance, Plainfield, MA (USA) www.earthdance.net
Nancy Stark Smith’s January Intensive—study of contact improvisation
1998 Bates Dance Festival, Bates College
Lewiston, ME (USA) www.batesdancefestival.org
Technique and choreography workshops with Doug Elkins and Bebe Miller
1997-1999 Smith College
Northampton, MA (USA) www.smith.edu
Dance and Anthropology coursework—dance and choreography courses with Nia Love and Andre Tyson; medical and psychological anthropology courses with Donald Joralemon
1994-1997 Windham Regional Career Center
Brattleboro, VT (USA) www.wrccvt.com
Certificate in Performing Arts: Dance—daily training with Kathi Keller, Alison Mott, and Shannon McGough in Ballet, Modern, and Dunham and Broadway Jazz techniques, choreography, improvisation, and dance history
<awards/ grants/ scholarships> 2002-2003 Brockway Faculty and Bennington Scholarships,
Bennington College, Bennington, VT (USA) www.bennington.edu
For artistic study with Dana Reitz, Eva Karczag, Terry Creach, and Susan Sgorbati
1996 Janeway Scholarship, World Learning
Brattleboro, VT (USA) www.worldlearning.org
For travel to Ghana, West Africa for independent dance study
<workshops/ teaching> 2010 Registered Yoga Teacher
Philadelphia, PA
Offering private and small group yoga courses in various locations around Philadelphia.
1994-present Brattleboro School of Dance
Brattleboro, VT (USA) www.brattleboroschoolofdance.com
Teach adult and childrens’ contemporary dance technique and improvisation classes
<fidget> space
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.thefidget.org
Lead workshops for groups of dancers, groups of musicians, or groups integrating artists from multiple disciplines (dancers, musicians, theatre artists, visual/media artists, writers, etc.). Teach exercises and scores exploring collaborative memory, reproduction, repetition, and subjectivity.
2002-2004 Windham Regional Career Center
Brattleboro, VT (USA) www.wrccvt.com
Taught dance composition and repertoire workshops as a guest artist to Performing Arts: Dance students
<performances and installations (selection)> 2010 VW (VeneKlasen/Werner) Gallery
Berlin, GERMANY www.vwberlin.com
expansions:contractions—performance as part of Spencer Sweeney’s exhibition Teatre Laboratorium with musicians Bilwa (US), Klaus Janek (IT/GE), Florian Tuercke (GE); dancers Daniela Lehmann (GE), Antje Velsinger (GE), Meredith Bove (US/GE), Sandra Lolax (GE), Cyrena Dunbar (GE); + artist Michael Mcjilton (US/GE)
In Electricity We Trust
LTC, Berlin, GERMANY http://in-electricity-we-trust.com Private Investigator’s Dream Machine—performed as part of a stereoscopic camera and video installation in collaboration with dancer Daniela Lehmann (GE), Christian Schroeder (AT), and William Bilwa Costa (USA)
SUMU space, Gallery Titanik
Turku, FINLAND sumuair.wordpress.com Breathscape—sound, set, movement, video installation created in collaboration with sound/visual artist Bilwa (US) and costume designer Johanna Porola (FI)
Fluxee-Klubi @ Tehdas Teatteri Turku, FINLAND www.tehdasteatteri.com/tuotannot/tuotanto3/tuotanto3.htm Performance Installation: a performance installation w/ dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and sound artists Bilwa (US) and Werner Moebius (AT)
B Galleria
Turku, FINLAND bgalleria.net/ Evening of improvised movement + sound w/ dancers Mariella Greil (AT), Maria Nurmela (FI) + sound artists Bilwa (US), Werner Moebius (AT), Kimmo Modig (FI)
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art Turku, FINLAND www.wam.fi
Improvised performance at the opening of The Big Picture w/ dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and sound artists Bilwa (US) and Werner Moebius (AT)
2009 Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY www.glasslands.com/
Improvised sextet w/ bass clarinetist Gene Coleman (US), cellist Marina Peterson (US), electronic musician William Bilwa Costa (US), and dancers Martin Lanz Landazuri (MX) and Emma Kim Hagdahl (SE)
InCounter Sound – Video – Text Campbell Works
London, UNITED KINGDOM www.campbellworks.org/ Guapo Esmeralda improvised quintet w/ dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and sound artists William Bilwa Costa (US), Werner Moebius (AT), and J. Milo Taylor (UK)
European Rhythmics Congress Theater Akzent
Vienna, AUSTRIA www.rhythmikkongress.at/ Either/Or or And—movement duet created in collaboration with dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and musicians Werner Moebius (AT) and Audrey Chen (US/CN)
FLUTEN @ Wasserturm Favoriten
Vienna, AUSTRIA www.fluten.tk drops will flood—performance installation created in collaboration with sound artist William Bilwa Costa and presented in the empty tank of a defunct water tower during a 2-week site specific residency in a historic landmark with 12 international artists
Event Space@Temple Gallery
Old City/ Philadelphia, PA (USA) http://www.temple.edu/tyler/exhibitions/publicprogramspast.html Soundfield[at]Temple Gallery: An evening of improvised dance, music, + video
Concept/direction by Emily Sweeney
Rebecca Patek/ Emily Sweeney/ Jil Stifel/ Zornitsa Stoyanova/ movement
Gene Coleman/ bass clarinet; Alban Bailly/ guitar; Audrey Chen/ Helena Espvall/ cello + vocals
Bilwa/ Mikronesia/ mics + effects; John J. H. Phillips/ video
Group Motion’s Spiel Uhr Performance Series
Community Education Center
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.groupmotion.org breathscape—duet created in collaboration with sound/ visual artist William Bilwa Costa and performed with dancer Allison Lorenzen, choreography by Emily Sweeney
NEXUSradio NEXUS/foundation for today’s art
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.nexusphiladelphia.org Inter Continental Collaborations parts 1 through 3— audio performances created in collaboration with sound artists Florian Tuerke (GE) and Christian Weiss/ basbediender (GE) and choreographer Allison Lorenzen (US)
15th Street Meeting House
New York, NY (USA) www.soundfield.org NEXUS/foundation for today’s art
Philadelphia, (USA) www.nexusphiladelphia.org Philadelphia Bridge, Part I—performance installation created in collaboration with Mariella Greil (AT), Werner Moebius (AT), and William Bilwa Costa (US); produced by Gene Coleman/Soundfield, funded by the Argosy Foundation
2008 Philly Fringe
NEXUS/foundation for today’s art Philadelphia, PA, (USA) www.phillyfringe.org assembling minutiae—performance installation with concept/ live performance by Emily Sweeney; music by Michael McDermott; live sound/set design by William Bilwa Costa; movement (in video) by Brigitta Herrmann, Rebecca Patek, and Jil Stifel; video by Blaine Siegel
Philly Fringe
Mascher Space Cooperative
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.phillyfringe.org gasp—movement quintet choreographed by Emily Sweeney with live-feed sound and video scores by William Bilwa Costa, Michael McDermott, and John Phillips and movement performed by: Rebecca Patek, Zornitsa Stoyanova, Daniele Strawmyre, Christina Zani
bowerbird performance series
Philadelphia, PA, (USA) www.bowerbird.org One on One—improvised movement and sound duet with percussionist Sean Mattio
<lab/ research/ symposia> 2010 QuietImprovisations
Gallery Titanik
Turku, FINLAND www.arte.fi/sumu/sumu_main.html
A day of open improvisation for artists working in all media
2008 Philadelphia Bridge
Various locations, Pennsylvania (USA)
Ten days of site-specific exploration and research with sound artists William Bilwa Costa and Werner Moebius and dance artist Mariella Greil (both from Austria), funded by the Argosy Foundation
2007-present Emergent Improvisation Project (Susan Sgorbati, director) www.emergentimprovisation.org
Participate in investigation of scores inspired by theories of emergence and complexity as part of an ensemble of dancers and musicians in residence at Bennington College in Vermont (USA)
2006-2009 The Rashomon Effect Performance Project Mascher Space Cooperative
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
Develop, direct, and dance as part of an ongoing investigation of improvised scores based on the storytelling method employed in Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomôn. The term “Rashomon effect” refers to the effect of subjectivity on recollection, by which observers of an event are able to produce substantially different but equally plausible accounts of it.
2005-2006 Amnesiac Dance + Music and Philadelphia New Music + Dance Ensemble (Nicole Bindler, director)
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
Participated in development and performance of improvised scores with large ensemble of dancers and musicians
2004 Performance Project w/ Dana Reitz
Bennington College
Bennington, VT (USA)
Three months of intensive research and development leading to performance of movement trio
<press items> 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
Few people in Philadelphia are as dedicated to the performance installation as Perpetual Movement and Sound.
—A.D. Amorosi, Art Matters, 9/3/08
In April 2007, many of the dancers and musicians in residence at the Mascher Space Cooperative began making monthly treks a few blocks south to NEXUS Gallery, performing new works inspired by the gallery’s current exhibitions. The brainchild of Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd co-directors Emily Sweeney and William Bilwa Costa, who regularly explore the crossroads of different forms of expression, paraphrase/NEXUS has spawned a wide variety of three-dimensional responses to the works hanging on the walls.
—Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper, 4/26/08
Best Experimental Dance Lab: Unpromising on its surface—a bank of windows along one long wall illuminating a hardwood floor, two posts jutting up through the center—the Mascher Space Cooperative has been transformed time and again by the movement of the dancers who’ve taken advantage of it. …The space has played host for dancer/choreographers like…Emily Sweeney and William Bilwa Costa’s music/dance collective Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd. The room’s unfinished feel has become more like a blank canvas on which an array of intriguing work has been splashed.
—Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper, 10/31/
CV—emily sweeney
download CV—Emily Sweeney
Emily Sweeney is a dancer, choreographer, and educator currently based in southern Vermont. She has collaborated with sound/ visual artist William Bilwa Costa as perpetual mvmt<>snd since 2006. Together, they have shown work in Philadelphia, New York, Berlin, Vienna, Turku (Finland), Rome, and London. In 2009, they participated in PRISMA Forum-Mexico, collaborating with many international trans-media artists as a part of the laboratory “Who’s Afraid of the In-Between?” As a dancer, Emily has worked with many artists, including the Emergent Improvisation Ensemble, Brigitta Herrmann/AUSDRUCKSTANZ, and Austrian dance artist Mariella Greil. Emily’s own artistic style relies upon the emphasis and abstraction of the body through the isolation of its most basic elements—breath, skin sensation, muscle contraction. Collaboration with other dancers, musicians, and artists and use of improvisation are central to her practice. Emily is also a dedicated yoga practitioner and Registered Yoga Teacher; she completed a 200-hour training at the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre in Vrindavan, India in 2009.
<residencies>
2010
STEIM
Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
www.steim.org
1-week residency with collaborator William Bilwa Costa to develop recordings of movement and breath in the STEIM studios
SUMU new media art residency
Gallery Titanik/ Arte Association
Turku, FINLAND www.arte.fi/sumu/sumu_main.html
10-week residency with collaborator William Bilwa Costa to develop and perform Breathscape, an inhabited installation that integrates body-sounds and videos with live performance; breath, muscle movement, and touch construct a space for meditating on the body’s changing communicative powers in the emerging virtual realm
2009
PRISMA Forum
Oaxaca/Mexico City, MEXICO www.prisma-forum.info
2-week residency to participate in “Who’s afraid of the in-between?” a laboratory investigating intermedia processes, led by dance artist Mariella Greil (AT) + sound artist Werner Moebius (AT) w/ composer/bass clarinetist Gene Coleman (USA); video artists Synes Elischka (AT) + Christian Schroeder (AT); visual artist Nikolaus Gansterer (AT); actor Georg Hobmeier (AT); sound artists Miguel Mesa (MX), Markus Soukup (GE/UK), Bilwa (USA), + J. Milo Taylor (UK); guitarist Jo Berger Myhre (NO); violinist Eivind Schou (NO); + dance artist Sonja Augart (GE)
2008
New Edge Mix & New York Dance Exchange
Community Education Center, Philadelphia, PA (USA)
www.cecarts.org
6-month residency for collaboration with sound/ visual artist William Bilwa Costa to create and perform:
untitled—solo performance installation with live performer, video, sound, and set design
moved—performance installation with set and costume design, live sound, and movement drawn from research into the sculptures of Auguste Rodin
2000-2002
Brattleboro School of Dance
Brattleboro, VT (USA)
www.brattleboroschoolofdance.com
Two commissions to create works with pre-professional and community dancers
<production/administration>
2006-present
Perpetual Movement Sound
www.perpetualmvmtsnd.org
Co-directs Perpetual Movement Sound, a collaboration that explores interdisciplinary processes to develop works for performance
2007-2009
paraphrase/NEXUS
NEXUS/foundation for today’s art
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
www.nexusphiladelphia.org/paraphrase.html
Curated and produced a performance series in which artists of various disciplines and media created performances that elaborate upon exhibitions at NEXUS, including dance artists Mariella Greil, Eun-Jung Choi-Gonzalez, and Kathy Ochoa, and composers Gene Coleman and Werner Moebius
2006-2009
Philadelphia Music Project
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
www.philadelphiamusicproject.org
Senior Program Associate for a grant making organization that works with Philadelphia area music nonprofits to fund artistic works and provide opportunities for professional development
2006-2007
Mascher Space Cooperative
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
mascherdance.com/
Managed performances and rentals for an artist-run cooperative that provides studio space and produces performances and other opportunities for Philadelphia’s experimental dance community
<studies>
2010
Axis Syllabus Training
Mascher Space Coop
Philadelphia, PA
www.mascherdance.com
Completed 24 hours of training in Axis Syllabus movement technique w/ Kira Kirsch
2009
International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre
Vrindavan, INDIA
www.sivananda.org
Completed a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Course, which included intensive study of asanas, meditation, history, philosophy, and pedagogy.
PRISMA Forum Mexico
Oaxaca, MEXICO
www.prisma-forum.info
5 days of choreography study with Tere O’Connor
Independent Dance UK Winlab
London, UK
www.independentdance.co.uk
5 days of choreography study with Tere O’Connor
2004-2009
Trisha Brown Studios
New York, NY (USA)
Experiential anatomy workshops for professional dancers with Eva Karczag
Dance Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
Improvisation, technique, and choreography workshops for professional dancers with Miguel Gutierrez and Kathleen Hermesdorf
2002-2004
Bennington College
Bennington, VT (USA)
www.bennington.edu
BA Dance and Literature
Technique and choreography courses with Dana Reitz, Eva Karczag, Terry Creach, Susan Sgorbati, Susan Rethorst
Writing courses with Edward Hoagland and Marguerite Feitlowitz
2002
Marlboro College
Marlboro, VT (USA)
www.marlboro.edu
Anthropology coursework—study of social and cultural memory
2001
Earthdance, Plainfield, MA (USA)
www.earthdance.net
Nancy Stark Smith’s January Intensive—study of contact improvisation
1998
Bates Dance Festival, Bates College
Lewiston, ME (USA)
www.batesdancefestival.org
Technique and choreography workshops with Doug Elkins and Bebe Miller
1997-1999
Smith College
Northampton, MA (USA)
www.smith.edu
Dance and Anthropology coursework—dance and choreography courses with Nia Love and Andre Tyson; medical and psychological anthropology courses with Donald Joralemon
1994-1997
Windham Regional Career Center
Brattleboro, VT (USA)
www.wrccvt.com
Certificate in Performing Arts: Dance—daily training with Kathi Keller, Alison Mott, and Shannon McGough in Ballet, Modern, and Dunham and Broadway Jazz techniques, choreography, improvisation, and dance history
<awards/ grants/ scholarships>
2002-2003
Brockway Faculty and Bennington Scholarships,
Bennington College, Bennington, VT (USA)
www.bennington.edu
For artistic study with Dana Reitz, Eva Karczag, Terry Creach, and Susan Sgorbati
1996
Janeway Scholarship, World Learning
Brattleboro, VT (USA)
www.worldlearning.org
For travel to Ghana, West Africa for independent dance study
<workshops/ teaching>
2010
Registered Yoga Teacher
Philadelphia, PA
Offering private and small group yoga courses in various locations around Philadelphia.
1994-present
Brattleboro School of Dance
Brattleboro, VT (USA)
www.brattleboroschoolofdance.com
Teach adult and childrens’ contemporary dance technique and improvisation classes
2006-present
Turku University of Applied Sciences
Turku, FINLAND
www.taideakatemia.turkuamk.fi
Kutomo
Turku, FINLAND
www.ehka.net
Mascher Space Cooperative
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
http://mascherdance.com/
<fidget> space
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
www.thefidget.org
Lead workshops for groups of dancers, groups of musicians, or groups integrating artists from multiple disciplines (dancers, musicians, theatre artists, visual/media artists, writers, etc.). Teach exercises and scores exploring collaborative memory, reproduction, repetition, and subjectivity.
2002-2004
Windham Regional Career Center
Brattleboro, VT (USA)
www.wrccvt.com
Taught dance composition and repertoire workshops as a guest artist to Performing Arts: Dance students
<performances and installations (selection)>
2010
VW (VeneKlasen/Werner) Gallery
Berlin, GERMANY
www.vwberlin.com
expansions:contractions—performance as part of Spencer Sweeney’s exhibition Teatre Laboratorium with musicians Bilwa (US), Klaus Janek (IT/GE), Florian Tuercke (GE); dancers Daniela Lehmann (GE), Antje Velsinger (GE), Meredith Bove (US/GE), Sandra Lolax (GE), Cyrena Dunbar (GE); + artist Michael Mcjilton (US/GE)
In Electricity We Trust
LTC, Berlin, GERMANY
http://in-electricity-we-trust.com
Private Investigator’s Dream Machine—performed as part of a stereoscopic camera and video installation in collaboration with dancer Daniela Lehmann (GE), Christian Schroeder (AT), and William Bilwa Costa (USA)
SUMU space, Gallery Titanik
Turku, FINLAND sumuair.wordpress.com
Breathscape—sound, set, movement, video installation created in collaboration with sound/visual artist Bilwa (US) and costume designer Johanna Porola (FI)
Fluxee-Klubi @ Tehdas Teatteri Turku, FINLAND www.tehdasteatteri.com/tuotannot/tuotanto3/tuotanto3.htm
Performance Installation: a performance installation w/ dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and sound artists Bilwa (US) and Werner Moebius (AT)
B Galleria
Turku, FINLAND
bgalleria.net/
Evening of improvised movement + sound w/ dancers Mariella Greil (AT), Maria Nurmela (FI) + sound artists Bilwa (US), Werner Moebius (AT), Kimmo Modig (FI)
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art Turku, FINLAND
www.wam.fi
Improvised performance at the opening of The Big Picture w/ dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and sound artists Bilwa (US) and Werner Moebius (AT)
2009
Glasslands
Brooklyn, NY
www.glasslands.com/
Improvised sextet w/ bass clarinetist Gene Coleman (US), cellist Marina Peterson (US), electronic musician William Bilwa Costa (US), and dancers Martin Lanz Landazuri (MX) and Emma Kim Hagdahl (SE)
InCounter Sound – Video – Text Campbell Works
London, UNITED KINGDOM
www.campbellworks.org/
Guapo Esmeralda improvised quintet w/ dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and sound artists William Bilwa Costa (US), Werner Moebius (AT), and J. Milo Taylor (UK)
European Rhythmics Congress Theater Akzent
Vienna, AUSTRIA
www.rhythmikkongress.at/
Either/Or or And—movement duet created in collaboration with dance maker Mariella Greil (AT) and musicians Werner Moebius (AT) and Audrey Chen (US/CN)
FLUTEN @ Wasserturm Favoriten
Vienna, AUSTRIA
www.fluten.tk
drops will flood—performance installation created in collaboration with sound artist William Bilwa Costa and presented in the empty tank of a defunct water tower during a 2-week site specific residency in a historic landmark with 12 international artists
Event Space@Temple Gallery
Old City/ Philadelphia, PA (USA)
http://www.temple.edu/tyler/exhibitions/publicprogramspast.html
Soundfield[at]Temple Gallery: An evening of improvised dance, music, + video
Concept/direction by Emily Sweeney
Rebecca Patek/ Emily Sweeney/ Jil Stifel/ Zornitsa Stoyanova/ movement
Gene Coleman/ bass clarinet; Alban Bailly/ guitar; Audrey Chen/ Helena Espvall/ cello + vocals
Bilwa/ Mikronesia/ mics + effects; John J. H. Phillips/ video
Group Motion’s Spiel Uhr Performance Series
Community Education Center
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.groupmotion.org
breathscape—duet created in collaboration with sound/ visual artist William Bilwa Costa and performed with dancer Allison Lorenzen, choreography by Emily Sweeney
NEXUSradio
NEXUS/foundation for today’s art
Philadelphia, PA (USA) www.nexusphiladelphia.org
Inter Continental Collaborations parts 1 through 3— audio performances created in collaboration with sound artists Florian Tuerke (GE) and Christian Weiss/ basbediender (GE) and choreographer Allison Lorenzen (US)
15th Street Meeting House
New York, NY (USA) www.soundfield.org
NEXUS/foundation for today’s art
Philadelphia, (USA) www.nexusphiladelphia.org
Philadelphia Bridge, Part I—performance installation created in collaboration with Mariella Greil (AT), Werner Moebius (AT), and William Bilwa Costa (US); produced by Gene Coleman/Soundfield, funded by the Argosy Foundation
2008
Philly Fringe
NEXUS/foundation for today’s art Philadelphia, PA, (USA) www.phillyfringe.org
assembling minutiae—performance installation with concept/ live performance by Emily Sweeney; music by Michael McDermott; live sound/set design by William Bilwa Costa; movement (in video) by Brigitta Herrmann, Rebecca Patek, and Jil Stifel; video by Blaine Siegel
Philly Fringe
Mascher Space Cooperative
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
www.phillyfringe.org
gasp—movement quintet choreographed by Emily Sweeney with live-feed sound and video scores by William Bilwa Costa, Michael McDermott, and John Phillips and movement performed by: Rebecca Patek, Zornitsa Stoyanova, Daniele Strawmyre, Christina Zani
bowerbird performance series
Philadelphia, PA, (USA)
www.bowerbird.org
One on One—improvised movement and sound duet with percussionist Sean Mattio
<lab/ research/ symposia>
2010
Quiet Improvisations
Gallery Titanik
Turku, FINLAND
www.arte.fi/sumu/sumu_main.html
A day of open improvisation for artists working in all media
2008
Philadelphia Bridge
Various locations, Pennsylvania (USA)
Ten days of site-specific exploration and research with sound artists William Bilwa Costa and Werner Moebius and dance artist Mariella Greil (both from Austria), funded by the Argosy Foundation
2007-present
Emergent Improvisation Project (Susan Sgorbati, director)
www.emergentimprovisation.org
Participate in investigation of scores inspired by theories of emergence and complexity as part of an ensemble of dancers and musicians in residence at Bennington College in Vermont (USA)
2006-2009
The Rashomon Effect Performance Project
Mascher Space Cooperative
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
Develop, direct, and dance as part of an ongoing investigation of improvised scores based on the storytelling method employed in Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomôn. The term “Rashomon effect” refers to the effect of subjectivity on recollection, by which observers of an event are able to produce substantially different but equally plausible accounts of it.
2005-2006
Amnesiac Dance + Music and Philadelphia New Music + Dance Ensemble (Nicole Bindler, director)
Philadelphia, PA (USA)
Participated in development and performance of improvised scores with large ensemble of dancers and musicians
2004
Performance Project w/ Dana Reitz
Bennington College
Bennington, VT (USA)
Three months of intensive research and development leading to performance of movement trio
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Documentation of work:
perpetualmvmtsnd.org
nexusphiladelphia.org/paraphrase.html
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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
Few people in Philadelphia are as dedicated to the performance installation as Perpetual Movement and Sound.
—A.D. Amorosi, Art Matters, 9/3/08
In April 2007, many of the dancers and musicians in residence at the Mascher Space Cooperative began making monthly treks a few blocks south to NEXUS Gallery, performing new works inspired by the gallery’s current exhibitions. The brainchild of Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd co-directors Emily Sweeney and William Bilwa Costa, who regularly explore the crossroads of different forms of expression, paraphrase/NEXUS has spawned a wide variety of three-dimensional responses to the works hanging on the walls.
—Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper, 4/26/08
Best Experimental Dance Lab: Unpromising on its surface—a bank of windows along one long wall illuminating a hardwood floor, two posts jutting up through the center—the Mascher Space Cooperative has been transformed time and again by the movement of the dancers who’ve taken advantage of it. …The space has played host for dancer/choreographers like…Emily Sweeney and William Bilwa Costa’s music/dance collective Perpetual Mvmt<>Snd. The room’s unfinished feel has become more like a blank canvas on which an array of intriguing work has been splashed.
—Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper, 10/31/
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